THERE were sharp exchanges in yesterday's Capitol Hill debate between former IRA man turned Garda agent, Sean O'Callaghan, and Congressman Peter King.
Mr King, a strong supporter of the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, told the audience of an alleged murder by Mr O'Callaghan of another IRA informer in 1985 for which he has never been charged. He also said that when Mr O'Callaghan was in prison, he was taking anti-psychotic drugs and had eaten light bulbs.
Mr O'Callaghan quoted from a statement by Mr King after an IRA mortar attack on the RUC barracks in Newry in 1985, which killed nine police officers. In the statement, Mr King had said that in spite of the attack, he still supported the IRA.
Mr O'Callaghan denied he had been prescribed drugs in prison and ridiculed the light bulbs charge.
At the start of the debate, organised by the conservative weekly National Review, the chairman, Mr Peter Rodman, appealed for a "dignified and civilised" debate.
Mr King, who is a Republican congressman from Long Island, accused Mr O'Callaghan of "maligning" Mr Adams and other Sinn Fein leaders. He said that the former IRA man was "either a Forrest Gump from Ireland or the Manchurian candidate or both".
He also accused the British prime minister, Mr Major, of refusing Mr Adams's proposal last year that a date be fixed for all-party talks including Sinn Fein following a new IRA ceasefire. He said that it was significant that around the same time there had been a British intelligence "dirty tricks" ploy to smear Ms Martha Pope. He claimed that Mr O'Callaghan was released from prison to attack Sinn Fein.
Mr King also said that Mr O'Callaghan was claiming to have inside knowledge of the workings of the IRA although he had left it in 1985.
Mr O'Callaghan was asked by the chairman of the international relations committee of the House of Representatives, Mr Ben Gilman, if the terms of his release from prison included this trip to the US. He replied "absolutely not".
Mr O'Callaghan said that he had never worked for the British security forces but only for the Irish police and the democratically elected Government of the Irish Republic.
He repeated several times that there was no point in trying to get Sinn Fein into all-party talks without an IRA ceasefire since the unionist parties representing a majority of the people in Northern Ireland would then walk out.