McDonald to meet Adams after woman says she told him of rape claim

Sinn Féin’s Deputy President Mary Lou McDonald has said she will meet Gerry Adams later to discuss allegations made in a BBC TV programme.

Gerry Adams says he "totally refutes" the allegations about a meeting he had with a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by an IRA member and was subjected to an in-house investigation.

The BBC reports Maíria Cahill said that in 1997, when she was 16, she was subjected to a 12-month cycle of sexual abuse and that the IRA later forced her to confront her rapist. The man she accused denied the charge and has been acquitted.

Maíria Cahill's great-uncle, Joe Cahill, was one of the founders of the Provisional IRA and a long-time associate of Mr Adams.

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said she would discuss the matter with him, but added the matter had already been dealt with in court.

"Nobody can second-guess what has happened in a court of law - that applies to Gerry as much as to anybody else," she said.