€4m COPE Galway refuge shows there is ‘another way’

The new €4 million refuge for women and children fleeing domestic violence will be named Modh Eile House, which means ‘another way’ in Irish.

Work will begin on converting the former Convent of Mercy residence into the biggest residential refuge in the West of Ireland in the coming weeks with the appointment of Carey Building Contractors.

The building is expected to take a year. Cope Galway CEO Jacquie Horan said the charity hopes the new refuge will be open to take in women and children by the end of 2019.

So far €3 million has been donated to the project by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government as well as major funding from two sources – one of them wishes to remain anonymous and the other comes from the Lifes2Good Foundation.

“We now need to raise the remaining €1 million and we have every confidence that we will continue to benefit from the generosity of the people of Galway to bring this project to fruition,” remarked Ms Horan.

“We haven’t gone public yet but we are planning to launch a public appeal. This will be much nicer surroundings for children. Our Waterside refuge was not an ideal location for small children.”

The design by Simon J Kelly architects involving the protected building at 47 Forster Street will create nine self-contained residential units, staff accommodation, offices, outreach facilities, meeting rooms, playrooms and a childcare facility.

She noted that last year their Waterside House refuge was unable to accommodate 258 women with their 441 children on 326 occasions due to a lack of space.

Planning permission for the project was granted in June. In 2013, COPE secured a 99-year lease on the Magdalen laundry site from the Sisters of Mercy. The actual laundry buildings were demolished in 1991 and redeveloped as apartments.

A booklet created by Cope Galway to remember the Magdalen women who were confined to the laundry run by the Mercy nuns on Forster Street between 1870 and 1984 was launched this week. Ms Horan told the launch that the booklet was a turning point for the charity and the women who once worked at the laundry.

“It’s an opportunity to remember, respect and record some of the sad history and the experiences of the women who lived and worked in the Magdalen Laundry. It is our small and, we hope, sensitive contribution towards acknowledging the lived experiences of women who suffered enormous personal pain and loss.

“It is an opportunity for us to remember who these women were, to respect their lives and work, and to record their lives and deaths in the best way we can.”

She said the name, Modh Eile, was chosen by women who have experienced domestic abuse who believed it would give hope to others to find a way to rebuild their lives and create a better future for their families.