Patricia Burke Brogan, the woman who was instrumental in highlighting the inhumanity of the Magdalen Laundries, has died peacefully, aged 90.

One of Ireland’s first whistleblowers, her 1992 play ‘Eclipsed’ drew on her experiences as a young novice nun with the Order of the Mercy Sisters working with women and girls detained in the Magdelen laundry at Forster Street.

The playwright, painter, poet and teacher was last seen in public last May when she received the Freedom of the City Award for her courage in speaking out against the horrific treatment of unmarried mothers, which continued right up until the 1990s.

Her play inspired producers at Channel 4 to make the documentary Sex in a Cold Climate in 1998 and led to Peter Mullan’s film The Magdalene Sisters in 2002. The campaign group Justice for Magdalens was then set up, which sparked the McAleese investigation and eventually an apology on behalf of the State from the then Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Survived by her sisters Claire and Teresa and nephew Padraig, she passed away at Castlegar Nursing Home on Monday. She was predeceased by her husband Eddie, sister Philomena and brother Fr Brendan.

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