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The son of a senior Irish prison officer murdered by the IRA has confronted Gerry Adams and accused him of lying in the Dail.

Austin Stack said Mr Adams should give police the name of a senior republican who met the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Stack and his brother Oliver.

Mr Stack told Mr Adams it would be an absolute disgrace if he didn't do so.

Brian Stack was shot in the back of the neck as he left a boxing match in 1983.

Mr Stack, who was the chief prison officer at the high-security Portlaoise Prison, was left paralysed and died 18 months later.

In a statement to the Dail (parliament) on Wednesday, Mr Adams said that during Ireland's general election campaign in February, he had emailed Irish police commissioner Noírín O'Sullivan a list of four republicans who may have been involved.

The Sinn Féin leader said he had been given the names by Austin Stack, who is a senior prison officer himself.

Mr Adams said Austin Stack told him the names were given to him (Mr Stack) by journalists and police sources.

But Mr Stack, who with his brother, Oliver, and Mr Adams met a senior republican with knowledge of his father's murder in 2013 in Northern Ireland, denies handing over any names.

He confronted Mr Adams during a press conference on Thursday and accused him of lying about who provided the names.

He also urged him to give police the name of the senior republican whom he had met with Mr Adams.

In response, Mr Adams said: "I just want to reject absolutely Austin's assertion that I've told lies or untruths. I haven't.

"And of course, as I said in answer to another question, I am quite content to co-operate with the guards [police] in all of these matters."

Meanwhile, the SDLP's Alex Attwood described Mr Adams' statement to the Dail on Wednesday as "bizarre and grotesque".

"In a typically self-serving way, he portrays himself as on the side of angels. Everybody else sees through this," Mr Attwood said.