Video and editing: Michelle Hennessy/TheJournal.ie
MARY LOU MCDONALD says she believes Gerry Adams’s recollection of a conversation he had with a woman claiming she was raped by a member of the IRA after which the organisation convened a ‘kangaroo court’ to deal with the abuse claims.
Maíria Cahill, a niece of IRA member Joe Cahill, claims that as a teenager, she was raped and repeatedly sexually abused throughout 1997 by a prominent member of the IRA.
In a BBC Spotlight documentary broadcast last night, Cahill was scathingly critical of the tone of a conversation she had with Adams a few years later.
However, the Sinn Féin president has refuted Cahill’s recollection of the conversation and has now contacted his solicitors about allegations in the Spotlight programme.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, McDonald said she that having met with Adams today the Louth TD is “absolutely emphatic” that he did not say what he is alleged to have said to Cahill.
She insisted: “Gerry is a father himself, he’s a grandfather. As you know, and as people know, he had experience of the horror that is abuse within his own family circle so he refutes that.
She said that she would “of course” meet with Cahill and said that Adams would be prepared to do so as well.
Watch out for more from a wide-ranging interview with Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald on TheJournal.ie tomorrow.
Originally published 6pm
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