SPECIAL OLYMPICS: The Department of Health's SARS expert group will meet tomorrow to discuss the Special Olympics amid calls for the screening of athletes arriving here from affected areas in seven weeks.
A spokeswoman for the department said the games would not be the only issue on the agenda, and tomorrow's meeting would not be "extraordinary".
"This group is now meeting either by conference call or in actuality on average every two days."
She said that according to WHO advice it was "far too early to talk about quarantining people arriving for the Special Olympics".
Athletes, families and coaches are due to arrive from 165 countries on June 16th. Some 21 of these countries are affected by SARS. The teams are due to stay in host towns before the games start on June 23rd in Dublin.
Among the SARS-affected countries sending athletes are Hong Kong, whose team is visiting Clonmel, Co Tipperary; China, visiting Bray, Co Wicklow; Singapore, visiting Arklow, Co Wicklow; and Canada, whose team is to stay in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.
Mr Julian Davis, a spokesman for the games, said: "The situation is that we are doing what everybody else is doing. We are in constant contact with the department and the National Disease Surveillance Centre, and are waiting to hear what precautions they say should be taken."
Tomorrow's expert group meeting comes as several educational institutions, including Trinity College, the Dublin Institute of Technology and St Columba's College in Rathfarnham, Dublin, are seeking guidance from the department on how to deal with students returning from affected areas after the Easter break.
British boarding schools have sent a number of students returning from the Far East into quarantine on the Isle of Wight.
Dr Joe Barry, a public health specialist and vice-president of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), has described the level of preparedness at the department for SARS as "totally inadequate and unsatisfactory" .
