Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

EXCLUSION OF PRESS:CLAIMS THAT the Department of Foreign Affairs excluded Irish media from a press briefing given by the president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, at its offices on Monday have been rejected by the department.

"The decision had nothing to do with us. It was made solely by the Czechs for their own reasons," said a spokesman for the department.