The Sinn Féin woman at the center of the "special adviser row" at Stormont has said that the killing of a Catholic school teacher over 25 years ago was a "tragic mistake."
Former IRA prisoner Mary McArdle was sentenced to life for her part in the shooting that left the 22-year-old Mary Travers dead and her father, Magistrate Tom Travers, seriously injured after they were attacked coming out of Mass in South Belfast on April 8, 1984.
19-year-old Ms. McArdle was arrested nearby after being found in possession of two handguns. Sinn Féin was heavily criticized by Mary Travers' sister Ann after it was reported that Mary McArdle had taken up a party role as a special adviser to new culture minister at Stormont, Carál Ní Chuilín.
Breaking her silence on the controversy, Mary McArdle told the Andersonstown News in Belfast that she didn't believe that anything she might say about the killing of Mary Travers could ease the grief endured by the Travers family.
"Nothing can bring back lost loved ones," she said.
"I want to state clearly that the killing of Mary Travers was a tragic mistake and I regret that it happened.
"If I were to begin to describe the specific context of conflict within which it happened I would be accused of trying to justify her death. And I have no wish to do that."
The Sinn Féin woman said that she felt she had to speak out after events of last week.
"Sometimes, particularly where grief and hurt are involved, the less said the better. But so much has been said this past week about me, my past and my recent appointment, that I feel now that I must say something.
"I come from Turf Lodge and like many others in this community I have been an active republican my whole life, as a young person involved with the IRA on the streets where I grew up, and for the last 14 years as a committed Sinn Féin member.
"I fully accept my responsibility for my role in that conflict. I served 14 years as a POW. I understand the hurt out there. I come from and live within a community which has suffered much as a result of the conflict."
McArdle said the peace process has given people the opportunity of a new future "but many thousands of families are still grieving. And of course that includes the Travers family," she said.
"We went through 30 years of war involving various armed groups, political parties, governments and state forces. And as we develop the political process which has taken us out of conflict there are now many, many individuals from all of these groups working in the political institutions, in the PSNI and as elected representatives.
"I believe that it is a good thing that we are striving to work together to build better lives for the communities we come from.
McArdle continued: "The Travers family is perfectly entitled to raise this in the media if that is their wish. Since my release from prison I have been active in Sinn Féin and have played, I hope, a constructive and positive role in winning and maintaining support for the peace process within the nationalist and republican community, not least among the community where I live and which has suffered enormously from the past conflict - and that is what Iintend to continue to do."
Mary Travers's sister, Ann, has demanded that McArdle resigns from her post as advisor to the culture minister; however Sinn Féin deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness said there will be no change in the appointment.
"There is controversy now because Ann obviously feels very hurt and I respect the fact that she feels the way she feels," he told BBC Radio Ulster.
"But if we were to apply the rule that people who were part of the conflict can't be part of building a better future, then Nelson Mandela would never have been president of South Africa."
