Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his good wishes. He has summed up the position extremely well. We are not isolated on this issue. As he can see from the indications I have given in the reply, discussions are taking place within the EU as well, and that is good. There have been some discussions among Foreign Ministers.

There does not seem to be any mood to boycott the games in any way, and I would agree with that. There are questions concerning movement forward in discussions between the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities. I indicated that a meeting took place on 4 May and the indications from that are there will be a further meeting, which we hope will bring movement on the issues of concern to all of us, on human rights and Tibet, within the framework of the Chinese constitution.

At this stage we do not want to make any rash decisions. As I stated, we have attended the previous six games and, I think, the opening ceremonies as well. Obviously, it is a major event for our athletes and a huge event for the world. Some 205 countries are participating and we would like to see a good outcome on all of the issues pertaining to participation at the games.

As of now, I cannot indicate to the Deputy when a final decision might be taken as the situation is fluid and we are monitoring the discussions taking place.

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