Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to take part in this debate, which is of the utmost importance. Moreover, it is in the utmost public interest that Members address the issues before them today. At the outset, I found the BBC "Spotlight" programme to be an excellent piece of public service broadcasting. Huge credit is due to the BBC in terms of pulling together that documentary. A question that has been posed previously but which has not been posed in the Chamber today is that when queries were put by the makers of that programme to both Sinn Féin and the IRA, why were they not responded to in the course of the making of that programme? Members have not heard why this was the case in any of the contributions already made. They may hear later on from some Sinn Féin speakers as to why they refused to co-operate with the makers of the aforementioned programme.

I also note that, like my party leader, I have met Maíria Cahill and found her to be a woman of the utmost integrity, substance and character. She fully deserves to be listened to and to have justice. This is why Members are debating this matter here today and that is why my party and I have been working with her to support her. Members are here for a number of reasons. They are here for justice for Maíria Cahill, as well as the many other people who were abused. They also are here for political accountability, which is not an à la carteprocess. It must be consistent across all political parties and not just some. Moreover, it must be consistent across all individuals as well. Most importantly, Members are here for abused children and for abused women and for vulnerable men who find themselves subject to abuse. Members must be here to give them a voice, to represent them and to speak up for them when they believe they are not being spoken up for or that their characters are being rubbished and trashed in the pursuit of justice. I wish to put on record that I refute and reject the Sinn Féin spin - that has been spun out in this Chamber again today - against my party leader and my party to the effect that Fianna Fáil is seeking to gain some kind of cheap political advantage.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We have been working with Maíria Cahill for over two years. However, those in Sinn Féin did not hear about our involvement during that period. Details of this only emerged when Ms Cahill decided to go public. We did not seek to obtain any cheap political advantage during the past two years. We make no apologies for seeking to represent someone who has a genuine case.

It is time for Sinn Féin to step up and be judged by the same standards that apply to the rest of us rather than seeking to be the subject of some form of different standard. I wish to put a number of questions to Sinn Féin's representatives in this House in the context of taking responsibility. Do they accept Maíria Cahill's account in full or just partially? Does Deputy Adams accept that he, as a public representative, behaved deeply irresponsibly with regard to Ms Cahill? Did Sinn Féin personnel interfere with the operation of the Cahill case when it was before the Public Prosecution Service? Did Sinn Féin-IRA conduct an internal review on this issue in 2005 and, if so, will details of this be forwarded to the relevant independent authorities? How many individuals were moved from Northern Ireland into the South as a result of IRA investigations into sexual abuse? Most important, and this is where responsibility comes into play, in which parishes and in what counties are these individuals now located?

The narrative relating to this debate is quite staggering on a number of levels. I refer, for example, to acquittals. Sinn Féin speakers inform us that the people who are alleged to have committed this abuse were acquitted. They were not acquitted because no court process was undergone. All of this is aimed at casting doubt in people's minds and pouring cold water over the debate on this issue. There have been no court cases and no acquittals. Sinn Féin is engaging in its usual play on words. Then there is the line to the effect that people in Sinn Féin, those in the IRA and the alleged abusers fully co-operated with the police. Some Sinn Féin people made very cleverly crafted, edited and scripted statements through their solicitors. Some of them spoke publicly on this matter in the media in recent weeks and sought in their own clever, legalistic way to discredit Maíria Cahill and others.

We have heard a great deal about whistleblowers. There is major irony in this regard. We heard all about the whistleblower from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation this morning, and on many previous occasions we have debated the claims made by whistleblowers such as Sergeant Maurice McCabe and former Garda John Wilson. When their character and integrity were questioned by public officials, those in Sinn Féin, like the rest of us, questioned those officials and called them to account. However, that standard was not applied when one of its own whistleblowers, who was once a member of the party, came forward and a campaign to discredit that individual immediately kicked into gear. That is another double standard in the context of how Sinn Féin treats anyone who speaks out against either the organisation of old or the party as it is currently constituted.

Cyberbullying takes many forms. We have all been the subject of abuse from or attacked by the faceless eggheads. I have been attacked and I can take it. However, there are people, including Maíria Cahill, who have been subjected to the vilest form of abuse and attack by members of Sinn Féin. The party is aware that its people are attacking Ms Cahill online but I have not heard anything from it in respect of that matter, nor have I heard the leaders of the party calling on its faceless, egghead keyboard warriors to desist. Of course, bullying does not just taken place online. In the not too distant past, Sinn Féin saw fit to serialise the account of one of the individuals who allegedly abused Maíria Cahill in An Phoblacht. This type of thing takes many forms and can also be found in the print media.

The culture of denial and cover-ups on the part of Sinn Féin is not new. Before I was elected to this House, Detective Garda Jerry McCabe was gunned down in the line of duty in my constituency. Sinn Féin's first response to that event was "Nothing to do with us". The next step in the response was "It was unauthorised". The third step involved taking some form of responsibility for its members being involved. Witnesses were also intimidated in that case. I recall meeting one of those witnesses, namely, a driver for a courier company in Limerick who was visited at his house in the middle of the night by Sinn Féin-IRA people and told not to co-operate with An Garda Síochána or to give evidence with regard to what he had seen. What is happening to Maíria Cahill now represents a continuation of what happened in the days before the Good Friday Agreement was concluded. That is the double standard which applies. Those in Sinn Féin should not come before the House and claim that they must be judged by a different standard while simultaneously acting in a contrasting manner.

Are Sinn Féin and the IRA going to co-operate with the reviews that are ongoing in the North of Ireland? In the context of the attack in which Sinn Féin is engaging with regard to the freedom of the press, I say: lads, you have to live in the real world. We are all subject to media scrutiny, regardless of whether we like it. I reject the comments made by Deputy Adams in the United States of America in respect of newspaper editors. Those in Sinn Féin are trying to make out they are victims and that they are being colluded against. The comments to which I refer were both disgusting and despicable and they should be retracted.

I support my party's call for the establishment of a cross-Border, North-South commission of investigation into the movement of child sex offenders and the covering up of their activities. The second strand of this commission's work should involve an examination of the systematic punishment beatings visited upon children who were forced to move to the South in the wake of the matters under discussion. This commission should be headed up by two suitably qualified individuals, one from the North and the other from the South. In the interests of politics in this country, it is time that the unelected cabal of IRA people in west Belfast seeking either to run or interfere in political affairs in this country ceased its activities. If they are interested in standing up and being counted, the new members of Sinn Féin such as Deputy McDonald and others should not try to impress the faceless cabal of unelected individuals who operate out of west Belfast. Instead, they should represent the people in this jurisdiction who elected them to serve in the Dáil and adhere to the same standards as the rest of us.

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