THE newly-elected Sinn Fein TD, Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain, said condemning the killing of the two RUC men in Lurgan on Monday was a distraction from the issue of finding a way forward.
He said he was "shocked and saddened on hearing the news of these two deaths yesterday. I share the great disappointment expressed by so many, I am very mindful of the hurt and pain being suffered by these two grief-stricken families".
Speaking on the RTE Liveline programme, where the presenter, Marian Finucane, asked him to condemn the shootings, he said: "Marian, you have to understand that the politics of condemnation have not serviced at any time over the past 25 years.
"It is not going to make a constructive contribution. My purpose, as an elected representative, and my party's purpose, by every means at our disposal, is to try to move the situation forward out of conflict."
"What means are at your disposal?" asked Marian Finucane. "The people were fed the idea, perhaps inaccurately, perhaps accurately, that a vote for Sinn Fein was a vote for peace because Sinn Fein could somehow deliver the IRA. Now can they or can't they?"
"Well, it is not within the gift of Sinn Fein alone to deliver a ceasefire situation," he replied.
"Sinn Fein have never claimed that they were solely responsible for the IRA cessation in August 1994.
"It was achieved with the efforts of others, including the Irish Government, John Hume and Gerry Adams."
These efforts were still ongoing, he said. When it was pointed out that planned talks with representatives of the British government had been cancelled he said: "We would hope that they would be resurrected in the very near future because in the end of the day I believe that however tragic the events of yesterday, no major reaction should deflect us from our responsibility to keep focused on the search for and the means towards an end to all such actions and their tragic consequences."
He said Sinn Fein wished to show an alternative to violence, the primacy of politics, and urged politicians and opinion-formers not to rush back into "the abyss", by advocating exclusion and marginalisation.
"About an abyss, you have Rebecca, aged 10, Abigail, aged seven, Katie, aged two, and two little boys aged seven and two, who have no father. What abyss?" asked Marian Finucane.
"I think we all recognise the tragedy of the pain being suffered by the bereaved families. I have acknowledged that.
"I'm not going down the road of whataboutery in relation to people from both communities who've suffered for so long.
"I'm indicating that rather we must reach out. I recognise how difficult that is.
"Making peace will not be easy will challenge every participant in that search, Sinn Fein included. But making dialogue and inclusive negotiations are the only way out of conflict and on to peace, permanent peace.
There were a number of callers to the programme, including a man who had voted for Sinn Fein and who said: "You've failed me. You've let everyone down."
Earlier, Mr O Caolain had arrived at Leinster House to sign in as a new TD and join his fellow first-time TDs for lunch.
Unlike his colleagues, he did not park his car in the grounds, but walked in, alone.