Adams calls for urgent action on Ard Dealgan apartments

The inside of the Ard Dealgan apartments last Friday

Local TD Gerry Adams has urged Louth County Council to “prioritise as a matter of urgency” the future of the Ard Dealgan apartment block in Quay Street, Dundalk.

The Louth TD’s call comes after the third picket organised by local Councillor Jennifer Green at the site last week.

Deputy Adams attended the picket on Friday and said it had become a “blight” on the local community.

He said: “The Ard Dealgan apartment complex stands as a ruined monument to the worst excesses of the housing development corruption that was a key factor in the economic collapse seven years ago.

“The complex was poorly designed and constructed and was vacated in 2009 as a consequence of fire safety concerns. Since then it has become a blight on the local urban landscape, a source of annoyance and concern for the community around it, and a magnet for anti-social behaviour.”

At Friday’s picket, Deputy Adams and Cllr Pearse McGeough had an opportunity to get inside the complex for the first time.

He said the conditions were “appalling” and there was plenty of evidence that it had become a drugs den.

“It reminded me of the Divis and Moyard Flats complexes’ in west Belfast that were built in the 1960s and which were demolished because of the appalling conditions residents were forced to endure.

The inside of the Ard Dealgan apartments

“As well as fires, noise and pollution issues, Councillor Jennifer Green and Councillor Pearse McGeough who accompanied me last Friday saw evidence that the complex is being used by drug addicts. There were needles lying dangerously about.

“Questions over the ownership of Ard Dealgan; disputes over who has responsibility for securing it; and a lack of planning for its future has seen the internal structure of the Ard Dealgun complex seriously deteriorate.

“In June Louth County Council indicated that they would ‘explore a residential option’ for the 73 units contained in Ard Dealgan for local housing needs. This would require a significant investment of public money.

“The Ard Dealgan complex has been lying boarded up and empty for almost 6 years. There is an onus on the Council and on the Department of the Environment to find an urgent resolution to this issue.”

Councillor Jennifer Green thanked the residents from the surrounding area for braving the poor weather and insisted “the people need to stand up and demand an end to this nightmare.”

She added: “It has been going on too long. I am a mother of two adventurous boys who would just love to explore Ard Dealgan and the very thought of it fills me with horror when I see what the inside is like.  We will continue with these monthly pickets until there is some resolution on the issue.”

Some of the drug paraphernalia found in the Ard Dealgan apartments on Friday

Council tenants left owing thousands in rent after miscalculation by local authority

Cllr Kevin Meenan

A number of Louth County Council tenants could face bills of thousands of euro after being undercharged on their rent by the local authority.

The issue was raised at yesterday’s monthly meeting by Sinn Féin Cllr Kevin Meenan, who said he was aware of one case where a woman had been asked to repay €7,000.

His colleague Cllr Pearse McGeough then highlighted another case where a tenant owed €9,000 after being undercharged.

Director of Services Joe McGuinness admitted that the undercharging of rent had been uncovered by the rent collection team, which was set up following last May’s local elections when Dundalk Town Council and Drogheda Borough Council were abolished.

Mr McGuinness said that in addition to the miscalculated rent, the rent collection team had also discovered undeclared income and undeclared occupancies.

Cllr Meenan told LMFM news that it was unfair that some tenants had been left owing substantial amounts through no fault of their own.

“In one case a woman owed over €7,000. It has been acknowledge she had furnished everything properly and correctly it’s just that the error had occurred at Dundalk Town Council level a number of years back where it had been wrongly calculated and she has been given a bill this year for over €7,000. At the moment that is being dealt with through an appeals process,” Cllr Meenan told LMFM.

Mr McGuinness said, however, that the local authority had no power to write off outstanding rents that were due.

Gardaí preparing file on two IRA rape claims in Co Louth

Paudie McGahon told his story to BBC Spotlight reporter Jennifer O’Leary earlier this week

Gardaí have confirmed that a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions relating to the alleged sexual assault of two males in Co Louth in the 1990s.

