The Palestinian ambassador to Ireland left the conference in protest following the failure of former Minister of State Liz O'Donnell to name him as one of the diplomats in attendance.
Shortly before Mary Harney's leader's speech, Ms O'Donnell named a list of 20 countries that had sent ambassadors to the conference. However, delegate general Hikmat Ajjuri left in protest when Palestine was not mentioned, even though he had spoken shortly beforehand with Ms O'Donnell at a reception. Still angry yesterday, Mr Ajjuri said he had felt "insulted" at the diplomatic gaffe, since he had been invited to attend in writing and he had confirmed his attendance also in writing.
"If it was a personal insult I would not have minded, but it was my country that was not mentioned," he said. "Given that it was the first time that Palestine had attended a PD conference it makes me think that somebody did not want us there," he said.
Ms O'Donnell and one of the Tánaiste's top officials, Katherine Bulbulia, both telephoned Mr Ajjuri yesterday to apologise. A party's spokesperson said "no discourtesy had been intended".
