The Irish government headed by then-Prime Minister Jack Lynch investigated the background of disgraced New York City congressman Mario Biaggi for IRA links prior to his visit to Ireland in November 1978, government papers have just revealed.

Biaggi, then a prominent and beloved Bronx politician, was a thorn in the side of the government led by Jack Lynch because of his associations with Irish-Americans who took a hardline republican stance, particularly in the Irish National Caucus and Irish Northern Aid.

The Lynch government preferred to deal with the group of senior US politicians known as the "Four Horsemen", which included Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, Sen. Ted Kennedy, New York Gov. Hugh Carey and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

A massive file on Biaggi and the Irish-American scene includes a memo from senior official Frank Murray to other colleagues in the department of the taoiseach dated Nov. 9th, 1978, which states that, "I attach as requested particulars received from the Department of Foreign Affairs in response to my request for material which would connect Congressman Biaggi publicly with men of violence."

Murray comments: "The links, public and publicised at any rate, with men of violence are a bit thin on the ground." The congressman had attended or spoken at a number of INC or Noraid functions. Further material was requested by another senior official on associations Biaggi might have had during visits to Ireland.

A Democrat and former high-profile police officer, Biaggi was chairman of the 120-member Ad Hoc Congressional Committee on Irish Affairs and his stated purpose in visiting Belfast and Dublin on November 15th-17th, 1978, was to meet "a cross-section of groups which have expressed an interest in participating in a peace forum in Washington sponsored by the Ad Hoc Committee."

Biaggi was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and fined $500,000 for accepting an illegal gratuity and obstructing justice in 1987. He had accepted free vacations from former Brooklyn Democratic leader Meade Esposito in exchange for using his influence to help a ship-repair company that was a major client of Esposito's insurance agency. The House Ethics Committee recommended that Biaggi be expelled - the most severe of penalties.