The Northern Secretary, Peter Hain, has ruled out any gesture on Saturday week at Croke Park to remember the victims of the Bloody Sunday killings by British forces in 1920.
Mr Hain said he would be at Croke Park supporting the Ireland team in its RBS 6 Nations match against England on 24 February.
There had been speculation Mr Hain might take part in a wreath-laying ceremony.
But Mr Hain said this afternoon that despite such speculation, he had never proposed doing anything other than attend and watch the match at the specific request of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
'I will be there as a guest at what will be an historic occasion and, I hope, a great game of rugby,' he said.
Last weekend Ireland hosted France for the first-ever rugby match at the 82,000-seater stadium.
The Bloody Sunday killings followed the shooting dead of a number of British agents in Dublin on the orders of Michael Collins.
Mr Hain, who was brought up in South Africa and is also Welsh Secretary, said he was unrepentant after media criticism over his support for Ireland.
He responded: 'I represent the people of Northern Ireland in the Cabinet - so it's right and proper, at this match, that I back the boys from Ulster playing in this game.
'Above all this is a sporting occasion between two great friends and rivals. May the best team win.'
It was revealed this evening that the England rugby squad is to be instructed on the historical significance of Croke Park in advance of the upcoming rugby encounter.
The RFU said former Irish international and now English National Academy Director Conor O'Shea, whose father Jerome won three All-Ireland SFC medals with Kerry, would address the England squad on Monday.
