The Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald has said she does not want to get dragged into a row over the politics of condemnation.
Ms McDonald had been criticised after she declined to condemn the attempted murder of Arlene Foster's father in 1979.
She has today described an IRA attack on John Kelly who was a serving policeman in the North as "wrong".
Deputy McDonald added that it is also wrong that Ms Foster had to witness that level of violence against a family member.
However, she said it is dishonourable of politicians to get dragged into a game of speaking out against every single act of violence perpetrated during the Troubles.
Ms McDonald said: "The politics of condemnation is a rabbit hole that I will not go down because it becomes a tit-for-tat, you said I said, and it becomes a tennis match between very, very hurt and very, very damaged people and communities."
