WITHIN 12 miles of where Det Garda Jerry McCabe was murdered in Adare, Co Limerick, last June, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said on Saturday that his organisation "repudiated that killing". However, he refused to condemn the murder.
"Raking over Garda McCabe's murder would only serve to hurt his wile and family.
We did not kill Det Garda McCabe, we think it was totally wrong that he should have been killed. I have made that very clear and my sympathies are with his wife and family."
He stressed that Sinn Fein wanted to make sure that it never happened again. "The time for killing in Ireland has to be brought to an end. And how do we do this? By building a peace process which persuades everyone who was involved in armed actions to stop and start talking."
Mr Adams was speaking on Limerick local radio before a two hour signing session of his bestselling book, Before The Dawn, at O'Mahony's Bookshop, O'Connell Street, Limerick.
The previous evening, Mr Frank O'Mahony, the managing director of the firm, had called to the home of Mrs Ann McCabe, widow of the murdered detective, because of the number of telephone calls he had received objecting to having Mr Adams in Limerick for the signing.
Mr O'Mahony said he offered to cancel the signing, but Mrs McCabe did not ask him to do so.