Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy has “unreservedly withdrawn” comments he made about Paul Quinn.

Mr Quinn was ambushed, beaten and killed by a gang of men near Oram in Co Monaghan in 2007 and the Independent Monitoring Commission has said it believes the IRA was involved in the murder.

Speaking to the BBC in November 2007, Mr Murphy had claimed that Mr Quinn “was involved in smuggling and criminality.”

Earlier this week, Mr Quinn’s mother Breege called on Mr Murphy to make a full apology on national television and go to the police with any information he may have on her son’s killing.

In a statement today he said he had “consistently and unreservedly” condemned the murder and noted that “those who murdered him are criminals and need to be brought to justice.”

“I very much regret comments I made in the aftermath of Paul's murder which have added to the grief felt by the Quinn family,” he said.

“I apologise for those remarks and I unreservedly withdraw them.

“Once again, I offer to meet the Quinn family at a time and place of their convenience.”

He called on anyone with any information on the murder to bring it to the Gardaí or the PSNI.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald had previously claimed that Mr Murphy had “never asserted that Paul was a criminal.”

However, when his comments were read out to her during the leaders debate on RTÉ last night, she said she had thought Mr Murphy's comments “had not been as explicit.”

She admitted the comments were wrong and would be apologised for.

This morning, she confirmed that Mr Murphy would retract and apologise for the comments and said he would meet with the Quinn family.

She said he would retain his position as Minister for Finance at Stormont.

Additional reporting from Stephen McNeice