Man jailed for repeated incestuous rape of seven daughters

Four years ago, a group of women from the Irish Traveller community reported rape and abuse in the hands of James O'Reilly. The women, all of whom are O'Reilly's daughters, claimed that he sexually abused them while they were children in the 1970s. Earlier this month, O'Reilly was finally imprisoned on rape and sexual assault charges. However, the women claim that the state and other authorities failed to ensure their safety as children because of the community they belonged to.

The Traveller family claims that the patriarch had been sexually abusing the daughters as well as his own sister. O'Reilly targeted his younger sister, Christina, before he started abusing his children. His eldest daughter, Helen O'Donoghue spoke to the Irish Times, sharing details of her horrific childhood.

O'Donoghue claims that her father had been touching her inappropriately since she was four years old. He used to take the family around the country, but wherever they stayed for some time, he ensured that they were secluded. O'Reilly raped O'Donoghue for the first time when she was eight years old. She recalled being dragged to Foley's bog near Thurles where she was raped.

The incestuous paedophile continued to target O'Donoghue and her sisters. She was 10 or 11 years old when she realised that her father had been raping her other sisters as well. When one of the sisters got pregnant at the age of 16, nobody questioned the pregnancy. O'Donoghue pointed out that no one bothered to find out how and why a 16-year-old was pregnant. A DNA test proved that O'Reilly was the father of the child.

In 1997, Kathleen O'Driscoll, one of the daughters, tried to get justice by reporting the rapes to the Garda. However, her sisters were too scared to support her at the time. The investigation did not lead to O'Reilly's arrest.

The sisters finally got together to report the abuse four years ago. Last December, O'Reilly was finally convicted for 58 counts of rape and nine counts of sexual assault. He was sentenced on June 15 by the Central Criminal Court. The daughters of the convict celebrated the 20-year imprisonment sentence of their abuser.

Even though O'Reilly has been imprisoned, the daughters feel that the state and other authorities failed them as children. Their father had a lucrative scrap and horse-dealing business. He ensured that he ate well, but did not provide the children with food and clothing. The children ate out of the bin. They had barely any clothes to wear, often going without underwear. They had not been enrolled in schools or had been pulled out of schools suddenly.

O'Donoghue blames systemic racism for the continued abuse Traveller children face. The sisters want a public enquiry into why as Traveller children, they were neglected by the State.