Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said it was “ironic” Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams had apologised to the family of Det Garda Jerry McCabe “17 years after the incident occurred”.
Det Garda McCabe was killed by the IRA in an attempted robbery at Adare, Co Limerick, in 1996.
“It’s ironic in a way that the leader of the Sinn Féin party decides to issue an apology 17 years after the incident occurred,” Mr Kenny said.
Mr Kenny also said he disagreed with Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald who said there was a clear distinction between the IRA killing gardaí and killing RUC officers during the Troubles.
Mr Kenny claimed Sinn Féin had spent a number of years trying to prevent the implementation of the Belfast Agreement while it negotiated with the Irish government the release from prison of Det Garda McCabe’s killers.
‘Tragic issues’
Turning to developments at the Smithwick Tribunal, he called on former Provisional IRA members to have the “decency” to give information “about serious and tragic issues in the past that they should own up to”.
The inquiry, which holds a public hearing today, is investigating allegations of collusion in the murder in 1989 of two RUC officers, Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan.
Yesterday its chairman, Judge Peter Smithwick, expressed disappointment that former IRA members the tribunal had been engaging with had refused to give oral evidence.
Mr Kenny noted Mr Adams had made repeated calls for a truth and reconciliation commission. He said that sentiment could be applied to the former IRA members who had been engaging with the tribunal.
