I remember a UTV programme some years back where I asked the expert panel for a three-fold comparison between the levels of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, by clergy from other Churches, and by the general population. Afterwards I was reprimanded by three Protestant clergymen. This was not a problem for other Churches, they told me with some emphasis. This was a problem for Roman Catholic Church, due to the celibacy rule. Events since appear to contradict them.Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter – the list goes on of men who were convicted of abuse but who were scarcely celibate. Nor is guilt confined to celebrities. Tthe statistics show that you’re more likely to be abused by a family member than by someone outside your immediate circle.
I mention this because in recent days, weeks, months, years, the spotlight (no pun intended) has swivelled from the Catholic Church to Sinn Féin, the most recent being a man called Paudie McGahon, who told the BBC’s Spotlight last night that he was raped by an IRA man and brought to a secret IRA court. I didn’t see last night’s Spotlight but I did hear this morning’s Radio Ulster where Conor Bradford asked Justice Minister David Ford “How confident are you that these alleged victims will get justice?”
There are at least five questions worth asking.
1. Is Paudie McGahon a victim of rape? He may be, but as yet he has not produced supporting evidence for his charge. If he is a victim, those responsible should be punished. If his claims are untrue and he’s not a victim, then those accused would have grounds for legal redress. Whether they’d get it – like the truth of Paudie McGahon’s allegations – remains to be seen.
2. Why did Paudie McGahon choose to make his charges at this time? The alleged rape happened, he says, years ago; yet it is only now coming to light. Mr McGahon says it was because he was afraid. What or who has caused his fear now to melt?
3. Is there smoke without fire? “Probably not” is the answer most people would give. If you can establish in the public mind a link between two things, the facts of the matter tend to take a back seat. We see this in advertising, where a product is linked with some celebrity or with pleasing images of friendship or recreation; the fact that the product might be second-rate or even dud then becomes a secondary matter, if a matter at all. So if republicans can be linked in the public mind with sexual abuse, that should help slow the Sinn Féin bandwagon if not stop it, regardless of the facts of the matter.
4. Is there a danger of selective moral indignation here? It’s clear that interviewers and commentators find the McGahon case disturbing. If what Mr McGahon says is true then they have every right to be disturbed. But aren’t there a whole series of cases, Kincora being perhaps the most notorious, which have received rather less consistent attention by the media? If the answer to this is yes, it doesn’t take an Einstein to work out why Mr McGahon’s case has been singled out for attention.
5. Should we not have sympathy for and give support to these victims, rather than question them about their bona fides? Well no, because they should not be treated or talked of as victims until there is evidence that this is what they are. When that happens, then they deserve the unstinted sympathy of anyone with half a heart. But until that happens, we should – we must – suspend judgement. I say ‘must’, because the alternative is truly shocking. It would mean that anyone who made a claim of sexual abuse would automatically be accepted as a victim and their alleged perpetrator as a monster of sorts. If you’ve seen Arthur Miller’s great play The Crucible, you’ll know there’s a name for this: witch-hunting.
Padraig Wilson’s name was dragged into this by spotlight ,alleging that he organised an “IRA enquiry into all this.Padraig has mow issued a statement that he knows nothing at all about this,that he does not know nor never met the alleged vicim nor does he know nor never met the alleged perpetrator..Could it possibly be that some 13 years or more after the “inquiry” that someone from spotlight “helpfully” suggested Padraigs name to the alleged victim?
It would be very interesting to know who approached this person in the first place,i agree 100 per cent that if he was raped,the person who done it should go to prison for a very very long time,it seems that rte were ready and waiting,and people would like to know,when his interviews took place. There and then,or weeks before,meaning that they were already in the pipeline,for veiwing to the public.
i didn’t see the. Show so I can’t critise it veracity,however, in the clip shown tis morning showed the presenter showing the victim a single photograph and asking if that was the man who carried out the investigation. I thought that was wrong.
Listening to NOlan this morning there was an almighty stench of hypocrisy. The BBC questioning people about how they handled allegations of sexual abuse, this same organisation that covered up the abuse by savile, that provided a room for Stuart hall, that has in recent months sacked reporters for investigating savile and even pulled a programme about it. No senior BBC executive called in to answer questions put by Nolan.
How about asking David Cameron about the sexual abuse of Tory and other MPs. Thatcher was informed by the intelligence services about those involved, Cameron as PM must also have been informed. Will Nolan ask him on to answer questions about why the authorities who knew about these people did not prosecute them?
Rhetorical questions.
P J Dorrian
It shouldn’t matter to irish republicans how big the iceberg is that Cameron,bbc,Whitehall are covering up concerning systematic child abuse. If allegations of abuse are levelled against republicanism they should be examined.
It’s claimed this morn that gerry Adams believes this man was raped? If so, I sincerely hope the perpetrator is revealed one way or another.
Alas the spotlight show continued its form of using victims to knock republicanism. I don’t know whether Wilson was involved or not in this case but I would say some other victims would have snapped the hand off the person, with what they offered to do with the perpetrator. Because going by the leniency that these offenders habitually receive when they are brought to justice the ‘normal’ route, victims are not receiving much justice at all.
Nolan had a victim of sexual abuse on this morning, he made allegations about members of the Orange Order, no one from the organisation was asked on. To give a reaction. He also made. Allegations about the police and politicians. Since he was abused in the Same houses as those linked to savile and Leon Brittain surely Stephen should have had some reaction from. Theresa May
#Gerryadamsatemyhamster
Tune in next week for #Gerryadamsatemyrabbit then the following week #Gerryadamsatemydog all in the run up to the elections.
I work with a colleage who is an ardent unionist and her words are and i quote… “This is turning into a farce, why are Sinn Fein getting special attention on sexual abuse, its beyond a joke now”
I have no sympathy for this man as his story and motives and timing are highly questionable.
Why now?
Why wreck your ability to have justice?
Are you affiliated with any political party?
Have you received any payments from any political party or media group?
Your glorious leader seems to believe he was raped. Its quite sad that you cant have any sympathy for him this probably has traumatised him and perhaps he needs some closure?
Neill you really should read what I wrote. I said if his allegations were true he deserves sympathy and justice. I also said that if you make charges against people they should be supported by evidence. Which of those two statements do you see as wrong?
Jude i wasnt refering to you but the good Dr Micheal and his statement
Oh damn. I take it all back, neill. Every syllable.,..
Yes Jude I would have to agree with your analysis. The claims of rape like those of Maria Cahill may well be true but not until they are tested in court or an admission of guilt is made by a perpetrator can much gravity be given to them.
Many people it seems used the turmoil of the troubles to perpetrate crimes and injustices against others knowing that they might well get away with it. Your heart could not fail to go out to any victims of such abuse but there is always that inkling feeling that a section of the media are spending an inordinant proportion of time and resources on subjects which could have the possibility of damaging reputations for political ends!
I simply turn the tv/radio off whenever these propaganda stories are mentioned, Sinn Féin voters will not be swayed by them. Waste of time. These `victims` will be wheeled out every so often, Unionists will fulminate about the IRA, yawn.
Could it be that BBC/NI office will once again be confounded. After last spotlight programme on this issue support for sinn fein increased as shown in opinion polls. With an election looming they are having another go. Will it backfire? Possibly some who thought why would I vote for any of the shower up at stormont will react in a way not anticipated by Bbc/ NI office
Back in the 70s there was a collection of a war correspondent’s reminiscences published with the memorable title ‘Anybody here been raped and can speak English?’.
The author was Edward Behr and that particular knife-sharp question was shouted at a group of just-released European survivors of the Siege of Stanleyville during the political upheaval in the heart of Africa in the early 60s. There could have even been some Irish survivors among that group as it was a conflict which left its impact on the vocab of Cabra and other parts of Dublin: ‘gerrup out of dat, ya Baluba ya !’.
A less well known linguistic fact is that the leading lady poetess in the lingua franca of the leprechaun was also there or thereabouts at that time, Maire the poet ,as distinct from Maire the prose writer who was actually a man from Dun na nGall. Although it is not thought at all likely that either of the two parts of the one question above would have applied to the Free Southern Stateen’s foremost versifier in the Erse.
Perkie’s inner poetess-taster likes to think she has somewhere still in her bottom drawers, even this late in the la, an unpublished manuscript of danta dana / bold verses in key-cold leprechaun with the likely title of ‘Bailiuchan Baluba’. What is certain is that her husband and hero, Congo Crisis O’Brain (for it is he !) first cut his colonial teeth there on such choice phrases as ‘The Bush-oak Monolith’.
Edward Behr also covered Norneverland in his time and if he were alive today might even be tempted to add a postscript with the working title of ‘Anyone here been raped who speaks Sindo ?’
