Son of Brian Stack confronts Gerry Adams over murder

A son of Brian Stack, a prison officer murdered by the IRA, has confronted Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams at a press conference in Dublin.

Austin Stack accused Mr Adams of lying about his knowledge of the murder of his father and urged him to go to gardaí with the information he has.

Mr Stack said Mr Adams has information which is crucial to the investigation. He said he and his brother Oliver were taken to meet a senior IRA member in a blacked out van.

Mr Stack said Mr Adams must give the name of that person to An Garda Síochána and insisted he did not want to hear any more untruths.

Mr Adams said he “utterly rejected” the allegations made by Mr Stack and did not lie during his statement on the matter in the Dáil on Wednesday.

The party leader said the murder of Mr Stack was wrong and should never have happened.

Mr Adams said he has attempted to help the Stack family but admitted it was “clearly not enough”.

He said he was content and happy to assist the gardaí if required.

Mr Stack (48) was the chief prison officer in Portlaoise prison when he was shot in the neck on March 25th, 1983 after leaving an amateur boxing contest at the National Stadium in Dublin. The father of three was left paralysed and brain-damaged and lived for 18 months after the attack.

Dáil privilege

Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell on Wednesday claimed two Sinn Féin TDs - Dessie Ellis and Martin Ferris - had knowledge about the murder.

Both men denied his claims which prompted allegations that Mr Farrell abused parliamentary privilege, a charge which he rejected on Wednesday.

Speaking after the intervention Mr Stack said he made the decision to confront him after witnessing “a pantomime” in Dáil Eireann.

“Gerry Adams has information crucial to a murder investigation. If this was Micheal Martin, Brendan Howlin or Enda Kenny the media would be all over it,” he said. “Why do we have different standards applying to Gerry Adams?”

Meanwhile, Labour leader Brendan Howlin has said Sinn Féin can not become a fully parliamentary party while Mr Adams refuses to pass on information about IRA crimes.

In a response to Mr Adams’s Dáil statement on the Stack case, Mr Howlin dismissed the account given by the Sinn Féin leader.

“With the reality of his grim past he quite often tries to blow smoke and present himself as a victim,” he said. .

“Those of us who have met with the Stack family believe them. They are quite entitled to be told the truth.

“It’s quite clear that Gerry Adams knows the identity of the IRA commander who he tasked with investigating the facts surrounding the murder of Brian Stack. I believe he knows the identity of the murderer and he should bring that to the attention of the Garda Síochána.

Mr Howlin said Mr Admas was the leader of a significant party in Dáil Éireann.

“He now has an obligation to tell the full facts he knows in relation to this murder,” he said.