SINN Fein MEP Martina Anderson says she believes Gerry Adams in the wake of allegations that have been made against him by Mairia Cahill.

The 33-year-old alleged in a documentary that she was raped by a suspected IRA member in 1997 - when she was a teenager - and the organisation conducted its own inquiry into her account.

Ms Cahill also claims she had met with Mr. Adams, the party's president, about the allegation.

However, Mr. Adams has denied any suggestion he was involved in a cover-up and said that because the IRA “had now left the stage” there was “no corporate way of verifying” the claims.

During a visit to Enniskillen today (Thursday), Mrs. Anderson told impartialreporter.com that she believed her party leader.

“Gerry Adams has refuted the allegations against him – I believe him”.

“I accept completely what he is saying... the church did not refute their involvement...,” she said.

Mrs. Anderson, a former IRA volunteer, said her knowledge of sex abuse within the IRA is “very limited” and added: “I have no working knowledge of that level of abuse”.

“I didn't come across it myself, personally,” reiterated Mrs. Anderson.

“And in all the time that I have been involved in Sinn Fein and since I have been released under the Good Friday Agreement I have never known of anyone who was not persuaded to go forward with any allegation they had,” she said.

The senior Sinn Fein member went on to say that the “vast majority” of the republican movement, including former IRA volunteers and Sinn Fein activists, “have been decent, law-abiding people”.

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