For let us be under no illusions here, Esteemed Blogmister, the real worrior (sic) in this latest updatest of the Get Gerry ‘Ganda Game (what an outrageous suggestion !) currently being played out with great gusto altogether in the Safe Houses/ Studios of the media on both sides of the Black Pig’s Dyke, is none other than Paul Williams.
Yes, that Paul Williams, the fearless ink slinger of the Sunday Independent Cult e-freesheet, SIC. He all but says so himself, having modestly admitted as much to P. Kenny of an Independent,oops, independent wireless station on Liffeyside this morning.
-I wor in the Louth area for a few months, interviewing the victim,, so I wor. He wor open and frank with me, so he wor. We both knew we wor on to something bigger than ourselves, so we did .And so we wor.
As may be seen, the Worrier Williams has a way with the word ‘were’, (Perkie is petrified he will ever turn his beagle-eye in his direction: talk about World Worbeck the Turd)
This way with the w.word may have had something to do with Wee County’s big reputation as a fertile breeding ground of Worriers from Cuchulainn ( hall of famer in the Setanta Sport of stickfighting ) on down.. Indeed, to this day, the very sheep in the Cooley Mountains are known to be worried by stray dogs and ouher fourlegged worriers.
It is also famous for the Poc Fada/ Long Puck competition. Every year the sliotarati congregate there on an annual basis to play a game of primitive golf.to the toon of ‘Caman Everybody’. Coolies of the purchased press of course choose to ignore it, preferring to insert their craven curiosities into pivotal cross channel contests involving the likes of Cowdenbeath versus Forfar.
Of course, the peninsula is also renowned for another phenomenon suggestive of length.apart from the Cahill Raid of Cooley (whose very origins are lost in the mists of the Long Ago and are as old as In the name of the Fada itself, not to mention The Sleepless Beauty) .
That would be the Long Woman’s Grave/ Uaigh na Mna Fada. Although her name was Cathleen O’Donnell she did not actually hail from Dun na nGall but rather was she one of the original Les Filles de Cadiz. about whom the French tunesmith, Leo Delibes was to compose so melodically, at a far later period.
In terms of beauty CO’D was head and shoulders above todas las otras muchachas guapas in the Spanish fishing port: all seven feet of her. in her nyloned feet. Her beauty was at the height of its fame when her husband to be first encountered here on her home patch. He was a tallboy himself, from a wealthy (possibly rugby playing) family in Omeath.
He stood 7 feet 3 inches (si, senor) in the line out in his rugby stockings and his name was (gulp) Lorcan O’Hanlon.
(Perkie’s inner presshound’s adherence to the truth in the legend does not permit of falsehood:; besides, would the Great God Google lie?).
It was widely reported in the equivalent of the Sindo of the time (Sott) that what attracted Master O’ Hanlon to his bride to be were the sheer length of both her nylons and, erm,Eyelashes.
Before you could say ‘scoop !’ the new Mrs. O’Hanlon / An Bhean Fhada was setting up home on the cold, wet and windswept summit of the Cooley Peninsula. Her sojourn was not to be a long one, alas. For soon, she succumbed to the elements (and there is something truly elemental about the elements of Oriel). Her marriage bed, alas, doubled as a grave.
In a tradition which lasts till this very day, visitors to her long and long-winded grave bring stones to lay upon it, much in the manner of , said to relate, opportunisitc pols with an election on the hor, are known to lay down markers in the Safe Houses/ Studios of the Free Southern Stateen’s free and independent broadcasting outlets.
Curious how those with a Spanish background who have made an input to Irish history, come to do so while trammelled with the word ‘long’/ largo/ fada.Think Dev/ The Long Fellow.
And the Long Lady’s influence is still to be found in the hinterland of the Cooley Peninsula: to this day, El Paso is Spanish-speaking. (At least that’s how it sounds in D’Town to Perkie’s unpractised ear).
In the immortal words of the Oriel poet, Maritin Robbins, Uasal:
I saw a good one
It looked like it could be an on-the-run.
Sadly, the tale of the Long Lady from Cadiz had not exhausted its stipend of neverending tragedy. Her young husband, Lorcan O’Hanlon, was so distraught at her untimely death that he went and buried himself out of grief/soldiartiy. Google informs one his grave has never been located. He could almost be the prototype of the Disappeared.
That could explain-and this is admittedly stretching things a tad – the sight of opportunistic p’s (see above) out with the dawn of Daybreak (popular FM progammme) with ballot paper in one one and a dirty big clean shovel in the other.
Either that, or there’s an election on the hor..
Behr bua.
