The Garda Commissioner has admitted to a woman who alleges she was raped by a priest that she was not treated properly in the original garda investigation.
Mother-of-four Mary McCarthy alleges that she was raped twice by a priest in Co Mayo in 1990 - but her case was ultimately investigated by a Detective who was himself sued over an alleged rape, and had to be re-investigated years later.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) refused to take her claims to trial in early 2006, and in a subsequent review of the case by gardai in 2022, it once again declined to charge the priest, even though gardai recommended charges - leaving her devastated.
“In January of 2006 I was told there would be no prosecution and I wasn’t given any reason. I was heartbroken. Then it emerged that the Garda who investigated my crime was sued by a woman who claimed he raped her. Another Detective was quite nasty to me and I had to actually tell him to get the hell out of my house,” Ms McCarthy said. “I fought and fought then for many years for it to be reopened and it eventually was after I wrote to Drew Harris. The Gardai recommended charges but there was still no prosecution.”
But now Ms McCarthy has had a major meeting with Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, who told her that she was not properly treated as a victim in the initial investigation. Gardai do not refute that the Commissioner acknowledged the serious harm suffered by Ms McCarthy and that the Garda chief told her that “as a victim she was not treated the way she should have been or would now be treated as a victim if the incident was to happen now.”
However gardai have refused to comment directly on the meeting - or Ms McCarthy’s claim that the Commissioner not only acknowledged this - but apologised to her on behalf of the force.
A spokesperson for An Garda Siochana told us: “The Garda Commissioner met with Mary McCarthy in November 2025. Any person contacting An Garda Síochána does so in the expectation of privacy and confidentiality. "An Garda Síochána respects the confidentiality of our engagements with private citizens and does not disclose the specific contents of personal meetings with private citizens. An Garda Síochána has undertaken to continue to engage with Mary McCarthy on issues that she has raised.”
However Ms McCarthy has expressed her upset that the Commissioner’s office has refused to give her the notes from that meeting or any written acknowledgment of the apology she says she received in person.
“I need to know why they won’t give me the notes. I’m very upset and disappointed. I was pleased when the Commissioner said what he said. But now to refuse me the notes and to not put any of it in writing has caused me further pain. How can anybody tell you that you weren't treated like a victim and they do this back to me. Why won’t they put it in writing? There’s supposed to be another meeting but nothing has been given to me. It’s like they gave with one hand and took with the other. That’s how I feel now,” she said.
“The Commissioner told me to my face that he was apologising on behalf of An Garda Siochana and I thought that would have helped me so much, but in all honesty it has nearly turned my life upside down. It took 20 years to hear this and they're still going back to their own ways of not treating me properly again.”
The Garda press office issued the above statement in response to Ms McCarthy’s claims - and as of the publication of this article she has still to receive any written acknowledgement of the Commissioner’s statement to her - outside of what was said to this paper.
Gardai do not refute that the Commissioner did tell Ms McCarthy that she was not properly treated as a victim in the original investigation.
Speaking about the meeting, Ms McCarthy told how she held a picture up from her phone of her four children - and explained to the senior gardai in the room - including Mr Kelly, why she needed that acknowledgement in writing.
“I was asked why I needed that in writing and was it not good enough verbally,” Ms McCarthy said. I picked up my phone and showed them a picture of my four kids. I said they’re the real victims. I need this for them.”
Ms McCarthy alleged two separate incidents of rape against the priest, who is understood still to be residing in a Church owned property - but is not practicing.
The Garda who investigated her crime was ultimately sued for rape in a civil case and argued in court that what had happened between him and the woman was consensual. The devastated mother of four told us of how her initial investigation was handled - and how the priest was never even arrested for questioning before the file was sent to the DPP.
“I said to him (an investigating Garda) did you arrest him? I was told no and that there was more ways to skin a cat than one. There was no prosecution brought against him. The only justice I ever got is he never went back as a practicing priest. He is a priest by name and he’s still in a Church.”
Describing what happened to her, Ms McCarthy said she was attacked by the priest - who again came after her in a terrifying incident in 1990.
The initial incident is alleged to have occurred in March of that year - when Ms McCarthy says the priest pushed her onto a bed and raped her while she was pregnant. “He raped me a second time. I met him again in Castlebar when I was hitching a lift and this car pulled up and it was him. I don’t know why I got into that car but I did. He pulled up against the wall and I couldn’t get out and he raped me a second time. I never told anybody.”
The brave survivor says the priest ultimately tried to offer her money - and when pressed about what he did allegedly told her “the devil got a hold of me. He gave me 10,000 euros cash and told me to use it for counselling and got me to sign on church headed paper that I received this money,” she said. “He begged me not to go to the guards but I did.
Ms McCarthy also once tried to take a civil case against the priest - but was persuaded to ultimately not initiate the case in open court - a decision she now regrets. On the morning the case was due to be heard, Ms McCarthy says she was persuaded instead to take a settlement of €30,000. Speaking today, Ms McCarthy says she hopes her story inspires other victims of abuse who did not get justice to come forward.
“I’m doing this for the other people who never got justice. That’s why I’ve kept fighting all these years. The Commissioner was the one who spoke about my strength and my resilience in that meeting. How can he say that now, knowing how much I’ve suffered and then do this back to me by not putting his words into writing?
When contacted, Gardai refused to comment further on Ms McCarthy’s comments.“An Garda Síochána has nothing further to add to our previous reply,” a Garda spokesperson said.