ALLEGED child abuse victim Máiría Cahill has rejected an apology from Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald over how the party handled a claim that she was raped by an alleged IRA member.
Speaking after the publication of a damning report from the Police Ombudsman into the PSNI's investigation into Ms Cahill's allegations, Ms McDonald said she commended the west Belfast woman on her bravery and accepted the party did not have procedures in place to handle her complaint when she reported it to Sinn Féin.
Ms McDonald said: “Sinn Féin has robust procedures in place for mandatory reporting of abuse.
“I deeply regret that these procedures were not in place at the time of Máiría Cahill’s disclosure. For this I unreservedly apologise."
Ms Cahill, an SDLP councillor and former senator, posted a response on social media this afternoon, describing the apology from Ms McDonald as "wholly inadequate" and having failed to mention an IRA 'investigation.
Ms Cahill told police she had been sexually abused by republican Martin Morris from 1997 to 1998, when she was 16, and in subsequent years was subjected to an IRA 'investigation' of her allegations.
She has welcomed the ombudsman's findings and called on Chief Constable George Hamilton to meet her to discuss the service's "considerable failings".
Two other women also made police complaints saying they had been abused as children by the same man. The PSNI initiated investigations and people were charged with offences.
However, in 2014 the trials of the man accused of the rape and of those accused of involvement in the IRA investigation collapsed when Ms Cahill and the two other women withdrew their evidence, citing a loss of confidence in how the matter had been dealt with.