Ah, An Uaigh na Mna Fada/The Long Woman’s Grave – a sight I can see each and every day, from a distance (the only way to look at it). And what a sight to behold.
But not as much as much a sight to behold as the “Cahill Raid of Cooley”. That is genius. I swear, we have a genius in our midst, fear darbh ainm Warbeck.
A Shadow that does not scríobh a post, but pours forth prose.
In the future, all Irishmen will say “Everyone remembers where they were when Perkie wrote [insert brillance here]”
Ta tu ro-chinealta ar fad, mo Cheannaire.
Fact is, as a rule of thumb low profile Perkie’s innner Modest Mussorsky tends to blush a bright Russian red whenever the thumbs up is given.
Makes him want to head like a hare for the Cooleys, indeed, and spend a Night on Bald Mountain.
Still, as he was once overheard to remark one slow day in downtown Boris in Ossory: the absence of a cic sa toin is Godunov for him.
Beir bua.
The SDLP would need to be very careful about all this.Only last week an SDLP man,former election candidate and who signed other SDLP candidates election papers very recently was convicted of some very dodgy stuff.The media virtually ignored this and those that reported it mentioned that he had left the SDLP “last year”.(how very convenient!). However as has happened elsewhere allegations of abuse can snowball and sometimes head in directions not intended by those who would make political capital out of them.Dodgy people tend to veer towards situations and occupations which let them carry out abuse and SF with its overwhelmingly working class base would have been very much underrepresented in the teaching profession or church youth groups for example.Conversely the SDLP would have been vastly over represented in these occupations and groups and if a comprehensive inquiry was to happen, many SDLP members could be asked what they knew and what they did in terms of reporting (etc).The individual convicted last week for example was a teacher which makes his offences even more reprehensable.
Jude, some months ago I wrote in your blog that I would no longer buy the Irish Times because of it’s clear anti-republican bias. I would like to assure you, and especially Virginia that I have remained steadfast as regards my boycott of that journal. That my decision was the correct one was strengthened by the comments of an Irish Times journalist on the RTE radio news at one. Having unsurprisingly predicted serious political damage for Sinn Féin in the light of the McGahon allegations he ridiculed any notion that there was any media bias against the Sinners. Fair minded analysis was what Sinn Féin and all other parties were subject to, he, with no little sanctimony, declared. What, I was moved to wonder is the colour of the sky in that man’s world?
His certainty may have been nudged a bit earlier that morning on Good Morning Ireland. Gavin Jennings read out a statement from McGeogh, the Sinn Féin councillor in which he stated that since the matter of Mr.. McGahon’s allegations was in the hands of the Gardaí he wished to make no further comment. I’m sure that most listeners would have felt, like me that we had just heard a shifty bit of stone-walling… to hide what dark secrets?? It was only when Gerry Adams was on half an hour later that we heard the full statement; that McGeogh had advised McGahon to go to the police. To give Jennings his due he made a valiant effort to stop Adams from reading the statement.
I think that Gerry A. was a bit previous in stating that he believed McGahon. Raymond McCartney was in my opinion more correct when on BBC he stated that he had no reason to doubt him but that it was for the courts to decide on the veracity of allegations, not politicians.
I’ts an old saying, there is no such thing as bad publicity. Very true and no more so when applied to the lap-dog southern media who are falling over themselves to see who can publish the most in an attempt to damage Sinn Fein. There must be elections coming up soon!
Sorry lads and lassies of the fifth estate, but you are wasting your time. The vast majority of thinking people have, for a long time now, decided who and what they want to believe and the rubbish served up as news just won’t cut it anymore.
Thankfully social media has blown your credibility out of the water. There are so many ways to get information now that most people take anything coming from the main-stream sources with a large pinch of salt
It never ceases to amaze me how many so-called journalists are prepared to prostitute themselves to ‘advance their career’.
Ah! It’s one of the anti school cabal that sits and plots madness twice a week in the Culturlann
This fellow sounded as though he was telling his truth as he remembers it .He was much closer and more involved in the underground doings and day- to- day operations of active republicans back then. It’s not as if he didn’t know some of these characters and possibly heard stories that the rest of us outsiders would never be privy to .He certainly sounded as though he’d have many tales to tell from those pre-Agreement days when the IRA actually did exist as an outlaw organisation.