One of the complainants is 40-year-old Paudie McGahon, from Ardee, who has alleged that he was raped by an IRA man when he was 17.

His allegations were reported on the BBC Spotlight programme on Tuesday.

Yesterday afternoon, Chief Superintendent Pat McGee confirmed to RTÉ News that “the investigation is ongoing and a file will be sent to the DPP in due course”.

Mr McGahon and another man allege the offences took place at an identified location in Co Louth.

Complaints were made to gardaí in Drogheda towards the end of last year.

Meanwhile, Mr McGahon has said nobody should be afraid of coming forward if they had been abused at the hands of the IRA.

Mr McGahon said there is now a network there to support people and his experience since the BBC programme has been “support, support, support”.

Mr McGahon, speaking to Joe Duffy on RTÉ’s Liveline, said that no member of the Republican movement suggested he should go to gardaí until after his meeting with then Sinn Féin TD for Louth Arthur Morgan in 2009.

He described a letter that Mr Morgan sent to him after the meeting suggesting that he should go to gardaí as a red herring.

He said that Mr Morgan did not say to him during the 2009 meeting that he would drive him to a garda station.

He said that as far the Republican movement was concerned the issue of the abuse “was sorted” in 2002.

He said he was told in 2009 that the man who had abused him was then living in Blackrock, just outside Dundalk.

Gerry Adams

Yesterday evening local TD and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said that he did not go to gardaí in 2009 with information about Mr McGahon’s claims, because he did not have the detail of the case.

Mr Adams told RTÉ’s Six One News that he did not try to establish the detail of the case because it is not the responsibility of Sinn Féin to investigate historical abuse cases.

However, a Sinn Féin spokesman said tonight Mr Adams had become aware of concerns about the activities of the alleged abuser in the McGahon case and had furnished his name to gardaí last November.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Meath East TD Regina Doherty said questions needed to be answered about how the IRA got involved in investigating the allegations made by Mr McGahon, which were brought to the attention of Sinn Féin Councillor Pearse McGeough in 2002.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke yesterday, she said Mr McGeough needed to answer how the “kangaroo court” came to be and if he had any involvement in it.

Ms Doherty said she would like to know, during the course of the conversations between Mr McGahon and Cllr McGeough, how the IRA became involved and how personnel from the North were brought down to Mr McGahon’s father’s house so the young man could be summonsed to answer questions.

She also called on Mr Adams to acknowledge and admit that kangaroo courts were “part of the normal practice and play of Sinn Féin/IRA at the time in dealing with these situations as they arose”.

Cllr Pearse McGeough

Cllr McGeough issued a statement yesterday saying that he advised Mr McGahon and another person who told him they had been abused to go to gardaí.

He said that he offered to go with them.

“They decided at the time not to notify the gardaí. I fully recognise that going to the authorities is huge step for victims and this was their decision to make. I fully respected that view,” Mr McGeough said.

He added: “I am aware that my colleague and former TD Arthur Morgan also reiterated this position in person and in writing to Mr McGahon, a position that I fully supported.

“On one occasion with the agreement of one of the victims I personally arranged to accompany him to the Garda station to make a complaint.

“However shortly before the meeting the victim of the alleged abuse decided not to go ahead at that time.”

Meanwhile, former Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan released a letter he says he sent in 2009 to Mr McGahon.

In the letter dated April 27th, 2009, Mr Morgan, who represented Louth until 2011, said he hoped Mr McGahon would contact An Garda Síochána about his allegations.

“Thank you for your representations in respect of allegations of sex abuse at your former home,” the letter states.

“I would like to confirm my strong advice to you to make a formal complaint to the gardaí about these allegations. They are the competent authority to investigate these matters and, if a case can be constructed, to bring it before the courts.”

Mr Morgan wrote in the letter, on Dáil notepaper, that such a complaint to the gardaí would also trigger the involvement of Social Services, as well as other services of the Health Services Executive.

