A man was last night continuing to help the PSNI with its inquiry into the murder last January of Robert McCartney outside a Belfast pub.
He presented himself at a police station yesterday morning accompanied by a solicitor and was arrested on suspicion of murder. He is understood to have been transferred to another police centre for questioning by the PSNI's serious crime division.
His arrest follows Tuesday's IRA statement which revealed that IRA representatives, at a meeting with the McCartney family, had said the IRA was prepared to shoot the people directly involved in Mr McCartney's killing and had ordered its members to account for their actions. The murdered man's family yesterday responded to the statement by insisting that justice could only be gained in court.
Their stance against the IRA was endorsed by the Taoiseach, the British prime minister, the US special envoy to Ireland and the North's Chief Constable. They all denounced the IRA and called for an end to criminality to facilitate the political process.
Issuing their latest statement in response to the IRA outside their home in Short Strand yesterday, Mr McCartney's sisters and the murdered man's partner, Bridgeen Hagans, said it was only in a court of law "where transparency and accountability prevail, that justice will be done".
They challenged the IRA: "It is the family's position that up to 12 volunteers were involved in the cover-up, not the offence in Market Street, where up to three were involved. However it was that cover-up which prevented those who murdered Robert from being brought to justice." They said the IRA, during the meeting it requested with the family on March 5th, could offer no reason for their brother's murder.
The family is considering opening an office in Belfast to relieve pressure on the family home. Next week they take their campaign to the US, leaving for Washington on Tuesday.
The two governments heaped additional criticism on the IRA for its offer to shoot those involved in the killing.
The Taoiseach said the organisation's statement was "extraordinary and horrific" which he found difficult to believe at first.
Tony Blair told the House of Commons in response to a question from veteran Labour backbencher Kevin McNamara: "It cannot be in any shape or form justified." Paul Murphy, the Northern Secretary, appeared to admit the two governments had got it wrong concerning the IRA.
He said he had hoped its activity would have withered away after the Belfast Agreement.
PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde said: "This is an organisation theoretically on ceasefire. This is an organisation that is still prepared to kill people now from its own community."
US special envoy Mitchell Reiss, reflecting alarm among supporters of the peace process, said: "It's time for Sinn Féin to be able to say explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated."
Sinn Féin said the McCartney family was right to reject the IRA's offer to shoot the murderers. Martin McGuinness said: "I think it would have been a mistake and I totally and absolutely disagree with any punishment shootings whatsoever."
But he emphasised what he saw as positive elements in the IRA statement. Illustrating the gulf between the family and Sinn Féin on the question of intimidation and cover-up, he said: "I think we shouldn't lose sight of the other messages that are clearly in this, because I think it dispels absolutely any notion whatsoever that the IRA would cover up for or protect the perpetrators of the murder of Robert McCartney. The fact is that this didn't happen and I am glad it didn't happen."