The man sounded as if if he was raped alright .Non -consensual sex…Yep..it sounds like he was raped.I don’t think anyone sane would want to make up a yarn like that and put themselves on television. Why now? Maybe because he sees his rapist running about free as a bird and is rightly pissed-off …As anyone would be. He was offered three choices apparently . 1. The guy could get a bullet in the head from his fellow republicans…”.2. He’d be allowed to do the job himself..or 3. The guy could be banished .He took the banishment option because he didn’t want to be responsible for killing someone..the Death Penalty…the thing that bugged him was that the banishment didn’t seem to stick and the guy is free to intimidate him all over again.
So far …so good. Any one of us might feel peeved at that but in those times there was no police force to go to or be trusted by himself or those other republicans .Remember ..the police were their enemy.All these guys….
There are rapists in all walks of life…sexual control freaks…so why wouldn’t you find a percentage of these predators in a tight wee closed society like the inner core of the republican movement too? You’ll find them in the police force, the army , the various churches , nursing , dentistry …you name it. You’ll nevr know about any of them until they are exposed. Why would someone at the top of the republican movement know what is going on in these tight wee insular cells that they appear to have operated in .
Mix all that in with the current push and pull-me politics in Ireland and Sinn Fein’s rise .Then mix in a young ambitious reporter with a hot story to tell and a great platform to enhance her name with and you’ve got the perfect scenario…Never mind that the Established order, north and south is already having conniptions.
This is obviously a job for the police now ,but the legal case will probably be already muddied with all the hoohah of this programme.You might ask, why didn’t the guy just take his case to the police instead …. now that the IRA is long gone and take his chances in court , like every other citizen. His rapist is no longer a volunteer in anything, real and his former comrades apparently were up for putting a slug behind his ear a few years ago.
. Is it a case of there being no evidence to show and no witnesses to call and support him? That’s probably it, which is why many criminals , for all sorts of crimes….. walk free. That’s the way life is .
Mea culpa, should have said ‘fourth estate’
Trial by media will not help victims and may in fact work to the advantage of perpetrators of suspected and actual abuse. Professional therapeutic services are needed to enable each unique and complex case to be assessed on the basis of evidence and due legal process.
When do you plan to watch the Spotlight programme?Presume you have made arrangements to view it in the near future.I note that Gerry Adams has said on R T E that he believes Paudie Mc Gahons claims.
Argenta – I have no plans to view the Spotlight programme. Does that make me a bad person? I hope not. Yes, I see where GA says he believes PMcG’s claims. And your point is?
Jude
It would seem a fairly obvious thing to watch the program if you intended to blog about it.
It might help you make up your mind about the case.
But I think you are not really disputing the truth of the case, just the motives behind it.
It is a familiar refrain, not only from yourself but from many SF supporters.
“Poor us, the media is out to get us”
Is all criticism of Sinn Fein to be met with this cry, rather than actually addressing the issues raised? It looks weak and evasive
Gio – I really can’t believe a man of your intelligence would come out with that. (i)It’s perfectly possible to know the charges Paudie McG made without watching Spotlight. (2) It’s not a question of my ‘making up my mind about the case’ – I don’t know if the case is valid (i.e., if he’s telling the truth) or not – and I suspect you don’t either. The difference is, I accept that I don’t know until evidence is forthcoming to support what he says. I’d have thought that was so obvious anyone with an ounce of impartiality would have accepted it. But instead you go on to catcall about SF and the media and tell me I’m weak and evasive. Really, gio – not worthy of you.
Jude
I’m not saying you are weak and evasive but the line of defence employed is.
(But if it’s manplaying you are worried about you will find plenty on this thread directed at Mick Fealty amongst others)
The constant attempts to shoot the messenger whether it is Ruth Dudley Edwards or Fintan O’Toole or whichever branch of the media takes your fancy, instead of meeting the issues head on, seems unconvincing to me.
And my ‘catcall’ as you call it about Sinn Fein was remarkably tame compared to the stuff you routinely trot out mocking those who dare to criticise the great leader.
Finally I am pretty sure I did not say I knew the truth in this case, despite your suggesting I did.
There will be people who do know the details of what happened and who was present at that meeting. What are the chances they will come forward to clarify matters do you think? All decent republicans will surely want to help, so there will no doubt be a queue at Gerry’s door of people eager to put things straight..
Maybe it’s an old fashioned concept,but normally commentators tend to watch the programmes they are writing about.My point about G A was that if the leader of your party said that he believed Mc Gahons claims, it might influence your thinking .I’m sure you have enough independence of mind to disagree very occasionly with your leader!
