The leader of the Labour Party, Mr Ruairi Quinn, boycotted the official dinner for the Chinese Premier, Mr Zhu Rongji, last night in a protest over human rights.
"I have decided that as a mark of protest against the persecution of Chinese citizens in the absence of human rights, including a student who was previously in Trinity College and a member of the Falun Gong society, that I would not attend this celebratory dinner as a mark of protest."
Mr Quinn said that as leader of the third largest party in the State and an opposition party, he believed it was an appropriate way to act in the context of the official visit.
Democracy was not incompatible with prosperity or managing a large country, said Mr Quinn.
He pointed out that India was a country with a very large population and it was a democracy. "So I think the message has got to be got through that human rights are indivisible around the globe.
"That there isn't, as some Chinese commentators like to pretend that there is, a cultural difference in China that makes it uniquely different to the point that human rights as understood by the UN Declaration of Human Rights does not necessarily apply to China because of its cultural differences.
"I think we have to get this message across while maintaining dialogue and maintaining trade," he said.
Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Jim O'Keeffe, said it was clear from the media reports yesterday that Mr Ahern did raise some of the "pressing human rights issues" with the Chinese Premier.
Mr O'Keeffe said that in the absence of "a full, public account of this secret exchange" it may be that nothing more than a "phoney protest" took place behind closed doors.