But Susan was determined to see the men prosecuted. In a biography years later, she’d claimed that throughout the trauma that followed, not one senior guard had shown her compassion. She was warned that her sexual history would be printed in every newspaper if she pursued the case.

The Special Eight became involved when, a few weeks after the attack, one of Harte’s rapists was beaten to a pulp with a baseball bat outside the garage he owned. He died within days. The tribunal established that the man had been fencing stolen cars for a criminal gang and was pulling a fast one with the profits. Because the man was related to a junior minister, Malachy Sutton was brought in to investigate, but chose to ignore the car fencing as a probable cause. He assumed that the recent rape allegations against the man were too much of a coincidence and concluded that Susan and her brother had beaten the man. This was despite her still recovering from the vicious attack she had suffered and her brother having an alibi.

The conviction was sealed when her brother confessed to a crime he hadn’t committed. He insisted from the outset that he’d been tortured into making a false confession but he was tried and sentenced.

The tribunal would later vindicate him. Malachy Sutton came out of the investigation very badly.

‘You can see why Kennedy doesn’t use the father’s name,’ Sean said.

‘It’s amazing he’s come so far,’ Tom replied. ‘Do many people know who he’s related to?’

Sean shrugged.

‘Top brass do. Nobody would be shouting it from the rooftops, mind. Who wants to rake over the past? But you should always bear in mind, Tom – the Special Eight didn’t operate in a vacuum. The seventies and eighties were a mad time, especially with the war in the North at its height. The Garda Síochána was only fifty years old and finding its feet. Many believed the force had to be results-driven and that the end justified the means. Garda attitudes towards the Special Eight generally ranged from active encouragement to tacit approval. Even those opposed to them didn’t want to wash our dirty linen in public.