A DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST Party MP has claimed that there was a “fixed committee” amongst republicans to deal with allegations of sexual abuse.

Speaking under parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons yesterday, Gregory Campbell MP made the allegation as part of a question to Northern Ireland Secretary of State Theresa Villiers:

“Will the Secretary of State comment on information I have received about a fixed committee that existed within the republican movement during the year 2000 which dealt with almost 100 sex abuse victims, very prominent republicans involved in that committee.”

He continued:

And will she join with me in calling for those people to come forward and help those many innocent victims deal with the nightmare that they’re are still dealing with some 13 years on.

In response to the MPs question, Villiers said that Campbell “raises some very grave matters and we would certainly encourage anyone who has been the victim of abuse to approach the police with that information and anyone who has knowledge of such cases to do so that as well.”

A Sinn Féin spokesperson said yesterday that Campbell claims were “untrue and without basis in fact.”

Campbell’s comments in Westminster come in the context of the Liam Adams, the brother of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, being convicted of raping and sexually abusing his own daughter.