Experts appointed for Cahill rape claims

The two legal experts who will review the case involving alleged rape victim Maíria Cahill have been named by the North’s Director of Public Prosecutions.

Former DPP for England and Wales Keir Starmer and Australian-born lawyer Katherine O’Byrne will undertake an independent review of the three interlinked cases involving allegations of sexual abuse and terrorist related charges.

Ms Cahill has previously expressed concern at the way her claims of sex abuse and a subsequent “interrogation” by IRA members were dealt with by authorities in the North.

Ms Cahill has also called on Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams to reveal any information he has on sex offenders the IRA “expelled” from the North.

Speaking to Newstalk, Ms Cahill said Sinn Féin could never speak about child abuse with credibility so long as it continued to deny she was subjected to an IRA “kangaroo court” after allegedly being repeatedly raped as a 16-year-old. Mr Adams has denied that either he or Sinn Féin were involved in any cover-up of sexual offences.

Ms Cahill said a Sinn Féin official visited her after she mentioned the abuse in a police statement. “In 2007, I first went and made a police complaint,” she said. “In 2009, I made another complaint and I received a visit from a Sinn Féin official.

“The charge was subsequently dropped at court. Even in that year, Sinn Féin were asking me to drop the claim.”

The Dáil is to debate the implications of the controversy next week.