I thought the object of discussion was Paudie McG, not the programme. Have I left something out that RTE included. As to ‘the leader of your party’ – are you saying I am a member of Sinn Féin? Many things influence my thinking but I’d like to think I use my own brain, not someone else’s. Your last sentence is…well, I think you know what it is, Argenta.
Since you’ve raised the question about membership of Sinn Fein,are you a member? If not,why not?
To which the answer is, mind your own business.
A lot of the republican views on Maria cahill and this man paudies accusations are so parallel to apologists and disbelievers for state murders ..
Jude,
the numbers of false accusations of sexual assault are so vanishingly rare that questioning their veracity without some evidence is churlish.
We know that sexual abuse happens and happened. We know that republicans previously ran their own courts instead of working with the state. Of course the usual suspects are going to throw mud, it’s what they do. Doesn’t mean we can’t have an honest conversation about what happened then and what needs to happen now.
Were SF involved in kangaroo courts after the GFA? When did they stop? One Dick Mulcahy was enough, we can’t have parties in government if they are running their own star chamber.
“the numbers of false accusations of sexual assault are so vanishingly rare that questioning their veracity without some evidence is churlish.” Gendjinn I hate to say it but I think that’s a very dangerous path to tread, because it virtually says “If you don’t treat an accusation as true you are churlish”. I don’t agree. I think there’s a difference between claim and verification and that difference is spanned by evidence. I don’t for a moment say that all claims are false – I wish that they were but it’s obvious that they were not, sad to say. I am saying all claims should be examined and verified before deciding they’re true. The alternative is what Arthur Miller wrote about: witch-hunting.
It is clear to all that these kind of ‘kangaroo courts did indeed take place.
There must be numerous members of Sinn Fein who had close connection to the IRA (no sniggering please) who know exactly who ran these affairs.
So if Padraic Wilson was not involved who was?
No doubt those in the know will be making haste to come forward with their information.
I won’t hold my breath.
The opening paragraph should have been warning enough as to the nonsense of this article Jude but it fascinates me as to the levels of nonsense people like yourself are willing to stoop to in order to defend those who destroyed the reputation of a once proud Movement, so I read on.
It did get worse. Victims like Paudie and Mairia Cahill aren’t victims, they have an agenda, are anti-peace process, they want to stop SF getting into government. Indo black ops. Did I mention agenda? They pretend they were raped by IRA members in order to keep the status quo intact down South. So wicked are their ways that even a British Secretary of State worried about ‘Poor Padraig.’ Shaun Woodward must now be beside himself with worry in regards to the IRA leader.
The reason you aren’t lining up to apologise to Paudie McGahon with Francie Molloy is that few, except for the odd wandering sheep, actually read this blog. And the media only go after household names.
The ‘selective moral indignation’ was aplenty when the Catholic Church was at the receiving end, sure Martina Anderson spoke on the subject with the air of one blessed by angels as I remember. And didn’t Mary Lou call for jail time for those who withheld information on abusers?
The thing is, when you lot howl about the media going after Gerry and SF and their political opponents in FF, FG etc using Mairia Cahill in other to undermine their so called ‘rise’, do you not think that the reason they can do this is because no other political party on this island has so far been linked to rape, child abuse and the cover up of it. Therefore they are able to hold the high moral ground on the matter.
If I were you I would wonder where the next victim or victims will come from next and how you will play it. I heard an interview today and I got the serious impression the interviewer was throwing out serious hints at the person being grilled. Hints about something which is common knowledge not only in the NW but the halls of Stormont.
Thank you, Dixie, for that detailed comment. I’m sorry you think I’m talking nonsense. I was trying to say two things primarily, I suppose: (i) Commentators/political opponents keep throwing cases of sexual abuse at SF. Any accusation of sexual abuse should be handled sensitively but it should also be accompanied by evidence/proof. To believe something simply because someone has said it is either naive or biased; (ii) I believe that there are some people who are more than willing to use those alleging sexual abuse for their own purposes. One can never be sure, but might it be that those expressing distress on behalf of the alleged victim are in fact using the victim to bash the Shinners? Is that possible? I think it’s worth thinking about. I’d end by repeating that where sexual abuse has in fact been proved to have occurred, those guilty should be subjected to the full rigour of the law and those made victims should receive all the support available and the sympathy of everyone.
So, not much to add other than to say I’ve known joy riders and petty thieves to be exiled for far longer than this alleged rapist…
Also perhaps of interest, I’ve collated Elaine Byrne’s quotes from SF reps in their capacity as representatives in the Oireachtas over on Slugger: http://goo.gl/TFAEr1.
