Responding to the decision to acquit Lee Clegg of the charge of murdering Karen Reilly and to convict him of attempting to wound Martin Peake, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said there had been widespread concern in the nationalist community about this case.
Mr David Andrews said that in pursuit of this, the Government had repeatedly expressed concern about the case within the framework of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. "We have always been very conscious of the suffering of the Reilly and Peake families. Today is yet another sad day for them," he added.
Their pain was shared with the families of all the victims of violence in Northern Ireland "and it should prompt those of us in political life, North and South, to renew our determination to fully implement the Good Friday agreement".
Unionist politicians last night welcomed the acquittal of Clegg, the British soldier convicted in 1993 of Karen Reilly's murder. Nationalists reacted angrily to yesterday's retrial verdict at Belfast Crown Court. Dr Joe Hendron, an SDLP Assembly member for West Belfast, described as a "summary execution" the deaths of Martin Peake (17) and Karen Reilly (18), who died in September 1990 when soldiers open fired on a stolen car. A Sinn Fein spokesman said the verdict "added insult to injury" and represented a threat to the peace process.
The Ulster Unionist Party security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, said he was relieved and he hoped it would put an end to the matter. "I imagine that whatever the penalty is in respect of the charge he has been found guilty of, I would think that Lee Clegg will now be free having already served a lengthy period in prison.
"It's so difficult to know the rights and wrongs of a case like this, but anyone who has been in uniform knows the pressure that young soldiers are put under in a situation like this," he added.
Mr Ian Paisley jnr of the Democratic Unionist Party said the acquittal demonstrated that the legal system could repair miscarriages of justice and that Clegg had not intended to kill anyone.
However, Dr Hendron yesterday maintained that the teenagers had been "slaughtered" by the elite of the British army and that the incident maintained the level of concern felt in nationalist communities that there was one law for the military and one for civilians. "These soldiers were the elite, they were supposed to be well-trained and they slaughtered these two young people."
Dr Hendron, who has campaigned on behalf of the Reilly family, also condemned some soldiers in the regiment for "gloating" about the incident some weeks later.
A Sinn Fein statement said the party was infuriated by the decision. "It couldn't have come at a worse time when people are working very hard to build and consolidate the peace process.
"This verdict is adding insult to injury to the family of Karen Reil ly. Not only was Lee Clegg found guilty of murder then released after a few short years and returned to the army but now he has been fully acquitted."