Jonathan Dowdall has been accused of lying under oath about his friendship with Pearse McAuley.
In 1999, McAuley, a former Provisional IRA man, was convicted of the manslaughter of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe from Ballylongford, who was shot dead during an armed robbery three years beforehand.
Dowdall, a former Sinn Féin councillor, is giving evidence on behalf of the prosecution in Gerry Hutch's trial for the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel six years ago.
The court heard Dowdall visited McCauley fourteen times while he was serving a sentence in Castlerea prison for stabbing his wife.
When asked why he visited McAuley a month before the Regency attack, he said he was trying to stop threats to the life of Mr. Hutch's brother, Patsy, whom he said was like a second father to him.
