Statement Issued by the Rehab Group on Friday May 16th 2003:
The Government’s decision to prevent athletes from SARS infected countries from taking part in the Special Olympics would appear to be based on the belief that people with disabilities are more likely to be carriers of the virus than the rest of the population.
Otherwise it would obviously have also been necessary to ban business people, tourists and others from the five countries named from travelling to Ireland.
We would ask the expert group on SARS appointed by the Minister for Health to disclose exactly what evidence it has proving that the athletes involved pose a greater risk of causing an outbreak of SARS in Ireland than any of their fellow citizens who may wish to travel here.