A CONVICTED IRA murderer has been invited to the House of Commons to visit Tory MPs today.
Sean O'Callaghan (42), released from Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim last week after serving eight years of two life sentences for murder, will meet members of the Tory backbench Northern Ireland Committee.
The man once described by a senior Irish detective as "the most important intelligence agent in the history of the Irish State" helped foil a plot to kill the Prince and Princess of Wales in the 1980s.
Last night a Conservative MP, Mr Andrew Hunter, chairman of the committee, described Mr O'Callaghan as a former member of the "upper-echelons of the IRA high command". He believes he can give a crucial insight into the views of the IRA.
Mr Hunter said: "He will be the first former IRA leader ever to advise Conservative MPs."
The meeting comes after a row last month when left-wing Labour MPs met Sinn Fein members in the Commons.
But Mr Hunter made clear that Tory MPs would not forget those of their number who had been murdered by the IRA.
"I shall make the point that Ian Gow was a personal friend of mine, and Anthony Berry and Airey Neave were also killed while O'Callaghan was a leader of the IRA.
"That, obviously, will affect our attitude to the event. But we welcome the fact he has now defected and has been very helpful to the British authorities," he said.