Ahern questions use of Olympic boycott

IT COULD be a "pyrrhic" move to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, because it does nothing to further the situation except make a protest, the Dáil has heard.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said the only member of Government to receive an invitation was Minister for Sport Séamus Brennan and that came from the Olympic Council of Ireland.

"Obviously it is up to him to decide whether he will go," Mr Ahern said.

"I understand he will make a decision based on the advice he will receive from my department and, if necessary, from Government in regard to a boycott of the ceremony."

He said that "to a certain extent it may be very much a pyrrhic move in that later on we will have to meet on a bilateral basis with the Chinese".

Mr Ahern said: "We will have to deal with them not just on this issue, but on a myriad of issues that affect the world, including the issue of climate change, about which the EU obviously has something to say, namely, that China must get its act together on this issue.

"Quite apart from the issue of human rights and the difficulties in certain parts of China, it is very important we engage with the Chinese on a constant basis."

As disturbances continued to mar the journey of the Olympic torch, in protest at the Chinese crackdown in Tibet, Mr Ahern said he had "always been a strong believer that one should keep politics out of sport".

Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins believed the Minister would come under pressure about a boycott and he hoped he would "hold the line". Mr Timmins called on the Government to invite the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, to Ireland.

The Minister said, "we have to very strongly condemn what has happened.

"Anyone who read the recent statement by the Dalai Lama could not disagree with a word he said. He is asking for an autonomous, not independent, Tibet."

Mr Ahern said the Dalai Lama is "clearly not asking for a boycott of the Olympic Games."

He said it was "not appropriate for the Government to invite the Dalai Lama because he is not a head of state, he is a religious leader. "Similarly, the Government cannot invite the Pope to Ireland. This invitation must come from the bishops and the clergy."