Sinn Fein leader Mr Gerry Adams should be summoned before the Dáil to explain why he snubbed a US inquiry into links between the IRA and the Colombian guerilla force FARC, former taoiseach Mr John Bruton said today.
Mr Bruton said Mr Adams should face the Foreign Affairs Committee following his "unwillingness" to assist the US House of Representatives Committee of International Relations.
Mr Adams was requested to appear before the Washington panel after the arrests in Colombia of three Irishmen, Mr Niall Connolly, Mr James Monaghan and Mr Martin McCauley, suspected of helping to train the FARC Marxist rebels.
But Mr Adams declined the US request, saying the pressure of the forthcoming general election in the Republic made pressing demands on his time.
In a letter to the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Des O'Malley, Mr Bruton explained that the US committee had written to Mr Adams "asking him to go to Washington to appear before it to 'help us determine what the Sinn Fein leadership knew about the IRA activities with the FARC narco-terrorists"'.
The letter continued: "Mr Adams has unfortunately responded to say that he will not attend because 'in the middle of an election, it is not the most pressing issue'. But Mr Adams is not a candidate in the election and he has, in the past, been a very frequent visitor to Washington.
"Given his unwillingness to go to Washington to meet the committee I am asking you to convene a meeting of your committee here in Dublin to allow Mr Adams to attend and give answers to the questions he would have been asked if he was willing to go to Washington."
Mr Bruton concluded: "I hope that your committee will be able to take the necessary action so that Mr Adams's dismissive attitude to the United States House of Representatives is not allowed to damage the Irish peace process and Irish-American relations."
PA