“Unfounded And Untrue”

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Maíria Cahill spent the day in Leinster House answering questions and talking about the wider issue of abuse.

A Dáil debate is scheduled today from 2:30 pm regarding allegations of sexual abuse by members of the republican movement arising from the Maíria Cahill case.

Watch it live here.

Gerry Adams to meet woman ‘raped by top republican’ (Eilis O’Hanlon, Sunday Independent December 2013)

Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

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20 thoughts on ““Unfounded And Untrue”

  1. Kolmo

    The Pheonix magazine asks a good question – What did she want the IRA to do, shoot the accused? The courts let her down, the PSNI let her down

  2. Drogg

    This is another horrible story and this woman should get justice, but, why is this being discussed in the dail before a court case has happened? surely this will purger any future legal actions as these monsters will be named in the Dail so any legal actions for their heinous crimes will be void. This just seems like FG are using a tragedy to score some points in the political game, also why is this one womans case getting so much attention when yesterday we had evidence of garda ignoring attacks on women, we have a second unmarked grave in the tuam mother and baby home, the government has cut funding to womens shelters, childline and others but don’t look at any of that, see that the IRA a paramilitary organisation didn’t execute proper legal procedures against abusers because we can score points against sinn fein.

    1. Medium Sized C

      Dail privilege.

      SF are in the Dail. Gerry Adam’s is in the Dail.
      He has made apologies for this on behalf of people who essentially sheltered rapists.
      What you are saying sounds like you are deflecting criticism from Sinn Fein.

      Course then you go and blame FG, who aren’t the party who’s leader was on the ladies shoulder on day 1 of this mess. Maybe you are more interested in making this about FG.

      Either way this is ridiculously important.

      1. Drogg

        This is important but dail privilege doesn’t stop them purgering a court case it has happened before where people where named in the dail before court cases and then the case fell apart when they claimed they could not have a fair trial when TDs have already said they where guilty. What need to happen is legal action and get these people off the streets. The reason i mentioned the other stuff is because with all the horrible s**t going on in this country why is this one woman being held on a plinth especially when the crimes against her happened in a different country, I am not saying SF are blameless but it seems to me that FG are more interested in scoring points against SF then actually helping women when as above i have said they are cutting services that help abused women and children and ignoring past crimes of the state. It just seems to convenient that they take on this womans case.

        1. Medium Sized C

          You may have a point with the prejudice.

          I’m not sure what you mean by on a “plinth” but if that garda whistle-blower is a hero, this woman should be a deity.

          She was raped by a senior member of the IRA. Who made a casual habit of killing and hiding people. She is now standing up and telling everybody how she was raped (traditionally considered a fairly hard thing to do in and of itself) being broadly speaking slandered by pups like Pearse O’Doherty who wouldn’t have a feckin clue to say, and also by Gerry Adams. And she is still standing up. At a time when they are enjoying unprecedented popularity.

          She SHOULD be on a plinth. It may be convenient, but it is entirely right and proper that we lionise this woman.

          And again, first points went to Micheal Martin. Don’t ignore that just because you are currently more pissed off at FG. Everyone wants a piece of this.

          Nobody is ignoring the Gardai thing either.
          Just because one thing is getting coverage doesn’t mean the other thing is being ignored.
          That’s why newspapers are longer than one page.

          1. Drogg

            The reason i used plinth was because there are plenty of people with horrible stories that don’t get dail access and meetings with the Taioseach, but i still think my points are valid and you are totally right about FF too but they are not the ones currently cutting services that help abuse survivors. All i want to see is these criminals behind bars and someones story of abuse not used as a game of political football. Finally since this didn’t happen in this country why is this not happening in stormount? and then when legal proceedings find these individuals guilty if they are in the republic we promptly arrest them and send them back across the border for an extended stint inside and all without the political flag waving that is currently going on.

        2. ughtheseguys

          Given Mary Lou’s reaction to this story, you could claim the same about SF and the victims of clerical abuse.

  3. Planet of the Missing Biros

    Why did she not send one tweet from December 2013 until October 2014?

    She is being used by the establishment to sully Sinn Fein and undermine their growing support. It’s a very cynical use of an alleged victim of rape by Fine Gael. Real barrel scraping stuff. Imagine what else they’ll try for fear of losing their (and Fianna Fail’s) grip on the institutions of politics, education and finance. How will they be able to ensure their privileged children will be pushed to the top of all the queues for jobs and opportunities?

    1. ahjayzis

      If I were her I’d be doing the same thing. If everyone who perpetrated, covered up and intimidated me as a victim of a crime got away with it, I’d be screaming at anyone who could hear me and trying to damage them as much as possible.

