Maíria: Rape case left me homeless

Maíria Cahill has claimed she is now homeless and in debt as a result of going public about her claim that she was raped by an IRA member as a teenager and subjected to an IRA "kangaroo court".

In a lengthy and strongly worded statement, Ms Cahill hit out at weekend newspaper reports linking her to the political group the Republican Network for Unity as an attempt by Sinn Féin to smear her “as some sort of dangerous dissident”.

“Simply, I was abused,” said Ms Cahill. “An illegal internal investigation was conducted into that abuse. I was forced to attend a confrontation by the IRA as a traumatised 18-year-old in a room with my rapist. That is the issue. I raised it very publicly, at great personal cost to myself. I am now homeless and in debt.”