The PSNI has said it is beginning proceedings to issue a European arrest warrant against Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams' brother Liam.

Police want Liam Adams brought to Northern Ireland to face allegations of child sex abuse after he presented himself at a Garda station in Sligo on Monday evening.

The younger brother of the Sinn Fein president is understood to have spoken for a number of hours with senior detectives in the Irish Republic about his alleged crimes in Northern Ireland before leaving the station.

A Garda source said Mr Adams stayed at a guest house in Sligo on Monday night, but gave no permanent address where he was living.

Under the law, police in the Republic have no power to detain a suspect of a crime in another jurisdiction, unless there is an international arrest warrant.

"We'll act upon any legal request we get, but we haven't got one yet," said a Garda source.

Detectives in Sligo contacted PSNI officers in Belfast to make them aware of the developments. It is understood the European arrest warrant could take a number of days to come through.

Liam Adams, who is in his 50s, is wanted by police north of the border to face 23 charges of abusing his daughter Aine Tyrell in the 1970s and 1980s.

Last week, Gerry Adams urged him to come forward and face the courts. The high-profile republican also revealed that his father, Gerry senior, abused family members before his death.