Her uncle, Gerry Adams, said he has known about the claims for more than 20 years and does not doubt his niece.

In a statement, Mr Adams said the family made the discovery about Gerry Snr in the 1990s and were still coming to terms with what had happened.

1998-2003: Liam Adams works part-time as a youth worker in Clonard Youth Centre in west Belfast, having passed a full police check. The Clonard Youth Centre said there were no concerns arising from his time there. Gerry Adams says he told the authorities at Clonard about the sex abuse allegations made by Aine as soon as he became aware that Liam was working at the youth centre. It is understood that they have no record of Mr Adams giving them this information.

18 December 2009: Gerry Adams says Liam should hand himself over to the authorities to answer allegations of sexual abuse. It is understood that an arrest warrant was issued a year ago for failing to appear at a preliminary court hearing to answer questions about alleged sexual offences against his daughter.

Later that day, Aine Tyrell, now aged 36, tells UTV's Insight programme she decided to go public because she feels let down by police, social services, the Catholic Church and her uncle Gerry.