Rough Beast: My Story and the Reality of Sinn Féin

About the Book

NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER IN THE IRISH NON-FICTION CHARTS

"Rough Beast is shocking, important and unputdownable." Roddy Doyle

Rough Beast is Máiría Cahill's harrowing story of her life and of what she went through at the hands of what is now Ireland’s largest and richest party. That story is told here for the first time in full detail and with unsparing honesty. It is a story of unimaginable trauma and political corruption. It brings to life a world of paramilitary secrecy and parallel laws, but above all it is the story of one young woman’s defiance of the power wielded by ex-gunmen inspiring fear and silence, and their influence over elected politicians.

Máiría Cahill grew up steeped in the traditions of Irish republicanism and the shadowy world of the IRA: her great-uncle Joe was one of the main founders of the Provisional IRA and her grandfather was Gerry Adams's mentor in the republican movement. From an early age she seemed destined for a glittering career within the increasingly successful political machine of Sinn Féin, which was then enjoying the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement. She worked in a radio station alongside leading republicans; the Sinn Féin offices were her second home. She knew Gerry Adams and other senior republicans as family friends.

But at the age of 16, she was sexually abused by a prominent Belfast IRA man. When she confided in some friends she trusted about the abuse, one of them told the IRA without Máiría's knowledge. A year later the organisation came calling, and forced her to take part in an inept and grotesquely insensitive internal investigation. She was subjected to round after round of interrogations by senior IRA men and women, usually in a network of safe houses around Belfast. Doubt was cast on her account of what had been done to her. Her assailant was allowed to confront and denounce her. Eventually her rapist was permitted to vanish from Belfast while Sinn Féin and the IRA professed bafflement about his whereabouts.

About the Author :
Máiría Cahill is a former Irish Senator and Councillor. At the age of sixteen she was abused by a member of the IRA and waived anonymity in 2014. This led to a furore in the Irish media and debates in Dáil Éireann and the Northern Irish Assembly, culminating in an investigation by Sir Keir Starmer and the NI Police Ombudsman, resulting in apologies from the DPP and PSNI Chief Constable. Cahill writes a political opinion column for the Sunday Independent, has written for the Belfast Telegraph and Fortnight Magazine, and regularly appears as a media commentator. She has been described as "a force to be reckoned with" by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny and "incredibly courageous" by former Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson. Cahill lives in Northern Ireland.

Review :
Rough Beast is shocking, important and unputdownable. A true story of crime, memory, and justice, Rough Beast is absorbing and endlessly moving. It is a meteor of a book, blazing and unforgettable. Remarkable and shocking...Cahill writes with clarity and describes events in a direct, no-nonsense way A book that goes head to head with republicans like no other, because she knows the situation from the inside. [A] searing memoir of rape and abuse at the hands of the Irish Republican Army The most perceptive and devastating insight into the deranged morality of the Sinn Fein/IRA movement of recent years [A] searing account of sexual abuse A book which everyone in the British Isles should read A brave and pentrating critic of Irish republican politics, Cahill is a brilliant and powerful writer Cahill’s uncompromising account of her abuse should make any Sinn Féin supporter feel deeply uncomfortable Cahill’s modest story is an important record. It hints at an adjacently possible world that doesn’t have to repeat the poisonous cycles of the past... The book momentary clears the pall of forgetfulness on less regarded acts that fall outside the shiny allure of grand narratives. As such, it’s worth its weight in gold. Ms Cahill writes in harrowing detail of her treatment by Sinn Féin when she went public and why she feels let down by the PSNI. For all those with an interest in how society treats women, republicanism or modern Irish politics, this book is a must read.