I do agree wholeheartedly that trial by media is no replacement for judge and jury (see my note on the very real social dangers of calumny: http://goo.gl/5J5GlV). But it is also clear that the party is behaving in precisely the same manner of the church they’ve been so ready to criticise.
Sinn Fein has a difficult to negotiate past. The general (but likely misplaced) understanding was that we would all help negotiate that past by building for the future.
Instead, SF has chosen to spend a lot of time mining the past sins of the British state (letters of comfort or no letters of comfort), with the result that people like Paudie are now refusing to keep quiet any more.
Denying it is happening will be no more use to the party than that dodgy dossier has allowed them regain control of the narrative on Welfare Reform and cuts (and I really didn’t think it was possible to lose the blame game with the DUP).
It seems we are still in the very earliest stages of Kübler-Ross (http://goo.gl/CB04)…
A point missed in this discussion, had the victims gone to. The RUC when the incidents happened they would probably been asked to volunteer as informants and the perpetrators would not have been arrested but likely blackmailed into becoming informers also. Fantasy, people may say but we know this is what happened to Denis Donaldson and no doubt others, then when they had outlived their usefulness stake knife would have been there to take care of them.
Oh damn. I take it all back, neill. Every syllable.,..
Oh if only Jude if only……!
Such a learned and well researched intervention from M.B.E. Fealty. Most posters drift to this blog after reading the emetic and frenzied attempts by above MBE et al to prevent thinking people from voting SF(Provisional). Most people can and do make up their own minds and various links to the Sindo faction blog in ‘our wee country’ will attract few readers. All this West British/Castle catholic/Uncle Tom journalism has one end in mind. It is a sharp stick poking exercise in the fond hope that the dog is truly dead and not just sleeping. If the hyenas nip and mince long enough – now that peace reigns – something is bound to emerge (they hope) that will deliver the death blow to Irish nationalism. Even ex-‘combatants’ who backed the wrong horse or were passed over for promotion have thrown in their hats to the ring.
I think the media and Sindo controlled government in the South and Mr Fealtys unionist ass kissing club are playing fast and loose with all this stuff. There doesnt seem to be any conjectivity when it concerns anything to do with SF and it appears deliberately so in order to paint any SF voters into some kind of cult. The slugger-sindo junta does not seem to have any mirrors in their houses!
They are on one hand are placing the IRA on the same moral level and operational aparatus as the Judical System in the North and South and then on the other doing a hatchet job shouting ‘terrorists’. There is a term for this type of media onslaught “PROPAGANDA”.
Anyone with the slightest moral backbone should be questioning how come an ‘illegal’ organisation was able to perform social justice better than the incumbent government of the day who seemingly were turning blind eyes to widespread sexual abuse in the church, the Orange Order and the actual government of the day!
They spent years trying to get Republicans in from the cold and into the democratic process, now only to find out that they were never going to treat them as democrats. It is clear that whilst the IRA are gone, the combatants on the other side have not.
Im sure we can all see where this might be heading.
Was it something I said?
not the program but an interesting read non the less.
http://sluggerotoole.com/2015/03/12/gerry-adams-guidelines-or-rules-what-rules/
Lads, ignore Fawlty .He’s just an attention seeker who is miffed that 99.9 % of the population have never heard of him.
michael c
Now you’re just chancing your arm with that claim. Slugger has been described as “the watering hole of the political class in Northern Ireland” In research commissioned in 2008 it was revealed that 96% of MLAs read Slugger occasionally or regularly. In fact I’d go as far as to say most of the population read it. And Dixie is a sound political analyst, as you will have gathered by his contribution today. Jude went so far as to thank him for his “detailed comment”.
And you are? Someone without the guts to use your own name.
Dixie
Is that reply at 10-16pm directed at me?
Er no pretzellogic, it was of course directed at michael c who was making the absurd claim in regards to Mick Fealty that ‘99.9 % of the population have never heard of him.’
As for Dixie he’s trying to divert attention from the ever increasing shambles that”anti agreement republicanism has become.I see in todays Irish News that they have now taken to threatening each other.
Not a bit wonder you hide behind the balaclava of anonymity. Instead of putting up a credible argument against my posts you churn out nonsensical drivel.
Increasing shambles is opposing Tory Cuts then signing up to them, preaching that the Stormont House was great at the Ard Fheis, then condemning it from the pulpit on the Monday.
Increasing shambles is having a ‘republican monarchist’ for a leader…..
