‘I Have No Feeling In The Left-Hand Side Of My Face’

at

Máiría Cahill and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald

This afternoon.

At 4pm.

Former Labour Senator Máiría Cahill is scheduled to meet Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.

Ms Cahill is the granddaughter of Frank Cahill, brother of leading Sinn Fein member and subsequent IRA Chief of Staff Joe Cahill.

In 2010, Ms Cahill alleged that she was repeatedly raped by prominent IRA member Martin Morris when she was 16 and that her allegations were dismissed by a Sinn Fein ‘kangaroo’ court while the alleged abuser was subsequently moved to Donegal.

Ms Cahill also alleged former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams was aware of the allegations and failed to take action.

In 2014,  Mr Morris, who denied the allegation, was acquitted after his trial collapsed.

The trial collapsed after Ms Cahill, and two other women who alleged Mr Morris abused them, withdrew their evidence citing a loss of confidence in how the case was being handled.

Last month, the Ombudsman, in Northern Ireland, found that the women were failed by the PSNI and recommended that four officers be disciplined.

Ahead of her meeting with Ms McDonald, Ms Cahill spoke to Áine Lawlor on RTÉ’s News At One.

During the interview, they had the following exchange:

Aine Lawlor: “It’s been four years, as you say, since you first went public on [BBC] Spotlight. What personal price have you paid?”

Máiría Cahill: “Horrendous. My health has suffered, Áine, on a number of fronts. Mentally, I’m kind of, quite OK, I suppose I’m a but stubborn. But I have, at the minute, no feeling in the left-hand side of my face, for example. Or in my mouth, because I woke up, in the aftermath of the Ombudsman report, unable to feel that.

We’re still trying to find the root cause of that. I’ve had to take a lot of time off work. My family relationships, the wider family relationships have suffered because some of those people still claim allegiance to the Republican movement for example.

“I think I was treated despicably by Sinn Féin and their members, graffiti went up on the walls of West Belfast, in the area which I was raped for example. You know, quite a public shaming of someone who came forward essentially looking for an admission and that was all I wanted, for people to admit that it was wrong. And it shouldn’t have happened.

“To date, that hasn’t happened. And I’d like to think that someone from Sinn Féin would have a modicum of decency around them to finally admit that.”

Previously: Falls Memory Syndrome

Rollingnews.ie

 

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31 thoughts on “‘I Have No Feeling In The Left-Hand Side Of My Face’

  1. Dr.Fart MD

    didn’t FG strangely give her a job in the Senate a few years ago when this came out? Such an odd move, based purely on her hatred for SF. Like, never had any experience in politics, but placed on the Senate for party optics. If i recall, no one batted an eyelid.

        1. Cian

          there is a clue in the text “Former Labour Senator Máiría Cahill”

          the second word, ‘Labour’, is different to ‘FG’ (or Fine Gael).

          As a doctor I would have thought you could understand the difference.

          1. GiggidyGoo

            Kenny couldn’t wait to leave her on the steps of the Dail after his meeting with her. He walked a few steps, turned and waved at some shadow or other and high tailed it. He got his use from her and that’s all that mattered. Despicable man.

          2. Rob_G

            It’s gas the lengths that some posters will go to to try and make any situation somehow Fine Gael’s fault.

    1. Starina

      She’s head of the current political wing of the IRA. There’s enough to do with her in that she could instigate an investigation.

      1. Neilo

        @Starina: no doubt any public opinions McDonald may air about the meeting will be heavily vetted by the real leadership in Connolly House. They* haven’t gone away, you know.

        *nonces

  2. dhaughton99

    Ray Darcy just after been giving it lots about how inspirational the victims of sexual and govt abuse are. Funny that he never mentioned Maria.

    1. Neilo

      @Starina: no doubt any public opinions McDonald may air about the meeting will be heavily vetted by the real leadership in Connolly House. They* haven’t gone away, you know.

      *nonces

    2. Neilo

      @dhaughton99: the sympathies of Montrose editorial gatekeepers devolved so gradually from Stickies to Provos that we barely even noticed. Rarely, if ever, is a substantial challenge offered to any SF/IRA contributor.

  3. Shane Duffy

    Wasn’t the IRA man was her aunt’s husband whom she had an affair with? But being 16 she couldn’t possibly give consent so it was rape.

    1. Cú Chulainn

      She used to sneak out at night to ride him. He was a bomber and full of excitement. He left her. Others supported the GFA. Maria did not. She took a pop. Was it right. No. Best advice, get over it and support the peace process.

        1. Neilo

          @Cú Chulainn: Smearing the victim, eh? Classy. Still, it’s slightly better than taking a beloved mother to a deserted beach in Louth on a one-way trip.

      1. Cú Chulainn

        Yes. When she was 16. Into the house next door where he was staying. I’m not saying an older man and a 16 is right. But it was an enthusiastic reciprocal arrangement. That was from the court case.

  4. john f

    ” the wider family relationships have suffered because some of those people still claim allegiance to the Republican movement for example”
    and what the hell is Sinn Fein meant to do about that? What could they do?

    ” all I wanted, for people to admit that it was wrong. And it shouldn’t have happened”
    in other words she is looking for an admission of liability….. Not a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening. The legal trial against the man accused collapsed and ultimately he is not guilty of the served charges.

    I have sympathy for of the woman, regarding the allegations, I don’t know I wasn’t there. However I fail to see what good can come out of any meeting.

  5. Eoin

    What Mairia Cahill is seeking now, an acknowledgement of the way in which the IRA treated her, in response to her complaint of rape to them, is never going to happen. Membership of the IRA carries a lengthy prison sentence, the dogs in the street know that, Gerry Adams knows that, Mairia Cahill knows that. The IRA are not going to sell out their members as Mairia Cahill requires, “an admittance”. She knows that, she knows why. She will, therefore, emerge unsatisfied from her meeting with Mary Lou McDonald. Although most people would say there is cross-over between SF and IRA, that doesn’t encompass Mary Lou. Sadly, Mairia will never get justice for the alleged abuse, she left it too late to report, and tried to justify the delay by claiming the attacker was an IRA member and she feared coming forward earlier. The nearest Mairia was going to get to justice was the IRA offer to shoot the alleged attacker, which, to her credit, Mairia rejected, but the IRA is never going to help Mairia identify the attacker as an IRA member, or to identify those involved in the investigation as IRA members. Not going to happen, and everyone, Mairia included, knows why.

    Not sure what Mary Lou gets from agreeing to this meeting. Woman-to-woman, she can say she’s sorry for the abuse (and mean it) and the way the IRA dealt with it (and mean it). Mary Lou can’t offer details of IRA operations, or anything which might identify someone as an IRA member, which Mairia can (and probably would) take to the Gardai.

    Likely to be a frustrating meeting all round.

    1. More_Bermuda_than_Berlin

      Thought it was a case of she asked for the accused to be shot but Jarry refused as it was a sensitive time (for a change!) and it was this refusal that prompted her visit to the PSNI?

  6. GiggidyGoo

    And as Cahill herself was involved with dissidents, will she list the people that the dissidents have hurt/maimed and apologize to them.
    Not taking away from her own situation. Sauce for the goose and all that

  7. Dub Spot

    The Cahill family are legends in the Republic movement. She doesn’t come to any argument about violence against women with clean hands. Dissident, indeed. The SDLP are welcome to her as are the FGbots.

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