THE INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee (IOC) is to meet on Friday to consider abandoning the international leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay following protests in Paris, London and San Francisco in recent days.
Protesters are calling for a boycott of the games, citing China's poor human rights record, and various governments have been urged not to send representatives to the opening ceremony.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said the issue of Ireland boycotting the Olympics had not been discussed but would be reviewed in the future.
He said, however, "we have to deal with China in the long term." If the Government threw a "hissy fit" and refused to attend the opening ceremony it might find "that Chinese will turn their back and not engage with us".
Speaking on RTÉ's Prime Timelast night, he said: "If we have learnt anything from the situation up in the North, it is not megaphone diplomacy that works, it is hard graft dialogue on a one-to-one basis."
The Irish Olympic Council said the Irish team and its athletes would be taking part in the Olympic Games regardless of any political or diplomatic boycott.
Council president Pat Hickey said the council had not yet received any inquiries from athletes on the matter. "There is no talk about any boycott of any opening ceremony or anything. What is being looked for is that athletes need more direction on where and when they speak.
"There's no gagging order - we don't want any protests, for example, at the medal ceremony. But if the athlete is interviewed afterwards by the Irish media or any other media, they're free to say whatever they feel like saying," Mr Hickey told Newstalk yesterday.
In the Seanad yesterday, Independent Senator Joe O'Toole described the Olympic flame as a symbol of "torture, oppression and suppression" and called on the Government to boycott the opening ceremony.
In the US, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton urged President George W Bush to similarly stay away from the event.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said he was "deeply saddened" by the protests in London and Paris and was concerned about the torch relay in San Francisco.
The future of the torch relay would be discussed by the ruling executive board on Friday, he said.
Protests had already begun in San Francisco yesterday ahead of today's planned torch relay.
Chinese Olympic officials yesterday described the interruption of the torch events as "despicable" and "in grave violation of the Olympic spirit". Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu issued a statement expressing "strong condemnation of the deliberate disruption of the Olympic torch relay by 'Tibetan independence' separatist forces".