Conor Murphy has issued a statement on the murder of Paul Quinn saying “I very much regret comments” in which he labelled the 21-year-old a criminal.
The statement was released on Wednesday afternoon in the wake of mounting pressure on Sinn Féin over the South Armagh man’s murder.
Earlier on Wednesday, party president Mary Lou McDonald had insisted she will not ask the Finance Minister to resign over his controversial comments.
Paul Quinn’s mother Breege had called on her to sack Mr Murphy as Stormont Finance Minister after she admitted her colleague had been wrong to say Mrs Quinn’s son had been involved in “smuggling and criminality”.
Ms McDonald had said in an RTE leaders’ debate that Mr Murphy would apologise.
In his statement he said: “I have consistently and unreservedly condemned the murder of Paul Quinn. Those who murdered him are criminals and need to be brought to justice.
“I repeat my call on anyone with any information on his murder to bring it to the Gardaí or the PSNI. I very much regret comments I made in the aftermath of Paul’s murder which have added to the grief felt by the Quinn family.
“I apologise for those remarks and I unreservedly withdraw them. Once again I offer to meet the Quinn family at a time and place of their convenience.”
The murder of Mr Quinn 13 years ago, and Sinn Fein’s response to it, has become a major issue in the Republic’s General Election campaign.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mrs McDonald said she would not remove Mr Murphy from his position.
She said: “There’s absolutely no question of that.”
During the last TV election debate involving the main party leaders on Tuesday night, Mrs McDonald said Mr Murphy was retracting the comments he made in 2007 and will apologise to the Quinn family.
She said his remarks were wrong and had caused additional hurt and grief to Mr Quinn’s parents.
Mrs Quinn has said she will not meet Mr Murphy until he apologises publicly for branding her son a criminal.
She told the BBC: “He is not fit to be in government. Mary Lou (McDonald) should just step him down.”
Mr Quinn, a 21-year-old from Cullyhanna in South Armagh, was beaten to death by a gang of around a dozen men in a farm shed across the border near Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.
His family blame members of the IRA, but Sinn Fein has long denied republican involvement.
A month after the murder, Mr Murphy, a Sinn Fein representative for Newry and Armagh, claimed Mr Quinn was involved in “smuggling and criminality”.
