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A key Euro aide to Nigel Farage is a hardline Irish Republican who spent a boozy night in a Brussels bar as other drinkers sang pro-IRA songs .

Derry-born Hermann Kelly was pictured sitting among a 10-strong party in the Ketje pub just minutes from the European Parliament , where he is the UKIP leader’s most senior political adviser.

During a near 45-minute rendition the group belted out openly inflammatory songs, including one written after a bid to blow up the RUC, which called on England to “take your murderers out of Ireland”.

When quizzed about the gathering by the Sunday Mirror, Mr Kelly insisted he had been drinking with three UKIP party employees.

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

But he finally admitted sitting at the same table as the pro-IRA group – who he described as a visiting delegation – adding: “I know two of these people. I’m sitting here having a drink. I can’t stop them singing that s***.”

Mr Kelly, UKIP ’s Director of Communications in Brussels, was introduced to our reporter by a political pal who joked: “Meet Hermann, the only Irish Republican on Nigel Farage’s payroll. Now that’s a story!”

Confirming he did hold Republican beliefs, Mr Kelly said this stemmed from his roots in Northern Ireland’s second largest city and asked: “What else do you expect from a man from Derry?”

Insisting his views represented “Irish Catholic nationalism” he likened the Irish cause to that of the Brexit campaign in next month’s EU referendum, saying: “Self-determination is what it’s all about.”

Mr Kelly claimed Mr Farage – a long-time fierce critic of the IRA – was aware of his sympathies but said: “We agreed not to discuss it.”

Like the UKIP boss, Mr Kelly has blamed “the horrific act of terrorism” in Brussels which killed 34 on lax EU migration rules.