'I was drugged in US embassy bar and raped' claims Irish woman

Claims she did not alert Irish police because man had diplomatic status

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Crowds outside U.S. Embassy, Ballsbridge, Dublin

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An Irish woman has claimed she was raped in the home of a US Embassy official in Dublin 36 years ago, the Irish High Court has heard.

According to the Evening Herald, Ailish NicPhaidin, 60, has sued the Irish State because she was forced to resign from the Embassy post eleven years later.

NicPhaidin claims the incident occurred soon after she started work in the embassy in 1976, alleging that a drug was put in her drink in the embassy bar and when she woke up, she was at the home of an embassy official where she claims she was raped.

NicPhaidin, a Public Relations consultant, is originally from County Donegal and now lives in Palm Bay, Florida. She brought the action against the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Irish State in relation to her dismissal or forced resignation from the US Embassy in Dublin in 1987.

NicPhaidin claimed she had sought assistance from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in the settlement of her employment dispute with the embassy. She also claimed the department breached its duty of care toward her by failing to convey an offer $245,700 the embassy allegedly made to her in 1996.

Responding to her claims, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs told the press that it acted as an intermediary in an attempt to bring her situation to the attention of the embassy. However, it added that while there were discussions in 1996 of some kind of an offer, no offer was in fact ever made.

The State claims it had no duty of care to NicPhaidin and says that at all times the Department of Foreign Affairs did its best for her.

NicPhaidin started work in the US Embassy in 1976. In 1986 she got a salary increase and a form of loyalty certificate in recognition of her ten years service at the embassy.

She said that she was having a drink in the basement of the embassy building in Ballsbridge, Dublin, in October 1976 when she alleged a man, called Mr Y in court, put a drug in her drink. She said she woke in his house in South Dublin and was raped. She said she did not go to the Irish police at the time because the man had diplomatic status.

In another incident in 1985, she claimed a man called Mr X pinned her against a wall and assaulted her and said 'I heard all about you.'

In February 1987, she told the court, she was called to the security officer and was asked if she was a member of the IRA or a member of the Communist Party or had visited an Eastern Bloc country or whether she knew spies or terrorists. The interrogation lasted over two hours, she said.

Later she said she was brought to Mr X's office and told her security clearance had been withdrawn and she could either be fired or resign.

The case continues.
 

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