Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has said he does not believe criminality will become a central issue in the Westminster election campaign.
Mr Adams, who was speaking in Derry, said last night's visit by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to the South Belfast constituency for a meeting with SDLP candidate Alasdair McDonnell was a procedural departure in terms of ministerial campaigning.
"It's a change in so far as while all the parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the PDs and Labour, always campaigned against Sinn Féin, Ministers stayed out of it, and it is a change in that regard," he said.
The Sinn Féin president, who was in the Foyle constituency with party candidate Mitchel McLoughlin, said: "Criminality, with respect, is not at the core of the general election campaign. The central core is about the future, about building hope and building the peace and is about building beyond that to Irish unity and independence," he said.
When asked if Derry's Bloody Sunday killings were crimes and if the killing by the Provisional IRA of Garda Jerry McCabe was a crime, Mr Adams said that to "break the law is to commit a crime but why you would raise at this point the killing of Garda McCabe is beyond me".
Mr Adams also reasserted his claim that Sinn Féin opponents were trying to exploit the murder of Robert McCartney and the Northern Bank robbery.
"I have met with the McCartney family over the last few days. If they can tell us something else that we can do, we will do it," he said.
The Sinn Féin leader said that after the election, "when the IRA has big decisions to make", he wanted to be able to demonstrate to them that there was support for "what I and others are trying to do".
He also called on the British and Irish governments to create an incentive for unionists to become involved in talks.