Justine McCarthy

I mean, it's actually quite almost amusing.

Justine McCarthy, who has had to blunt her edge, in my opinion, in the Irish Times since she joined it, to an extent, just to an extent.

She wrote a terrific piece last Friday, I think it was, in which she concludes and argues that equality was not possible in the six-county state.

It was a failed state.

Today, The Irish Times leads with a report that a woman who said she was sexually abused as a child by George Gibney gave investigating Gardai in nineteen ninety-eight the name of a classmate she suspected was also abused by Gibney, but they never contacted her.

The first woman, Justine McCarthy writes, was Carolyn Brown, whose complaints against Gibney did not result in a cro-- in a prosecution against him.

The second was Orla Poole, whose complaints against him in recent years led to him being jailed on Monday for more than fifteen years.

The similar sentence given to Jeffrey Donaldson, former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, after he was found guilty of eighteen sexual offenses, including the rape of a child, is given much prominence and is the lead for the Belfast Telegraph and Irish News.

So no matter when it did happen, you can always report, and the guards are very well trained in this now, um, and, and will welcome, um, people to, to come to the Garda stations or to any of the rape crisis centers to make those reports.

Because that has been a change, hasn't it, in recent decades? Because as Justine McCarthy told us earlier this week in reporting on the George Gibney case, originally, the efforts to bring him to justice for his crimes failed in the courts because of a perceived length of time issue as far as some judges were concerned.

That's right.

So in the early 1990s, there were a number of swimmers who came forward, and they were supported by other members of the swimming community, and they made statements that led to him facing charges of indecent assault then.

There are numerous journalists too, many of whom have played huge roles in bringing about this day.

Johnny Watterson in the early 90s, Justine McCarthy, who wrote the book on the subject, and with his brilliant and consequential podcast, Mark Horgan, all there.

The courtroom is small.

It's intimate, rich brown wood throughout, thin carpet floor.

And I really value that in him and Mark Horgan.

I mean, Johnny Watterson...

Justine McCarthy.

Justine McCarthy.

The 78-year-old was convicted of 39 counts of indecent assault against four girls, and one account of attempted rape of one of the girls between 1971 and 1981.

In a few moments, we're going to hear from Justine McCarthy, columnist with The Irish Times, who has spent decades highlighting Gibney's crimes, and who, in 2009, published Deep Deception about sexual abuse scandals in Irish swimming.

But first, our Today FM news reporter, Jamie O'Hara, was in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin today for the sentencing.

So, Jamie, start please by telling us what happened in court today.

That, I think, is no longer the case in Ireland.

Very strong statement from Orla Poole.

Justine McCarthy, columnist with The Irish Times, has been writing about Gibney for decades now at this stage.

Many things to pick up on, Justine, but I suppose the most important thing is, unfortunately, there may have been many more victims than the four against whom the verdicts have been brought.