The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, declined to take questions from the media when he arrived at the Ulster Hall in Belfast last night for a rally to celebrate the party's electoral successes.
Reporters had been promised an interview after the proceedings, but at the conclusion of his address Mr Adams was ushered out of the hall to his car and left without comment. His aides said that the event had run over time.
Asked separately about the implications of the Adare murder, party officials pointed to reports that the IRA had issued a statement denying any involvement. They said that was their sole knowledge of the matter.
Pressed further, a party spokesman would not accept that the incident carried any political implications for Sinn Fein, but agreed that, if the IRA statement was proved to be inaccurate, a new situation would arise.