The mother of Paul Quinn, who was beaten to death by up to 10 men in a barn in Co Monaghan 13 years ago, has rejected an offer of a meeting from Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.
Ms McDonald said she was "absolutely" willing to speak to Breege Quinn and her family about what they say was a slur by the North's finance minister Conor Murphy following the brutal killing of the 21-year-old.
Ms Quinn says Mr Murphy, a senior Sinn Féin figure, suggested her son’s death was connected to criminal activity.
Ms McDonald told Newstalk that she hoped to speak to Mr Murphy on Tuesday about the family’s distress, adding: “I want to sort that out.”
“This young man, Paul Quinn, got an absolutely horrific death, and just to say the criminals in this scenario are those that gave that man such a horrific death,” she said.
“Paul Quinn was not a criminal, and so far as I’m concerned Conor has never asserted that Paul was a criminal.”
She added: “I think at this stage Conor needs to talk directly to the family, because they’re fully entitled ... they’ve lost their son in a really brutal way.
“The last thing they need is the additional sting and pain of any suggestion that the man was a criminal. I am happy to clarify he was not a criminal. He was brutally beaten to death.”
‘No question’
Ms McDonald said there was “no question” that she would also be prepared to speak to the Quinn family herself.
But speaking to Northern Sound, Ms Quinn ruled out talking to either Ms McDonald or Mr Murphy ahead of a public apology.
“No I will not (talk to Mr Murphy),” she said. “Nor will I take the call from Mary Lou.”
Ms McDonald “is the head of Sinn Féin now” and it is her job to make sure people in her party “behave and act in a respectful way”, she said.
Ms Quinn said she hadn’t heard from anyone in Sinn Féin to date. She said she wants a public apology “for the slur [Mr Murphy] put on Paul’s name”.
“Has he any idea what it is like to bury a child that is unrecognisable, without blackening the child’s name,” she said. “He has no idea how we feel.”
The Quinn family has always held the IRA responsible. No one has been charged with his murder.
Mr Quinn, from Cullyhanna, Co Armagh, was lured to a barn in Tullycoora, near Oram, on October 20th, 2007, where he was set upon by men with metal and nail-studded bars. He was beaten for more than half an hour.
Every major bone in his body was broken. He died at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Droghda, a few hours later.
