TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday defended Fr Alec Reid against fallout from his Nazi comment, describing him as a great man who had contributed much to peace in the North.

The Catholic priest at the centre of a political storm after comparing Northern unionists to Nazis was deeply contrite, but still under fire, tonight.

A priest at the centre of the peace process has denied claims in a new book that he was involved in secret talks between the IRA and the British government in 1986.