MR Harry Blaney, the Donegal North East Independent TD, has condemned with reservations the killing of two RUC officers this week. He condemned the killings only in the context of condemning all killings in the North in the past 70 years.
Mr Blaney earlier told the Donegal People's Press that he was "not in the business of condemning. Too much has gone on in the past uncondemned". He criticised the "timing" of the incident, saying "things should have been given a chance. The new governments in Britain and Ireland should have been given a year to see what they could come up with".
He thought the killings signalled that Sinn Fein appeared to have lost control over the IRA.
Mr Blaney was accused of double standards by a Letterkenny Fine Gael councillor, Mr Jimmy Harte, in an interview on Highland Radio. He said Mr Blaney had received the endorsement of the ProLife Campaign in the election, so it was ironic that he could not condemn the murders.
Meanwhile, Mr Blaney has not ruled out voting for the Fianna Fail leader as Taoiseach. He had expressed surprise that Fianna Fail would negotiate with the PDs, "given their stance on Articles 2 and 3, but this does not mean I will not be voting for Bertie Ahern, as some reports suggest".
The Fianna Fail TD for Donegal North East, Dr James McDaid, said: "I'm absolutely disgusted at what has happened. I totally and utterly condemn the killings.