It is almost a month since the BBC Spotlight programme on Mairia Cahill was aired, and yesterday the Dail held a debate on how her case was covered.

Enda Kenny stated yesterday that Sinn Féin and the IRA had engaged in “unholy collusion” to protect rapists, and themselves.

“It didn’t matter what terror they might cause, what damage they might do. But who’d care about victim, once the institution remained intact?” he said.

At the beginning of a five hour Dáil debate on the abuse allegations put forward by Mairia Cahill, the Taoiseach said the testimony of Ms Cahill and other victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Republicans “has been both chilling and compelling.”

Anthony McIntyre, a former IRA volunteer who writes with The Pensive Quill, spoke to Jonathan Healy today about the allegations today stating that abusers were moved from the North and also that Mairia Cahill was not making these allegations for political gain.

He also stated that the issue had damaged Sinn Féin: "The people who pose a serious challenge... they're really getting dragged down into issues for which they should not have to be accountable or answerable.

"In some ways, it is not inconceivable that Ireland could be close to getting its first woman Taoiseach... but it's not going to happen while Mr Adams continues with his quest for power."

Here is his interview in full: