More than 7,000 athletes are to take part in next month's games

Last Friday, Health Minister Micheal Martin asked competitors from China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines, which have all had substantial outbreaks of Sars, not to travel to Ireland for the event.

The Department of Health in Dublin said on Wednesday that the Filipino team was now welcome to come.

The decision followed the World Health Organisation's removal of the Philippines from the list of states affected by the Sars virus.

Cities and towns in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland are hosting 7,000 athletes, 3,000 coaches and 28,000 delegates for the summer games, which have never before been held outside the United States.

They take place on 20-29 June and have been described as the largest sporting event of 2003.

The World Health Organisation had criticised the decision to request the countries not to attend, describing it as inconsistent with the latest guidelines for controlling attendances at large events.

Iraqi team

Meanwhile, the British government has said it will pay for the Iraqi Special Olympics team to travel to the games.

The four-strong team was initially set to be hosted by Larne, County Antrim, but were forced to pull out because of the war in Iraq.

Northern Ireland Office minister Des Browne told the Commons on Wednesday that the government was able to meet the allocation of required resources.

Larne deputy mayor Danny O'Connor said getting the athletes across to Northern Ireland could still pose a problem.

He said air travel from Iraq was only possible using coalition forces planes, which would make an arduous journey even more difficult.

"I hope the government is successful, because we would like to see them here," he added.