THE son of the only prison officer to be assassinated in the Republic has accused Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams of being "untruthful in the extreme" after he named a number of senior party figures in connection to the murder.
Mr Adams named a number of senior Sinn Féin figures suspected of the 1983 murder of Brian Stack in an email sent to Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan back in February.
Three of those named are said to be well-known politicians, while a fourth man is a suspected former IRA boss according to a report in the Irish Independent.
The email sent on February 23, three days before the General Election - has now been passed on to detectives investigating the shooting.
It is believed gardaí will now interview a number of those included.
The Sinn Féin president has said the names were provided to him by the victim's son Austin Stack in a meeting before the election, a claim refuted on Tuesday.
Mr Stack accused Mr Adams of being "untruthful in the extreme" and speaking to RTÉ said at no stage did he reveal any information "despite him asking".
He also claimed his brother Oliver "was present and witnessed this conversation".
Austin Stack, who is the deputy governor at Portlaoise Prison, gave a fresh statement to gardaí on Wednesday.
Brian Stack, who was working at Portlaoise prison, was shot in the back of the neck by the IRA in Dublin in 1983.
He was left paralysed and brain-damaged from the attack and died 18 months later from his injuries at the age of 48.
In 2013 the IRA finally admitted to the murder during a meeting with the Stack family, organised by Gerry Adams. They said the murder had not been authorised by IRA leadership.
In February Mr Adams said Brian Stack "should never have been killed".
In a statement on Tuesday night, Mr Adams said has done his "utmost" to help the Stack family and has said his killing "was wrong".
"In the course of our conversations I was given a number of names by Austin Stack which he told me he had been given by journalistic and Garda sources," he said.
“Austin asked me to ask those named if they would meet with him. I did this with those I could contact. They declined to meet at that time. I told Austin Stack this.
“I passed the names on to the Garda Commissioner while making clear that I have no information on the death of Brian Stack.
“The Gardaí are the only body that can investigate this matter. I am prepared to co-operate with them on this."
