Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams has stated that he "regrets" the Birmingham pub bombings which killed 21 people and maimed and wounded scores more.
As a service marking the 30th anniversary was taking place in Birmingham yesterday, Mr Adams told reporters in Belfast that he regretted what happened.
There has been recent speculation that the IRA is about to make a formal apology for the bombings. Asked about this, Mr Adams referred to a statement the IRA made two years ago where it apologised to all "non-combatants" killed and injured in the troubles.
"My recollection very clearly is that the IRA apologised for all the actions it engaged in, in which civilians were hurt or injured," he said. "I certainly regret what happened and I make no bones about that."
He said the onus was on politicians to ensure such events were never repeated. "I think the best thing is for us to make sure that these awful events never happen again," said Mr Adams.
The Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, adopted a similar line when speaking about the bombings yesterday. He believed a specific apology about Birmingham would be a "good" development but "what's important at the end of the day is that we move forward and we never have to have these atrocities again.
"But if apologies do help people then I can see an awful lot of point in that," he said. "Our aim all the time is to ensure we never go back to those terrible days, that we keep on moving all the time so that we don't get victims in the future or in the present.
"But we have to acknowledge the fact that people's lives have been dreadfully, dreadfully wrecked over the last 30 years and we are still having to pay the price for that," added Mr Murphy.
