McGahon case: “This stuff keeps resurrecting and it’s not going away.”

As John O’Dowd pretty much took a hammering from everyone on BBC’s The View last night, it was not a great deal better on RTE’s Prime Time. Here’s some extract Fran McNulty’s film at the beginning of the programme: Denis Bradley: Just hold up their hands and say this happened it shouldn’t have happened this was the context, it shouldn’t have happened. And therefore we accept responsibility for that. Most of these actions just can’t be defended. And Sinn Fein …

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“If a member of any branch of Fine Gael around the country was exiled, I would find him or her in 10 minutes.”

Okay, on the basis that most of the outputs around the Paudie McGahan story are repetitive and, frankly, depressing, let’s turn to Miriam Lord (€)… Why is Sinn Féin being singled out here? It’s most unfair. You can’t expect a political party/republican movement the size of Sinn Fein to know about every senior IRA operative who’s been accused of sex abuse. And you certainly can’t expect the party leader to know, particularly as he was never in the IRA. The …

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Sinn Fein on sex abuse: “We cannot allow anyone to use ignorance as an excuse for their failure to report”

I see Jude is with Francie Molloy [0.9] in his disapproval of Paudie McGahan’s testimony on Tuesday’s Spotlight programme. But it’s worth sharing Elaine Byrne’s perspective (Author of Political Corruption in Ireland) from the night of the broadcast: 1. What follows are extracts of Dáil speeches by @sinnfeinireland representatives on child sex abuse scandals. #SpotlightNI — Elaine Byrne (@ElaineByrne) March 10, 2015 2. Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: "The crimes were compounded by the cover-ups…" #SpotlightNI https://t.co/OZkhqekZkt — Elaine Byrne (@ElaineByrne) March 10, …

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“We have repeat offenders who are alive and well, and what is to be done about them?”

So Spotlight brought us another look at how Sinn Fein and the IRA handled (and continue to handle) victims of sexual abusers inside their own organisation. In a sense the witness testimony of Paudie McGahan was far less charged than that of Mairia Cahill, and in some respects less shocking. That’s probably because as the third major ‘witness’ we can now be pretty sure that Sinn Fein has an ongoing problem with the management of victims of child abuse at the hands …

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“Roy is right to say there are journalists working for party political advantage”

Roy Greenslade has another post up on the subject of Mairia Cahill case. [Ahem, with the comments closed. Whose decision was that I wonder? Ed]. He cites a letter writer in today’s Irish Times EE Fanning (also a prolific and unremittingly pro Sinn Fein twitter writer): “Only journalists outside of Ireland have questioned the treatment being meted out to Gerry Adams… The gated community of journalism in Ireland has little time for fairness when it comes to Sinn Féin.” That’s a …

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Sinn Fein continues to flout its own guidelines over disclosure of abuse…

In an interview with Newstalk’s lunchtime show yesterday, Councillor Joe Reilly Sinn Féin’s National Child Protection Officer outlined the party’s guidelines on reporting child abuse: listen to ‘Did Gerry Adams breach Sinn Féin guidelines on reporting child abuse?’ on audioBoom Cllr. Reilly stated that in 2003 the party instigated a policy whereby members who were aware of instances of child abuse should report them to the party chair. The policy “evolved” in 2006 when any such reports should be submitted …

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Are we slowly waking up to the pressing need to deal with child sexual abuse?

Something interesting is happening in the territory of child sexual abuse. The arrests over the last few days indicate a few rather disturbing patterns… Police forces across the country have arrested 660 suspected paedophiles including doctors, teachers and former police officers in the biggest operation for more than ten years targeting online child abusers. A junior paediatric doctor is among the suspects, who along with a second man, is suspected of having more than a million indecent images of children, …

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Home Office Inquiry must be slow, thorough and uncompromising…

I wonder who thought it a good idea to put an 80 year old Baroness with close family ties to a former British Attorney General in charge of an inquiry into how the Home Office handled abuse claims dating from the 1980s, ie at the very time her late brother was the government’s chief legal officer? According to the BBC… “Lady Butler-Sloss said she ‘did not sufficiently consider’ whether her family links would cause difficulties in the inquiry.” Fair enough, …

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[Soapbox] Shinners, please don’t blame the messenger!

Gerry Adams is a liar.  There.  I’ve said it.  Cue the wolf circling the sheep and herding them all in.  He’s never been in the IRA. (yeah, right) He was in jail when ‘Always look on the Bright Side Of Life’ was written (not true).  He is reported to have told the family of Jean Mc Conville that he was also in jail at that time (he wasn’t). Lies have a habit of tripping you up.  Not so, if you’re …

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This is how Gerry Adams reported his brother’s abuse to social services (it’s quite something)

From the court records, I think this is worth a thread on its own. It’s pretty much how Gerry Adams reported the news that his brother Liam was abusing his own daughter to the Social Services in Belfast. Well, no. That’s not what Gerry did. This is what the leader (then as now) of Sinn Fein actually did the day after he heard the news: Q. Well may I suggest to you that you, as the Member of Parliament for …

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In his brother’s child rape case Gerry Adams faces his own appalling vista

The most telling part of this whole sordid affair is when the second trial jury officially queries why Gerry Adams has not been brought before them by either the prosecution or the defence. The unvarnished truth is that the testimony of the leader of one of the largest political parties in Ireland was so strewn with contradictions and lies that neither side would take the risk of having Mr Adams appear in order to put their case. Yesterday he was …

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