Maíria Cahill
Maíria Cahill has said that she wants Sinn Féin to tell the truth and claims the party is re-traumatising her following her rape claims.
Ms Cahill alleges that she was abused by a member of the Provisional IRA and that the republican movement knew of the abuse.
Ms Cahill later went to the police. A case was brought against the alleged rapist and those said to have been involved in the IRA inquiry.
All charges were dropped after Ms Cahill withdrew her evidence.
Speaking today on RTÉ’s News at One, she said that what the party has done is to try to attack her credibility.
Ms Cahill said she is appalled that Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is denying any knowledge of the IRA interrogation or discussing the rape allegation in detail with her.
She said that during her meeting with Mr Adams, he was aware of who her abuser was and he conceded that he knew him.
“What I want is for Sinn Féin to tell the truth. It is as simple as that,” she said.
“Sinn Féin are completely re-traumatising me again and again and again, and I actually think that’s quite disgusting for someone who has already suffered severe trauma at the hands of the republican movement.
“I want them to tell the truth. I want Gerry Adams to stand up and say ‘yes she is telling the truth’.”
Mr Adams said yesterday that he was “personally horrified” that certain remarks were attributed to him by Ms Cahill and he denied making those remarks.
Meanwhile, the Louth TD has had a complaint he made about an article in The Irish Independent last May upheld by The Press Ombudsman. The article in question was found to have breached Principle 4 (Respect for Rights) of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines because it had knowingly published matter about the complainant based on an unfounded accusation.
Mr Adams complained, through his solicitors, about a statement in the article that read: “In recent days Mr Adams has issued a legal letter to the Irish Independent, attempting to silence our reporting on another investigation.”
His solicitors complained that the letter in question was a formal letter of complaint to the editor of the paper made in accordance with the complaints procedures of the Office of the Press Ombudsman about a previous article.
Talk of the Town 