Interpol and gardaí are hunting a Belfast man, believed to have been a top figure in the IRA, who disappeared before he was due to stand trial for child sex abuse.
The 68-year-old is believed by security sources to have been a major figure in the IRA's Southern Command.
The BBC reports the man fled to Spain after the IRA's controversial murder of Det Jerry McCabe at Adare in Co Limerick, in 1996.
The man, originally from Belfast, cannot be named for legal reasons.
The alleged victim told gardaí she was sexually assaulted by the man, who was known to her, four times during the early 1990s when she was still a child.
In 2016, he was extradited from Spain and given bail, despite garda objections.
He complied with his bail conditions, including surrendering his passport and regular signing on at a garda station for a year, before he disappeared.
He was due to stand trial in 2017.
According to reports, it is understood the case is only coming to light after media enquiries.
It's also understood gardaí could not publicise what had happened because of the nature of the charges against him.
The man is believed to have fled abroad.
Former Senator Mairia Cahill urged Sinn Fein to call on the man to give himself up.
She said: "It is highly unusual that a person who skips bail cannot be found by Gardai, and that no trace of them exists. Three possibilities have to be examined.
"Either he has been helped by Republicans, by the state, or something sinister has happened to him. It is incumbent upon politicians to question the circumstances of this case and to try to help the alleged injured party to secure justice.
"It is also important in the interests of the wider issue of child protection. This news is devastating for the alleged victim, and for anyone else who wants to see justice being done in this case.
"It is vitally important that the leaders of Sinn Fein explicitly call on this man to give himself up. They have so far remained silent. The Republican movement has a network like no other.
"If they are not shielding him, they have a duty to pass on every scrap of information they have to ensure that no stone is left unturned in finding this man."
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