Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, is at the center of a new controversy over his handling of rape allegations against a senior member of the Irish Republican Army.
A Belfast woman with a strong Republican family pedigree has claimed that she was raped repeatedly by Martin Morris, a senior I.R.A. member, in 1997 when she was 16, and that Mr. Adams was complicit in a cover-up. Mr. Morris has denied the charges.
In recent years, Mr. Adams’s party has weathered several storms arising from the conflict in Northern Ireland. They included his questioning in April by the police in the North over the murder and disappearance of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10 who was abducted and shot by the I.R.A. in 1972.Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the I.R.A., has surged in popularity in the Republic of Ireland, where a recent poll showed it was as popular as Fine Gael, the major government party. With an election due in 18 months at the latest, analysts have suggested that Sinn Fein’s political baggage, personified by Mr. Adams, might prove a major stumbling block.
The woman in the rape controversy, Mairia Cahill, now 33, said that after she had confided in some members of the I.R.A., she was summoned to a series of “kangaroo courts” where she was interrogated by the group’s top members and warned not to go to the police or even tell her parents.
Ms. Cahill’s great-uncle Joe Cahill was a founding member of the modern-day I.R.A. and a close ally of Mr. Adams. In a BBC "Spotlight" documentary that was shown last week, Ms. Cahill gave details of meetings she said she had with Mr. Adams, who was considered a family friend, about the rape allegations. Ms. Cahill said Mr. Adams had apologized to her on behalf of the Republican movement; Mr. Adams said the subject of her abuse had not even come up.
Since the program aired on Oct. 14, Ms. Cahill has continued to put pressure on Sinn Fein, and on Mr. Adams in particular, through interviews with news media in Northern Ireland and Ireland. She met with First Minister Peter Robinson of Northern Ireland on Monday and was expected to meet with Prime Minister Enda Kenny of Ireland later in the week.
She said she knew many more women who had similar experiences and were now prepared to come forward.
Mr. Adams told the BBC program that he had cooperated fully with the police on the matter.
After the documentary was shown, Mr. Adams issued a statement denying he had ever made the comments attributed to him by Ms. Cahill and said he had taken legal proceedings against the BBC over the remarks.
Last year, Mr. Adams was accused of covering up the rape and sexual abuse of his niece by her father, Mr. Adams’s brother, Liam. Mr. Adams has said he was made aware of the allegations in 1987 and in 2000 he confronted his brother, who admitted that they were true. However, he failed to make a statement to the police until 2009, when his niece went public about the abuse. Liam Adams was found guilty and last November was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
In her case, Ms. Cahill’s credibility has forced Sinn Fein — and Mr. Adams in particular — into a defensive position, attempting to contextualize I.R.A. involvement in the policing of such matters during the three decades of the Northern Ireland conflict, known as the Troubles.
This culminated on Sunday in a lengthy statement on Mr. Adams’s blog, in which he admitted that the I.R.A. had shot sex offenders and other criminals like car thieves, burglars and drug dealers.
The I.R.A. often took on this role reluctantly, he said, and only because it had no choice at a time when Northern Ireland nationalists had a deep distrust of the police. That distrust extended to other state agents, like social workers, he said.
“Despite the high standards and decency of the vast majority of I.R.A. volunteers, I.R.A. personnel were singularly ill equipped to deal with these matters,” he said. “This included very sensitive areas, such as responding to demands to take action against rapists and child abusers. The I.R.A. on occasion shot alleged sex offenders or expelled them.”
Mr. Adams did not comment specifically on Ms. Cahill’s case.
