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RTÉ
mairia cahill

'An investigation into IRA abuse allegations is needed to realise the scale of it'

Maíria Cahill spoke last night to RTÉ’s Saturday Night Show.

MAÍRIA CAHILL HAS called for a statutory investigation into allegations of abuse within the Republic movement.

“Something needs to be put in place to realise the scale,” she told RTÉ’s The Saturday Night Show.

“I want something tangible for victims when they come forward.”

Cahill said that she has been in contact with political parties on the issue.

The inquiry would be similar to the McAleese report into the Magdalene Laundries, she said, and would have the power to allow victims to give evidence by way of a ‘trusted individual’.


She told the programme her legal team has been looking at take civil action against members of Sinn Féin and the IRA.

Fine Gael TD Regina Doherty recently told the Dáil that she will give gardaí the names of eight alleged sex abusers within the IRA who are suspected of being moved to the Republic.

Cahill said this number has now tripled.

Maíria Cahill has been in the headlines since she claimed in a BBC Spotlight documentary that the IRA forced her to confront her alleged rapist.

However, she doesn’t see herself remaining in the public domain, and instead wants to help victims of abuse.

I don’t really see it as a campaign. It is a story to people, but it is my life, and I lived it.

Cahill spoke of how much her life changed since she first contacted police with her allegations four years ago, calling it “extremely difficult”, experiencing nightmares, flashbacks, and she also suffered a neurological insult.

I’m in a much stronger place now than I ever was. You toughen up when you feel like you’re being kicked about.

Read: TD will give gardaí names of eight sex abusers that IRA allegedly moved to Republic >

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