MAIRIA CAHILL TODAY said she was considering legal action against Sinn Féin members for “calling [her] a liar over the national airwaves” in recent days.
Speaking to RTE Radio’s News at One, Cahill said:
I am consulting with my solicitor at some point this week.
I do believe that I have been defamed, and I am looking at taking legal action against those [Sinn Féin] members who have basically called me a liar over the national airwaves.
She also claimed she had been “repeatedly vilified through the media,” and praised the “courage” of another person who had come forward with allegations of abuse in the republican movement, in light of her own alleged treatment.
She was speaking after her meeting this morning with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, which she called “very useful.”
Cahill met with Kenny at government buildings in Dublin, and afterwards, he praised her as “a courageous, confident young woman who is a force to be reckoned with.”
Later today, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams apologised to victims of abuse who were “let down” by the IRA.
Speaking in the Dáil, Adams said:
IRA actions against sex abusers failed victims. This is a matter of profound regret for me and other republicans.
I am acutely conscious that there may be victims who were let down or failed by the IRA’s inability to resolve these issues.
As Uachtarán Shinn Féin, I want to apologise to those victims.
The Louth TD repeated his denial, however, that Sinn Féin has covered up child abuse, calling such claims “a slur on thousands of decent people” put forward by “our political enemies.”
Adams also asked the Taoiseach if he would also meet with involved Sinn Féin members rather than “[rushing] to judgment.”
Taoiseach, having met with Mairia, is it not right and proper that you meet with myself and the other Sinn Féin members to hear of their experience of trying to help Mairia, to hear of their support and the advice they offered?
Kenny agreed to the request.
In a statement this evening, Adams said he once again wanted to reject in the strongest possible terms allegations by the Taoiseach and the Fianna Fáil leader that he has any information regarding abusers being moved from the North, across border to this jurisdiction or anywhere else.
“If anyone – and that includes Mr Kenny or Mr Martin – have information regarding the whereabouts of anyone who is a potential threat to members of the community, they should make that information known to An Garda Síochána,” he said.
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