The family of Michaela McAreavey has called on a Mauritian newspaper to tell the police where it obtained images of the murdered woman’s body from.
The Mauritian Sunday Times yesterday apologised for publishing photographs at the weekend of Ms McAreavey's body which were taken at the scene where she died.
The paper's director, General Imran Hosany, said the motive was not sensationalism but was "to recall that such a heinous crime remained unpunished".
Ms McAreavey was killed in her room in the Legend's Hotel in Mauritius while on honeymoon in January, 2011. Two of the hotel's former staff were tried for her murder but were found not guilty last week.
In a statement today, the McAreavey and Harte families said the newspaper had made "a calculated decision to use photographs and images that no responsible media outlet would have touched".
"[The editor] further exacerbated his actions by printing an inexcusable editorial in a feeble attempt to justify what was wholly unjustifiable," the families said.
The statement added that if The Mauritius Sunday Times was genuinely cooperating with police "the best and most obvious form of apology" would be to tell them how his newspaper came to possess the photographs.
"This would be a start to taking some degree of personal responsibility," the families said. "The hurt this man and his newspaper have caused over the past forty-eight hours cannot be undone."
Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said the actions of the Mauritian Sunday Times in publishing the photographs were "callous and unjustifiable".
Taoiseach Enda Kenny also condemned the move.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore instructed Ireland's Ambassador to Mauritius yesterday to convey a "strong protest" to Mauritian authorities over the publication of the photographs.
Mr Gilmore held a meeting with Ambassador to Mauritius Brendan McMahon in Dublin yesterday. Speaking afterwards, he said he was shocked by a Mauritian newspaper's "disgraceful" decision to publish images of the crime scene and Ms McAreavey's injuries.
"It shows total lack of respect both to her memory and the feelings of her family, who have already suffered so much," said Mr Gilmore.
He said Mr McMahon would travel to Mauritius in the coming days to outline the Government's concerns. "The Ambassador will in the first instance convey a strong protest to the Mauritian authorities about what appears to be the leaking of evidential material to the local media there," said the Tánaiste.
He added that the complaint would be expressed in strong terms and characterised it as a "formal government-to-government protest".
The newspaper that published the images, the Mauritian Sunday Times, has no connections to any British or Irish publication.