The Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs is to ask the Government to consider not sending representatives to the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, in protest at the abuse of human rights in Tibet.
The Oireachtas committee has also agreed to invite the Dalai Lama to meet its members.
The committee heard an impassioned plea from a Tibetan woman, Tsering Lhamo Gawathsang, who said six of her family had been killed by the Chinese in Tibet. She urged a boycott of the opening cermonies, but not of the games.
Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in San Francisco for the US leg of the Beijing Olympics torch relay.
The planned route changed radically at the last minute.
The plan was for unprecedented security to shield the torch through the city as authorities aimed to prevent a repeat of the chaos in Paris, where the torch was snuffed out several times during anti-China protests.
San Francisco organisers previously trimmed the route of the torch relay, scrapping proposed stops at the Golden Gate Bridge and Chinatown.
Protests began in San Francisco on Monday when two pro-Tibet banners where unfurled over the Golden Gate Bridge.
A march to the Chinese consulate and a torchlight rally held last night passed off without incident.
Pro-Tibet campaigners have shadowed the flame from the moment it was lit in Greece on 24 March, as demonstrators accuse China of violating human rights and protest a crackdown in Tibet that they say has left 150 people dead. China says ‘rioters’ killed 20 people.
The International Olympic Committee has said it will continue to review the progress of the torch relay following the protests in Paris and London, but has downplayed suggestions that the 20-country, 137,000km roadshow could be abandoned.
After San Francisco, the torch heads to Buenos Aires tomorrow and Friday, and 12 more countries before arriving in China in early May.
In Beijing, meanwhile, the world’s National Olympic Committees rejected calls for a boycott of the Beijing Games, and backed away from explicitly urging China to end its crackdown in Tibet.
Tibet Governor warns protestors
The Governor of Tibet, who was appointed by Beijing, has warned of severe penalties for anyone attempting to disrupt the Olympic torch relay as its passes through the region on its way to the Chinese capital.
The Governor, Qiangba Puncog, said he would be personally responsible for its safety.
