TWO Sinn Féin TDs have denied being involved in the murder of senior prison officer Brian Stack in the Republic in 1993.
TDs Dessie Ellis and Martin Ferris, both former IRA prisoners, were asked to make statements about the killing by Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell, speaking under Dáil privilege yesterday.
However both denied any involvement.
The row erupted after Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams made a lengthy statement in the Dáil yesterday about his meetings with Mr Stack's sons Austin and Oliver.
He said in 2013 Austin Stack gave him the names of four people he believed had information about the murder. Mr Adams said he passed on the four people's names - three of whom he said he had spoken to - to the Garda Commissioner just before February's General Election.
Mr Farrell later claimed Mr Ellis and Mr Ferris's names were among the four mentioned.
Mr Ellis said he could not have been involved in Mr Stack's murder because he was in jail in Portlaoise at the time. He said he had "nothing to do with this".
"I refute any allegations," he said.
He also told Mr Farrell to repeat his comments outside the chamber.
"Come outside if you have any guts," he said.
Mr Ferris said he had met gardaí in 2013 to discuss the case.
"I have nothing to answer for," he said.
Austin Stack has denied giving Mr Adams the names. He said yesterday he had no information that Mr Ellis was involved in his father's murder.
Brian Stack was shot in the back of the neck on March 25 1983 after leaving a boxing competition at Dublin's National Stadium.
He was left paralysed and brain-damaged and died from his injuries at the age of 47 - 18 months after the shooting.
The IRA admitted in 2013 one of its members had carried out the killing but said it had not been sanctioned by the group's leadership.
Mr Adams was allowed to make a statement in the Dáil on the Stack murder after Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin raised repeated questions.
He said the killing was "a grievous loss for his family and should never have happened".
He also defended anonymity granted to former IRA members who supported the peace process and decommissioning and who have worked to find the bodies of the Disappeared.
"Progress was only possible on the basis of confidentially and trust. That is why no IRA people where named during any of these initiatives and why they should not be named today," he said.
"It is an essential part of any conflict resolution process."
