Fears that the Special Olympics taking place in Dublin this summer would be cancelled have been allayed today by the chief executive of the Special Olympics.
Special Olympics chief executive Ms Mary Davies said: "There is no threat that the games will be cancelled or postponed.
"It affects a certain number of countries, with probably fewer than 200 potential athletes coming from them - out of the 7,000 competing - so there is no chance that it will be postponed."
Those involved in the olympics are due to begin flying in from 165 countries on June 16, with the competition getting under way a week later.
More than 20 of the countries taking part have so far been caught up in the SARS alert. The teams for the event are scheduled to be accommodated at host towns on both sides of the Irish border.
But, with a group of health experts set to debate the issues involved later today, organisers of the Olympics, the first to be staged outside the United States, acted quickly to issue assurances that so far there was no threat to the games going ahead as planned.
Competitors from China - where the illness, which has affected thousands and people and killed hundreds, first appeared last November - are booked in at Bray, Co Wicklow, 15 miles from Dublin, those from Hong Kong in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, from Singapore at Aklow, Co Wicklow, and from Canada at Enniscorthy, Co Wicklow.
Today's meeting of the SARS experts co-incided with unrest in some medical quarters over Ireland's ability to cope with the SARS menace, regardless of the Special Olympics.
The Department of Health rejected claims that it was failing to implement a contingency plan, with a spokesman today insisting it would be able to deal with any outbreak.
General practitioners have claimed there is a lack of facilities to deal with any outbreak and that there is no effective strategy in place in case the virus arrives in Ireland.
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), representatives of the country's doctors, maintained, though, that there was no contingency plan in place in case of an outbreak in Ireland.
In addition, the situation has been complicated by on-going industrial action by public health doctors who deal with measures to contain infectious diseases.
Dr Gerard Sheehan, infectious diseases consultant at Dublin's Mater Hospital, said: "Compared to most other health care systems in the developed world, we in Ireland are inadequate in terms of the number of isolation rooms and the number of doctors in total.
"The system at the moment - without SARS - is all close to 100% occupancy most of the time. It is very concerning that at some point over the next few months or the next year or two, we could have substantial SARS transmission within Ireland.
Nelson Mandela will formally open the Special Olympics international games in Dublin this summer.
The announcement of the former South African President's attendance was made in Dublin today against a background of concern of the consequences for the games - the biggest sporting event in the world this year - of the ongoing alert over the spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) from the Far East.
Nelson Mandela will be joined at the Olympics opening by Bono and U2, the Irish group The Corrs, singers Ronan Tynan and Samantha Mumba and TV star Patrick Kielty.
It will be staged at Dublin's Croke Park stadium before a live crowd of 65,000 and a worldwide TV audience.
PA