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Cillian Murphy says new film on Magdalene Laundries 'asks questions about complicity and silence'

Murphy is starring in Small Things Like These about a convent in New Ross, Co Wexford.

When asked how he thinks Ireland is still grappling with the shame of a time – when women say they were detained by the Catholic Church against their will and forced to give up their children – he said: “I don’t know if I’m qualified enough to… speak for the nation, really. Murphy, who plays Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, who in December 1985 discovers the secrets of his local community, has been vocal in the past about women’s issues in Ireland. Producer and Hollywood star Matt Damon also told the press conference that it was a “very easy decision” for him and Ben Affleck’s production company Artists Equity to make the Keegan adaptation.

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