Sinn Féin yesterday refused to attend an Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into allegations that the party is linked to FARC terrorists in Colombia.
The unprecedented refusal provoked bitter complaints from the committee, who accused the party's president, Mr Gerry Adams, of being afraid to face questioning.
Refusing to appear, Mr Adams said he was "concerned" that the committee was guilty of "blatant electioneering and pursuing an agenda that has nothing to do with foreign affairs".
Former Progressive Democrat leader Mr Des O'Malley, the committee's chairman, rejected Sinn Féin's charge that the hearing would jeopardise the safety of three Irishmen held in a Colombian jail.
The three, Mr Niall Connolly, Mr James Monaghan and Mr Martin McCauley, were arrested at Bogota Airport last August as they tried to leave the country on false passports.
"It is, of course, disappointing that we did not have the opportunity of discussing this. I think there would have been a lot of questions for them to answer," said Mr O'Malley.
In his letter, Mr Adams denied that links exist between Sinn Féin and FARC, the Spanish terrorist organisation, ETA, or the Libyan authorities.
Sinn Féin has yet to decide whether Mr Adams will appear on April 24th before the US House of Representatives' International Relations Committee hearing into Sinn Féin's alleged links with FARC.
"We reject the suggestion, implicit in your letter, that Sinn Féin has any case to answer in respect of international terrorism. We are implacably opposed to international terrorism," Mr Adams wrote.
"I have publicly stated on many occasions that I had no knowledge of the three men's presence in Colombia, that they were not acting at the direction of or on behalf of Sinn Féin." He criticised the committee for not holding similar inquiries into Northern Ireland human rights abuses, including the murders of Ms Rosemary Nelson, Mr Pat Finucane and Mr Robert Hamill.
Ridiculing Mr Adams's denials, Fine Gael Dublin West TD Mr Austin Currie, a former SDLP politician, said: "For anyone who could condone the taking of life, a lie would hardly choke them." Fine Gael Cork South West TD Mr Jim O'Keeffe said the letter was full "of bile and bluster", most of which was directed at Mr O'Malley.
"My view is that a party engaged in the political process needs to be prepared to show its democratic credentials. It isn't possible for a political party to be a little bit democratic.
"I would like to see Sinn Féin as a full democratic mandate and acting as a full democratic party. But the fact is that it has failed to recognise the legitimate interests of the Foreign Affairs Committee of this country," he said.
The former minister for justice, Mrs Nora Owen, said she was "disappointed" by Sinn Féin's refusal. "If there isn't a case to answer, I don't see why they can't appear."
US Congressmen were preparing to inquire into the Colombian allegations, she said.
"How much more appropriate that we in this country do so," she told fellow committee members.
Meanwhile, speaking at the launch of Sinn Féin's Dublin general election manifesto yesterday, Mr Adams said the success of the Republic's economy could not be judged by the number of millionaires being created by the Celtic Tiger.
Sinn Féin is contesting each of the 12 Dublin constituencies for the first time since the 1920s, said Ms Mary Lou McDonald, the party Dublin West candidate.
In its manifesto for Dublin, the party is seeking substantial improvements in the minimum wage, better holiday and sick pay and pension entitlements and the removal of all low paid workers from the tax net.
The party said it would continue to oppose refuse collection charges - even though a number of its councillors missed the key Dublin Corporation vote on the issue last year.
