Past violence must never happen again

Matt Cooper (Opinion, Feb 1) asserts that I have been silent on the killing of Garda Jerry McCabe for 17 years and that I was forced into my statement in the Dáil.

Neither of these assertions is true. I have not been silent on Garda McCabe’s killing. I have apologised to the McCabe and O’Sullivan families on previous occasions, and expressed my deep regret at their loss and hurt.

In the context of the murder of Garda Donohoe, and mindful that the last garda to die was Garda McCabe, I took the view that it was right to apologise again in the Dáil on my own behalf and that of Sinn Féin.