“Again, I wish to assure you of my full support and that of my colleague, Councillor Pearse McGeough at all times, including accompanying you to the gardaí if that would be helpful,” he said.

“Hoping you will follow this course and that these matters can be dealt with appropriately.”

Adams insists he believes McGahon’s IRA rape claims

Paudie McGahon told his story to BBC Spotlight reporter Jennifer O’Leary

Sinn Féin president and local TD Gerry Adams has said he believes claims made by Paudie McGahon on BBC Sportlight last night that he was raped at his family home in Ardee by a senior IRA member.

Mr Adams told RTE’s Morning Ireland that his alleged perpetrator should come forward.

Mr McGahon was 17 when the alleged assault took place.

Mr Adams said he only found out about the incident in 2009 when he was told by then Sinn Féin TD for Louth, Arthur Morgan.

In a statement yesterday, Deputy Adams said that Sinn Féin’s priority is to support victims of abuse whether that abuse is historical or contemporary and that the party will support victims in their efforts to get truth and justice.

He said “Sinn Féin has rigorous child protection guidelines. At all times the Sinn Féin representatives seek to support the victims of alleged abuse.

“We believe that all victims of abuse should be supported to access the justice system and social services and that the most appropriate bodies to deal with these allegations are the Gardaí and social services.

Gerry Adams insists he believes McGahon’s claims and added they are “a matter of deep regret”

“I have previously acknowledged that the actions of republicans in the past in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse were inadequate and inappropriate.

“Paudie McGahon clearly feels badly let down.

“Nothing that I may say will change this but it is a matter of deep regret to me.

“I hope that justice is served and support delivered to Mr McGahon.

“Sinn Féin’s priority is to support victims of abuse whether that abuse is historical or contemporary and we will support victims in their efforts to get truth and justice.

“There is a currently a Garda investigation into these allegations.

“That is why when this case was brought to the attention of local representatives I am assured that the victims of the alleged abuse were advised in person and writing to go to An Garda Síochána.

“Martin McGuinness has proposed a victim-centred approach to deal with the issue of abuse; an approach that would provide support to victims and access to the justice system.

“This would be anchored in the North South Ministerial council and allow victims to come forward to access support and those with information to pass it to the Gardaí or PSNI for investigation.”

Paudie McGahon spoke to the BBC’s Spotlight programme last night and criticised how republicans had dealt with his case.

He told the programme he had grown up in a strongly republican household.

Mr McGahon said IRA members would use his family home often as a safe house.

He alleges that when he was 17, an IRA man, from a well-known republican family in Belfast, abused him and then threatened him to remain silent.

Mr McGahon told BBC Spotlight he was later subjected to an IRA “kangaroo court” after a Sinn Féin representative, County Councilllor Pearse McGeough, was told of the allegations.

He said the IRA offered to kill the alleged rapist but instead exiled him.

Recalling his experiences, Mr McGahon told the programme that when he tried to escape from his alleged rapist he was told if he ever opened his mouth about it anybody he would be found on the border roads.

He said he felt he could not report the matter to Irish police because of the threats he had received.

Mr McGahon said that for years, he told no-one about what had happened.

Louth man alleges Sinn Féin and IRA covered up his rape as a teenager

A Louth man will appear on BBC’s Spotlight programme tonight claiming he was raped by a well known IRA volunteer as a teenager.

Paudie McGahon (40), who now lives in Ardee, told the programme he was subjected to an IRA “kangaroo court” after a Sinn Féin representative was told of the allegations.

He said the IRA offered to shoot the alleged rapist before exiling him.

It follows similar allegations made to the programme by Belfast woman Maíria Cahill last year.

He said he was raped at his family home in the 1990s when it was allegedly being used as a safe house. Afterwards he said his abuser threatened him with being killed if he told anyone what had happened.

