Former employee claims she was raped by US Embassy official in Dublin 36 years ago

Florida resident sues Minister for Foreign Affairs and Irish state

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Crowds outside U.S. Embassy, Ballsbridge, Dublin

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A former US Embassy employee has claimed she was raped by an American state official - in an action against the Irish state.

PR consultant Ailish Nic Phaidin claims she was raped by a US embassy official in Dublin 36 years ago.

Now aged 60 and resident in Florida, Nic Phaidin has brought her case to the High Court in Dublin.

The court has heard her claim that she was raped by the official after a party in the basement bar at the embassy, and then forced to resign from her job.

The alleged rape took place in the home of the US embassy official.

She alleges the incident occurred shortly after she started work in the embassy in 1976.

The Irish Independent reports that Nic Phaidin alleges a drug was put in her drink in the embassy basement bar and when she woke up, she was in the home of an embassy official where she claims she was raped.

The Donegal born Nic Phaidin has brought an action against the Foreign Affairs Minister and the State in relation to her dismissal or forced resignation from the US embassy, Ballsbridge, in Dublin in 1987.

The paper says that Ms Nic Phaidin has claimed she sought assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs in the settlement of her employment dispute with the embassy.

The report also states that she has claimed the department ‘breached its duty of care to her and acted negligently in not conveying an offer in 1996 of €200,000 from the embassy’.

Ms Nic Phaidin also claims in her case that she was advised by a department official to initiate legal proceedings in the US against the embassy. These proceedings were later struck out because of lack of jurisdiction.

The Department of Foreign Affairs denies all claims. In its defence, the department says that while there were discussions in 1996 on some kind of an offer, no offer was in fact ever made.

The Irish State claims it had no duty of care to Ms Nic Phaidin. The woman also claims that in a separate incident in 1985, a man called Mr X pinned her up against a wall and assaulted her and said: ‘I heard all about you’.

She also says that in February 1987, she was called to the security officer at the embassy, interrogated for over two hours and asked if she was a member of the IRA or a member of the Communist Party. She was also asked if she visited an eastern bloc country or whether she knew spies or terrorists.

She goes on to state that she was brought to Mr X’s office and told her security clearance had been withdrawn and she could be fired or resign.

She said: “I had no choice. He had two pieces of paper pre-written, my dismissal letter or resignation letter.

“After I signed the letter of resignation I was escorted from the embassy by a marine.

“It was only in these proceedings I discovered a hint that my dismissal might have something to do with my membership of a cultural organisation called the Irish Arab Society.

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