Northern Ireland

Mairia Cahill resolves legal action over requriement for council candidates to publish their home address.

Mairia Cahill. Picture by Hugh Russell.
Mairia Cahill. Picture by Hugh Russell.

FORMER SDLP councillor Mairia Cahill has resolved her legal action over a law which required local government election candidates to publish their home address.

Judicial review proceedings against the Secretary of State were due to get underway at the High Court in Belfast.

But the case was taken out of the lists after it emerged that a settlement has been reached.

With a final order set to be issued at a later stage, no further details were disclosed.

Ms Cahill came to public attention in 2010 by alleging she had been raped as a teenager by a member of the IRA.

Waiving her right to anonymity, she claimed the paramilitary organisation carried out its own inquiry and forced her to confront the man accused of attacking her.

A former Irish Labour Party Senator before joining the SDLP, she had been expected to contest the 2019 local elections.

However, she pulled out of standing to retain her seat on Lisburn and Castlereagh Council because of the obligation to publish her address.

Ms Cahill, who has secured a restraining order against an individual, feared it would put her family at risk.

She challenged the publication requirement, contending that it was a breach of human rights.

When leave to apply for judicial review was granted last year the court heard a change to the law was expected in the near future.

Proceedings were then put on hold due to those indications.

An amendment to the rules on candidates' addresses is understood to have taken place.

Ms Cahill was supported in the case by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.

However, attempts to obtain further clarification from the body were unsuccessful. It is understood that the Commission will issue a statement in due course.