LABOUR CONFERENCE: IRA rape victim ‘will not be silenced’

IRA rape victim Mairia Cahill has insisted that she will not be silenced and reiterated that the responsibility for the cover up of her abuse lies with Sinn Féin.

Receiving the James Larkin Thirst for Justice Award at the Labour Party’s national conference in Kerry at the weekend, Ms Cahill, launched another attack on Sinn Féin.

Ms Cahill, 33, says she was attacked as a teenager in 1997 and that republican paramilitaries conducted their own inquiry, subjecting her to interrogation and forcing her to confront her alleged attacker.

She claims that Sinn Féin covered up the abuse.

Addressing the Labour conference on Saturday night, Ms Cahill said that she was honoured to accept the award on behalf of people who had been abused but had not been able to tell anyone.

She claimed Sinn Féin were trying to discredit her.

“The responsibility for an illegal investigation which culminated in making me face my abuser lies with the IRA and the responsibility for the cover-up and continued cover of my abuse lies with Sinn Féin,” said Ms Cahill. “It was not and is not my fault.”

Sinn Féin has strenuously denied covering up Ms Cahill’s abuse but party leader Gerry Adams has admitted that republicans did create their own justice system due to not trusting the RUC previously.