Paudie McGahon told his story to BBC Spotlight reporter Jennifer O’Leary

The father of three finally broke his silence in 2002 and claims that after he told him about the abuse, Louth Sinn Féin councillor Pearse McGeough invited him and another victim before a “kangaroo court”. He says that despite claims that party representatives offered to bring him to the police, deliberate efforts were made to ‘discourage’ him from reporting his abuse to the gardaí.

He claims that following the hearing a senior IRA member in Louth warned that if he went to the media or gardaí he would be found dead on a back road.

In his BBC Spotlight interview, Mr McGahon raises serious questions about how republicans have dealt with allegations of sexual abuse, and what that means for potential victims.

The show will air tonight on BBC One NI at 10.45pm. Check out a preview above.

Sinn Féin trio elected chairs of policing committees

Cllr Jim Loughran will look after the Dundalk – Carlingford policing committee

A trio of Sinn Féin councillors have been appointed the new chairs of the county’s Policing Committees.

The Community Policing programme aims at improving community safety and works with local Gardaí to achieve this.

Cllr Jim Loughran is the representative for Dundalk/Carlingford, Cllr Pearse McGeough is the rep for Ardee and Cllr Kenneth Flood the rep for Drogheda.

Cllr Pearse McGeough to be interviewed by Gardaí over kangaroo court allegations

Cllr Pearse McGeough

Sinn Féin County Councillor Pearse McGeough is expected to be interviewed by detectives investigating claims that two brothers were sexually abused as children by an IRA member in Co Louth, according to a report by Paul Williams in today’s Irish Independent.

One of the victims has told gardaí how the siblings were interrogated by an IRA kangaroo court in 2002, after bringing their allegations to the attention of Kilsaran-based Cllr McGeough.

One brother has alleged that Mr McGeough contacted him and his brother individually, and arranged for them to attend the “internal inquiry”.

“Pearse was in the house when we were being interviewed in a room upstairs and he sat downstairs with our two wives,” he said.

The revelations will heap further pressure on the Sinn Féin hierarchy following a heated Dáil debate last week where the party was accused of covering up abuse.

Mr McGeough issued a statement to the local media two weeks ago in which he confirmed he was a friend of the victims’ family, and that they had informed him about the abuse.

However, he said that he had advised the brothers to go to the gardaí and make an official complaint against their attacker.

But one of the victims has disputed the politician’s version of events and claimed that he only advised him to go to gardai in 2009 – seven years after the original Provo investigation.

“Pearse McGeough never mentioned the guards to me or my brother when we approached him about the abuse in 2002,” one victim told the Irish Independent.

Security sources confirmed gardaí will also want to interview Padraic Wilson, the prominent Belfast Sinn Fein figure, who featured in both the Mairia Cahill and Louth abuse cases.

It is understood that one of the brothers has identified Wilson, a veteran IRA member, as one of the people he met during the 2002 hearing.

Wilson was described by Michael Martin in the Dáil last week as playing “an active role in enforcing Provisional IRA justice” and being “close to the Northern leadership of Sinn Fein”.

The Fianna Fáil leader accused Sinn Féin of going to “extraordinary lengths”, including withdrawing support for policing at one point, when Wilson was arrested.

Mr Martin revealed that he had met with one of the brothers at the centre of the abuse claims in Louth.

“He told me a very harrowing tale of what happened to him and his brother,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.

“In 1992, as a teenager, this man was raped by a member of the Provisional IRA who was using his family’s home as a safe house.

“The Provisional IRA member’s use of the house was facilitated by a person who has been a Sinn Féin elected representative in Louth for over a decade.”

Mr Martin added: “It was a decade later that his younger brother told him that he too had been raped by the same man. After their father contacted the local Sinn Féin representative, Pearse McGeough, in 2002, the Provisionals again commenced their sinister internal investigation procedures.”

Cllr McGeough has not commented on the latest developments but in a recent statement to The Dundalk Democrat he said: “I am aware of the case of alleged abuse that has recently appeared in the press.

