SINN FÉIN LEADER Gerry Adams is to meet with a victim of child abuse, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald has said.
Referring to recent comments made by Deputy Micheál Martin about alleged cases of abuse in the Republican movement, McDonald said on the Week in Politics on RTÉ “they were very much pointed at Gerry Adams and it was absolutely grasping at an opportunity in a very difficult and traumatic case”.
She described it as “mudslinging” at Adams and “gutter politics”. On Thursday, Deputy Pearse Doherty had described claims that cases of sexual abuse in the Republican movement were dealt with internally as “unfounded and untrue”.
McDonald said that “there is no Sinn Féin member currently before the courts and no case pending in respect of child abuse allegations”.
Should that happen, the party has “robust procedures that are centred on the victim, fully in compliance with the law and statutory authorities”, said McDonald.
The party’s deputy leader confirmed that Adams is to meet with a victim of child abuse, and that the meeting was arranged through a journalist.
She said however that a meeting with Adams or any other government representative “is not a substitute for going to the relevant authorities”.
McDonald also added that “any victim of abuse must enjoy the full protection of the law”.
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