Adams says ‘justice for all’ and then denies it to anyone who’s in his way

I THINK there might be more merit in supporting Maíria Cahill than in attacking Gerry Adams. I’ve two reasons for saying that, and I realise that people who read that sentence might see it as the beginning of an apologia for Adams or Sinn Féin. I don’t mean it that way, and hope to make that clear.

My first reason is that there is something deeply disturbing about placing a young woman, who has suffered immense trauma, at the centre of a political campaign. I don’t know Ms Cahill, although what I have seen of her on television has been an example of courage and transparent honesty. There is no doubt, whatever, that she deserves the justice she seeks.

But she has been through an awful lot in her life — the kind of pain and deep-down emotional suffering that words can’t easily describe.