“I have known the family concerned for over 30 years. When I became aware of the abuse allegation I worked to support the victims. I was acutely aware that the best agency to deal with the matter were the gardaí and advised the family to report the matter to the gardaí. The victims disclosed the abuse when they became adults and decided not to notify the gardaí. I fully recognise that going to the authorities is a huge step for victims and supported their decision.”

He added: “Over the intervening period I have continued to support the family and advise them to go to the gardaí.”

Gardaí to investigate claims of IRA sex abusers crossing border as it emerges Sinn Féin councillor knew of allegations

Cllr Pearse McGeough

The interim Garda commissioner has said that the force is investigating claims that the IRA moved alleged sex abusers across the border into the Republic.

Noirin O’Sullivan’s comments came as the Dáil debated the Republican movement’s handling of sexual abuse allegations earlier today.

Louth TD Gerry Adams came under further fire from other leaders, who believe he and Sinn Féin are hiding information about the movement of abusers.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that two men made Pearse McGeough, a lifelong republican and current Sinn Féin councillor in the Castlebellingham area, aware of allegations of sexual abuse that they allegedly suffered at the hands of an IRA member when they were minors.

The Gardaí were not informed at the time, and it is alleged that the abuser was then subjected to a “kangaroo court”.

The incident allegedly occurred in County Louth, in an IRA safehouse.

Adams welcomes Minister’s decision to approve foreshore licence at Annagassan Harbour

Louth TD Gerry Adams has welcomed the decision by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, to approve a foreshore licence for maintenance dredging works at Annagassan Harbour. The Minister has agreed that the licence should be issued to Louth County Council as a priority.

Deputy Adams said: “Growing levels of sand and silt in Annagassan Harbour has left fishermen unable to berth their boats normally. Some have been unable to get down to their boats from the pier. They have also expressed concern at the growth of a silt bank at the entrance to the harbour.

“My colleague Councillor Pearse McGeough and I have been raising this issue for some time. We were told previously that there was no money from the Department of the Marine to carry out this work.

“Because of this problem fishermen using the Harbour have been refusing to pay their Harbour dues and this has led to a legal confrontation with Louth County Council sending solicitors letters out.

“Yesterday I received a response to a Parliamentary Question I had submitted to the Minister. In his reply the Minister confirms that a ‘Foreshore Licence under Section 3 of the 1933 Foreshore Act has been approved by me in respect of periodic maintenance dredging works at Annagassan Harbour, Castlebellingham, Co Louth. The Licence in question will issue to Louth County Council as a priority.’

“This is a welcome decision but it leaves unresolved the issue of compensation and harbour dues. We will continue to pursue this with Louth County Council.”

 

Adams launches Sinn Féin proposals for SME sector in Dundalk

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams TD, Cllr Pearse McGeough and local election candidate JJ Quigley at the launch of the party’s SME proposal document last Friday in Dundalk

Louth TD Gerry Adams, Cllr Pearse McGeough and local election candidate JJ Quigley launched Sinn Féin’s proposals for Small and Medium Enterprises on Friday in Dundalk.

Deputy Adams outlined the party’s 10 proposals to boost the Small and Medium Enterprises sector.

Speaking after the launch of Sinn Féin’s policy document ‘Putting SME’s First’, he said: “Almost 70% of people in work are in the SME sector. This has greatest potential for jobs growth provided the government implements the right programme of policies.

“Under Fianna Fáil and this government some 128,000 jobs have been lost in the SME sector between 2008 and 2012.

“Sinn Féin believes that there are 10 steps that can be taken to effectively assist SMEs to develop and create jobs now.

“Our proposals, which we outline in detail, are to increase consumer demand; abolish upward only rents; tackle utility costs and rates; revive ‘Brand Ireland’; open up procurement; end unnecessary license delays; resolve SME distress and priorities access to credit; increase labour intensive infrastructure investment and to tackle the costs of doing business on the border.

“For Sinn Féin, SMEs are the priority when it comes to fostering indigenous industry and ensuring job creation.

“We strongly urge this government to consider our proposals as a matter of urgency for the SME sector,” said Adams.