Advertisement

"Put yourself in my shoes, live with the fear I went through, lying in a bed crying your heart out" - Paudie McGahon

The case of Paudie McGahon, who says he was raped by an IRA member in the early 1990s, featured o...
Newstalk
Newstalk

10.33 12 Mar 2015


Share this article


"Put yourself in my sh...

"Put yourself in my shoes, live with the fear I went through, lying in a bed crying your heart out" - Paudie McGahon

Newstalk
Newstalk

10.33 12 Mar 2015


Share this article


The case of Paudie McGahon, who says he was raped by an IRA member in the early 1990s, featured on a BBC documentary on Tuesday night.

Mr McGahon says he brought the allegations to a Sinn Féin representative in 2002 - but was then interrogated by a so-called 'kangaroo court', similar to the case of Mairia Cahill.

Yesterday, the president of the Sinn Fein party, Gerry Adams, said that he knew the alleged name of a man accused of raping Mr McGahon. He also stated that all the information he had was handed over to the gardaí.

Advertisement

This morning, Paudie McGahon spoke to Pat Kenny to discuss what has happened since he spoke to Spotlight and the effect that this event has had on his life.

On how he feels since the programme aired

"The last few days have been tough, draining, emotional on many fronts. It's a great thing in a way to get so much lifted off your shoulders but at the same it's hard on my wife and my children.

"We knew it had to be done because of the amount of victims that is (sic) out there."

On the tweet that Francie Molloy sent stating the Spotlight programme was rubbish

"I consider Francie Molloy one of the biggest cronies of them all and he keep his apology because he can never take back what he said." 

On Gerry Adams

"He is telling the public that he got a list of 27 people anonymously delivered to his door.

"You could walk up to my door or your door and put a letter but there's no way you could walk up to Gerry Adams door.

"It's a fortress.

"I was very taken aback by Gerry Adams comments that he didn't know about the abuse until 2009.

"He didn't even report the sexual abuse of his own niece, never mind my experience."

On his Pearse McGeough

"In 2002, myself and another victim came forward. We were told at the time, I'll sort this out.

"If he wanted to sort it out, why didn't he go to the Gardaí? This is a serious allegation. But he didn't go to the Gardaí. He went to his leader."

"As protocol would have it back then, even in 2002, Gerry Adams has the same respect that he has from his party members now as he had back then. So, if in real terms Pearse McGeough had this knowledge, he wasn't going to bypass Gerry Adams. Who else would he go to?"

On IRA allegedly sending abuser to another location

"They're things that just don't go through your head. It might sound selfish that you didn't think of other victims but at the same time, you're a victim."

On the impact of his allegations

"What I'm doing is not about politics as such... but I'd like to see the next poll."

"Put yourself in my shoes, live my life for 23 years, live with the fear I went through, the lives that have been put out, the cover-up, the not being able to talk about it, living with what happened, feeling guilty, feeling sad, lying in a bed crying your heart out and your wife standing over you, doing her utmost best.

"The people of this country have to sit back and say, well I know this happened to me or that person or that person, you have to say it's not about politics, it's about getting the truth.

"It would be absolutely no different if it was Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour, a party is a party, it just so happens that a member of the IRA... abused me. It's unfortunate for Sinn Fein and their colleagues that they covered it up.

"This was brushed under the carpet for so many years, there's that amount of stuff under that carpet, there's somebody going to trip.


Share this article


Read more about

News

Most Popular