State Papers have revealed that Staff in the White House warned the Irish embassy in Washington almost 25 years ago about the danger of bad publicity following the violent assault of a prominent gay American writer in Sligo.
Robert Drake, suffered serious injuries and was severely beaten in an assault that took place on January 31, 1999.
An official from the US National Security Council told Irish diplomats at the time that the investigation into the assault would need to be carefully handled “if the potential for public and media embarrassment was to be minimised”.
Mr Drake has been in a wheelchair since the assault.
In 2000, two Sligo men aged in their 20s, Ian Monaghan and Glen Mahon, were each sentenced to eight years in prison for the assault.
