Paudie McGahon told BBC Spotlight last night that he was raped in the early 1990's and interrogated by an IRA 'kangaroo court' in 2002.

He stated that he was asked how he felt his attacker should be punished - his attacker was ultimately sent to England.

Mr McGahon also stated that he brought the allegations to a Sinn Féin representative in 2002 and later to a Sinn Féin TD in 2008.

However, this begs the question. If the matter was raised with a Sinn Féin representative in 2002 and later became known to a TD in 2008, would the Ard Chomhairle of the party be aware of the case as per the child protection guidelines for the party?

What do we know about Sinn Fein’s Child Protection Guidelines?

We’ve requested a Sinn Fein spokesperson for the Lunchtime programme today.  None were forthcoming.

However in November of last year we spoke to Councillor Joe Reilly, Sinn Fein’s Child Protection Officer.  The party members are urged to comply with the 2012 Children First guidelines which provides for mandatory reporting of child abuse.

However, here’s what he told us about Sinn Fein policy previous to the Children First Guidelines.

Who was the chair at that time? 

What we can glean from that is that there was an onus to report to the party chairperson who would inform the agencies at the time.

Mitchel McLoughlin was the Chair between 1995 and 2005. Mary Lou McDonald was chair between 2005 and 2009.  And Since 2009, Declan Kearney has taken over as party chairperson.  

Was party policy adhered to? 

Arthur Morgan was the sitting TD in Louth in 2009, and Gerry Adams took his seat in 2011.  We asked Arthur Morgan directly this morning whether he brought the matter to the attention of the Chairperson but he said he had spoken to his local station and would not be commenting any further on the matter.  

Here’s what he said to LMFM’s Michael Reade show this morning:

So in 2008, Arthur Morgan was first made aware of these allegations. Under Sinn Fein Guidelines he should have told the Party Chairperson, who was then Mary Lou McDonald, who according to 2006 party policy then should have passed information on for use in court of law.

We also asked the Sinn Fein press office if Mary Lou McDonald as Chair in 2008 into 2009 or Declan Kearney, as Chair over 2009 were made aware of what happened Paudie McGahon. We are still waiting on a response.