Minister for Justice Michael McDowell will meet a delegation of victims of IRA violence after the Love Ulster Rally in Dublin next Saturday.
A spokesman from the Department of Justice said he was invited to meet the delegation, from south Armagh Protestant victims' group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (Fair), by DUP Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson. He added that the Minister was never asked to attend the rally or speak at it.
Gardaí expect up to 1,000 marchers to take part in the event, which begins at noon on Saturday, February 25th at the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square.
The marchers, made up of unionist politicians, Orangemen, loyalist bands and members of Fair, will travel down O'Connell Street and D'Olier Street, past Trinity College and up Kildare Street to Leinster House, where they will congregate for a meeting.
Speakers due to address the group will include Mr Donaldson, Ulster Unionist Assembly member for Newry and Armagh, Danny Kennedy and William Frazer of Fair.
A Garda spokesman said that the force would be finalising security and traffic arrangements for the march over the weekend and that commuters could expect severe disruption to traffic in the area.
The rally is being organised by Fair and Love Ulster, an organisation based in the Shankill in Belfast established last year to campaign against what it says are moves to force the North into a united Ireland.
Mr Frazer said they were keeping numbers participating in the rally low because they did not want to be seen as a mass force coming down to Dublin to create a problem.
"We have had interest from a large number of bands who wanted to take part but we are restricting it to half a dozen," he said.
"We have also been contacted by a number of people from the South who also want to take part, ex-servicemen who want to show their support."
He expected the majority of people in Dublin would not be interested in the rally and he hoped that it would pass off peacefully.
