Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Maíria Cahill to the Dáil today. I commend her courage in coming here and in asserting her integrity over the past few months. I utterly deplore those alleged republicans who have sought to denigrate her stand.

I wish to deal with the disgraceful treatment of Maíria Cahill by members of the institutions of the IRA. The approach of the Socialist Party and the Anti-Austerity Alliance is the vindication of Maíria Cahill and the protection of victims of abuse first and foremost. This is in contrast to those sections of the political establishment and of the billionaire-owned media who have utilised the criminal abuse and victimisation of women and children primarily to deal a blow against their political adversaries Sinn Féin. The shameful actions and cover-up by members of Sinn Féin and the IRA is the same type of cover-up that we have seen again and again in this State under the political control for decades of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party. For example, there is a Government redress scheme for survivors of symphysiotomy, women who have had their bodies butchered but it is a without-fault liability scheme which the women do not support. That is the way the Government has treated women.

The actions of Sinn Féin and the IRA in the treatment of Maíria Cahill then and now are reprehensible, including by Deputies and high profile members of Sinn Féin. I have a tweet dated 3 November by a Sinn Féin member in my area, Dublin West, which reads: "#dubw,@sinnfeinireland poll rating 26%. Post anti SF fest". It is tagged to Maíria Cahill. That is utterly disgraceful. It continues “Fair to pointt [sic] out majority accept SF position on this issue”. That kind of thing, which adds to a rape victim’s horror, should be utterly condemned by Sinn Féin. Faced with serious allegations it is clear that Sinn Féin moved, at the expense of the victim, to cover up and circle the wagons for its party. Sinn Féin’s priority was not the abuse or the victim, it was to prevent the victim from publicly speaking with other women which she was doing at the time. In so doing it covered up rape and sexual abuse just as the church did and it is totally unacceptable.

How should rape victims be treated when an allegation like this comes to light? They should be listened to and not disbelieved. They should be supported and encouraged to avail of counselling and they should be free, if they choose, to go to the police or the authorities to prosecute the case. That is their choice. My understanding is that was the choice of Maíria Cahill and her family at that time and she should have been supported in that. It is absolutely true that there were difficulties in Catholic working class communities in going to the RUC. That, however, was the choice of the Cahill family. It is very difficult for any rape victim to go to the police. According to a report we saw today, one in seven rape victims reported that they did not feel they were treated properly by the gardaí. It is not compulsory to insist that victims do that but they should be supported if they choose to. An alleged abuser should immediately be suspended from any organisation. That was not done in this case. The person should be removed from contact with women and young people. Incredibly, Sinn Féin members and the IRA grilled and interrogated the victim, and used subtle threats to prevent her going to the RUC.

Sinn Féin’s defence all through, and that of loyalist paramilitaries, has been that they had to police working class communities, that there was a void in the policing system because the people did not trust the police. I contend that the methods of paramilitarism, of secret armies, mitigate against women and against working class people having any democratic rights or say in the process. The paramilitaries acted as self-appointed judge, jury and executioners, in many cases. How does a decision not to approach a discredited RUC justify a victim being brought on her own, without any support and against her wishes, and forced to confront her own attacker? How would the lack of policing in an area justify that behaviour? It is completely unjustifiable and should be condemned. It is outrageous treatment of any woman.

In our society there is an inbuilt economic and social inequality for women. There is a rape culture which often justifies rape, blames the victim and seeks to disbelieve women. I call on Sinn Féin now to acknowledge that Maíria Cahill was raped, to admit that her treatment was completely wrong, to take action against party members who harass her on-line and I call for the reopening of her case and of all other sexual crimes which it is clear were not properly investigated. I believe that is why Maíria Cahill withdrew her case.

There are many other issues we could touch on in this debate, other sexual crimes that need to be investigated, such as the Kincora scandal, the role of the PSNI and of both governments whom it also suited to cover up this crime at the time in order to bring Sinn Féin into the peace process. We need to recognise that this woman was mistreated, that it should not have happened and that Sinn Féin should take action and own up.

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