FBI agent found work ‘morally acceptable’

FBI agent David Rupert agreed to provide information on the activities of Irish republicans because he believed it was a morally acceptable thing to do, and because the US agency promised to fund his frequent transatlantic trips.

On his first day of evidence as the main prosecution witness in the trial of Dundalk man Michael McKevitt, Mr Rupert told a packed Special Criminal Court that at first he had tried to brush off the advances of the FBI.

But after being contacted by an agent again in Chicago, he changed his mind.