      Odd that your idea that keeping quiet and burying her abuse would both benefit her and Sinn Fein, happy coincidence! You also seem oddly incurious about her veracity and what that means for the party you obviously want to see supplant our current shower of inept muppets.

      1. Kolmo

        The NI Courts System, The PSNI, The IRA and Sinn Fein all dealt with these allegations separately, but not to Ms. Cahill’s satisfaction, FG are cynically using Ms. Cahils unfortuanate situation to score points, very cynical, it’s not even on the radar in the North

  4. Mike Ribble

    It is very hard to voice a thinking, skeptical, opinion about M Cahill without being (most ironically) shouted down as a shinner robot. Or even an apologist for rape.

    Claims of assault for over a year & half by her cousin’s husband are a matter for court.

    However her claims of SF cover-up don’t add up:

    1) Breige Wright’s letters from Mairia don’t speak remotely to fear and duress, but the opposite. (Read them!)

    2) Aside for her (frankly bizarre, if they so wronged her) continued campaigning for SF well into the noughties -until they supported the police, Mairia still refuses to give her subsequent membership dates of Dissident RNU. She says she was a member for a week, then attended a couple of meetings. Really?? She was National Secretary, on the Ard Chomhairle, of a Dissident group who reject the police. Surely that has enormous relevance to her claims that she didn’t go to the police because SF stopped her.

    3) Mairia, & the Unionist parties in the Assembly, lambast Jennifer McCann for not taking the claims to the police, yet Mike Nesbitt admits he knew in at least 2010 (he originally said 2008), so isn’t he culpable of not going to the police? Suddenly, the night of the Spotlight programme, he found a new urgency, tweeting that night that he’d add her case to the Talks agenda.

    4) She’s seemingly always accompanied on her ‘non-political’ campaign by SF-hating Sindo spin-doctor Eilis O’Hanlon.

    Setting aside the assault claim, the ‘cover-up’ is the sheer politics of ‘The Crucible’. Don’t dare question it!!!

    1. Mike Ribble

      Here’s an alternative narrative, consistent with the above, with no SF cover-up, and no SF diktat preventing her going to the police.

      1) MC was raped by a member of the IRA
      2) Being a committed Republican, and ardent SF member, rather than go to the police, she asked the IRA to investigate.
      3) She was very disappointed at the lack of vindication as the IRA concluded they “didn’t know who to believe”.
      4) She left SF because they supported the police, and was on the Ard Chomhairle of Dissident RNU, and a confidant of Tony Catney.
      5) The one thing RNU have in common with the Sindo is a visceral hatred of SF (my enemy’s enemy is my friend), so there is a co-incidence of animosity, added to by the personal feeling of anger at the Republican movement failing to provide vindication. Thus a political campaign do the most possible damage to SF.

      1. Bongo

        @Mike Ribble

        The man Mairia Cahill alleges raped her has been accused of rape by two other women.

        To be accused by one woman is something but three women…

        Are all the women lying?

        How does that fit with your conspiracy theory?

        The question remains did the Republican Movement shield known abusers?

        He must be the unluckiest bloke in Ireland.

        1. Mike Ribble

          @Bongo

          My very first point (Point “1”) in the post you just replied to is “1) MC was raped by a member of the IRA.”

          See, I’m not denying she was raped. How could that possibly be clearer??

          I’m questioning the subsequent events (my points 2 to 5). Please do address their plausibility, or lack thereof.

          2) Being a committed Republican, and ardent SF member, rather than go to the police, she asked the IRA to investigate.
          3) She was very disappointed at the lack of vindication as the IRA concluded they “didn’t know who to believe”.
          4) She left SF because they supported the police, and was on the Ard Chomhairle of Dissident RNU, and a confidant of Tony Catney.
          5) The one thing RNU have in common with the Sindo is a visceral hatred of SF (my enemy’s enemy is my friend), so there is a co-incidence of political animosity, added to by the personal feeling of anger at the Republican movement failing to provide vindication. Thus a political campaign to do the most possible damage to SF.

  5. Sancho

    I have to agree with a number of posters. This is clearly being used by FG to try to deflect attention from Irish Water and to tarnish SF. I mean, seriously, if you cant see that you’re, voluntarily or involuntarily blind.

    1. Sancho

      And out of curiosity (and boredom), I had a look at the Indo yesterday. The editorial has covered this and SF three times in the last about six or seven editorials. It’s embarrassing how obviously partisan the Indo is.

      1. Kieran NYC

        You think if Enda Kenny was involved in some sort of rape cover up, SF would just say “Fair enough, that’s none of our business”?

        Grow up.

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