Former Irish premier Bertie Ahern urged Tony Blair to halt the pursuit of named republican On The Run (OTR) suspects, a letter has revealed.
The co-architect of the Good Friday peace agreement said there was a strong case for not proceeding on outstanding warrants relating to conflict offences.
Those covered would have been released from prison, had they already been convicted, under the 1998 accord that ended IRA and loyalist violence.
Mr Ahern wrote in December 1999: "The named persons are very strong supporters of the agreement and with full freedom of movement will be able to play an even more effective role, within the republican constituency in Northern Ireland and in this state, in persuading and leading those who might otherwise be sceptical towards an unqualified embrace of democratic politics and of exclusively peaceful means of promoting progress towards political objectives."
His letter was published by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs, which is holding an inquiry into the scheme that resulted in about 200 letters being sent to OTRs assuring them they were not being pursued by the UK authorities.
It was formulated by the last Labour government at the request of Sinn Fein
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