Increasing shambles is An Agreement which there will be never be any agreement, especially when the Unionists know how to shaft the Shinners with ease.
Ireland truly is a unique country.
I’m unaware of anywhere else on our small planet where an alleged abuse victim takes to the national radio to speak of their ordeal and ends up slagging off the tax policies of a political party.
I had suspicions about McGahons motives but the mask really slipped in that Pat Kenny interview, I realise the fella isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer but to start criticising SF tax policies was hilarious, I thought Mary Lou’s response was top class,she’d be a great successor to Gerry whenever he retires.
The southern establishment is running scared of SF’s rise, and the political opportunism by latching on to alleged victims of sex abuse for political mud slinging is despicable but it’s to be expected from this shower.
Dixie, of course none of your disso mates use anonymity as they rant incoherently on the site in which you are imbedded.Pretz, I guarantee that if I canvassed 500 houses in the upcoming election ,the number who ever heard of Fawlty or Slugger would be nil.He is getting next to no engagement from SF supporters on his site so has come on here to try and get a reaction.You and Dixie are playing the same game.Apparently it is “nonsensical drivel” to point out a news report highlighting a statement from a criminal gang masquerading as “the IRA” in which they threaten other political micro groups.These political micro groups lead gangs of hoods round belfast in “big marches” which Dixie enthuses about on McIntyres “touting quill” website.
Not that I care what any of the IRAs are up to, as I’ve publicly stated I’m now opposed to violence, but what stands out for me is the moronic “a criminal gang masquerading as “the IRA”…
There’s nothing more criminal than paedophilia and rape, in fact ODC’s won’t even allow them on wings. Then we’ve got the likes of the Northern Bank Robbery, carried out after the war was over so it was clearly intended to line pockets. Then we had the oil and cigarette smuggling.
As for referring to Mackers site as the ‘touting quill’….besides the fact that Gerry Kelly recently said he agrees with the use of informers, words never before uttered by an Republican nor even the Gaelic Clanns ffs, lets not forget Scap, the Tout Hunter and Donaldson, Gerry’s fixer who went about getting rid of those seen as being too independent minded.
But it’s easy to call people things when you haven’t the balls to use your own name to do it.
I want to believe Paudie McGahon’s story. Gerry Adams and other senior Sinn Féin people believe him. But why am I still so suspicious? I have no evidence at all that he may be lying, or exaggerating, but in his multiple media interviews I thought he comes across as enjoying being in the limelight, especially in the Joe Duffy interview – and then there is the timing of it all. I am not buying his story that he didn’t come out previously because he was in fear. The imperial question is – but why now – with elections looming an all? Sorry, but I have a gut feeling that something is just not right with this. I’m only being honest with my feelings, not trying to insult or hurt anyone.
Pádraic you might be honest with your feelings but honestly, to claim that people coming forward saying they were raped and abused by so called Republicans and that PRM covered it up are doing so to damage SF in elections is so mind-numbingly stupid it beggars belief.
Just where does this nonsense end? Must future victims wait until after elections so as not to have their motives questioned?
Is there a secret group conspiring against SF which is training volunteers to go out and pretend to be rape and abuse victims? There must be according to your logic.
Dixie, how innocent and trusting of you to believe that carefully contrived agendas are not part n parcel of Irish politics.
Dixie ,if you are so against anonymity tell your mates on “the touting quill” to stop using those ridiculous poster names and stop engaging with it till they do.Away back to Fawlty’s Slugger O’Tool and rant away along with “the fireman” and others.
I see Dixie has now blogged his initial response over on TPQ with the disclaimer that it may or may not be carried here. I don’t know how he could have missed it as he has made several responses sense #confused.
Maureen how the hell could I put up a disclaimer that it may or may not be carried here if in fact it was carried here as a comment?
I actually stated that ‘I wrote this reply which might or might not be carried ….’ because I posted it before it was carried. I was doubtful it would be carried because Jude had blocked me on twitter. In fact after other leading Shinners, including Adams, Mary Lou, Morrison, etc blocked me I had my account suspended for reasons they won’t give.
The truth hurts…
Dixie – if I blocked you on twitter it must have been because (i) you were being abusive’ (ii) you were stating untruths as facts. That said, I may just have pressed a wrong button. If that is the case and you can show me that it’s so, I’ll happily unblock with apologies. Though why anyone would want to read a word I write baffles me…
Dixie, that is why I was confused, your reply was posted here on March 11 and your blog is dated March 16. Plenty of time to clarify that Jude did indeed put up your response.