AS rough and challenging a week as it has been for the country and sport, it has generally been perceived as a good one for Irish basketball.

Sport may shrink in significance in these unprecedented times but the sight of empty stadiums and speculation over the fate of previously ‘untouchable’ events as the Olympic Games and European Championships hammer home just how serious things have become.

The development, which was launched in 2016, is a partnership agreement between the FAI, FORAS — the trust that operates Cork City — and Cork County Council.

There was a moment last week when the Brexit process reached a new magnificence.

A financial IT expert believes the GAA are well-equipped to comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation regarding the exporting of personal data.

Charlie and his appearances on the Champs Elysee in 1987 and at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico three years later, writes Brendan O’Brien. 

The IRFU’s updated concussion guide for the amateur game, issued last week, is an indication of how sports’ governing bodies are striving to keep up to speed with the medical profession’s developing knowledge of the condition.

Sport Ireland Chief Executive John Treacy says the body will lobby WADA to close the appeal loophole that allowed Brendan O’Sullivan, the Kerry GAA footballer who failed an anti-doping test last year, to play for seven months in the middle of his ban.

IT’S 20 years since this column sat down to complete the Leaving Cert – for a second, excruciating time – but it is probably some sort of twisted pseudo-tribute to that daunting time in all our lives that scraps of the information we had to learn by rote occasionally jostle their way back to the forefront of the mind when least expected, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Never mind the Republic of Ireland’s loss in Cologne, or Munster’s woeful experience in Edinburgh, Irish sport’s most damaging defeat is about to be recorded today, and in Leinster House, of all places.

Thomas Fitzmaurice (Subaru) heads a cracking entry for Sunday’s Carlton Hotel Circuit of Kerry Rally in Tralee.

The Irish Sports Council (ISC) yesterday revealed its Olympic Games debrief and while there was some praise, there were plenty of negatives too.

Our Government is blowing its trumpet over next generation broadband (NGB), that is alleged to offer greater speeds.

The Irish Sports Council's budget has been decreased for 2012, with all sectors of sport suffering reductions except the High Performance budget, which supports Ireland's Olympic athletes, whose funding was left at €10.5m.

IRISH Sports Council chief executive John Treacy has warned that drastic cuts to their funding in the Budget will seriously affect Ireland’s medal chances at the London Olympics in 2012.

A high-speed broadband service is being launched by Eircom this morning to improve services for up to a million customers this year.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS have been hit hardest with e343,919 cut from their 2009 funding but with total funding amounting to e11.47m, budgetary cuts fell well short of the feared 8% when Government grants to sports’ governing bodies were announced by the Irish Sports Council (ISC) yesterday.

IRELAND’S showjumpers climbed out of the relegation zone in the Samsung Super League yesterday, when placed fourth in the Nations Cup at Rotterdam.

IN 1999 the Irish Sports Council established an anti-doping programme amid a good deal of fanfare. Now it seems to be living up to the hype.

THE anti-doping unit of the Irish Sports Council carried out 841 tests last year including 36 tests for international federations and 79 tests under their “user pays” scheme whereby national governing bodies request and pay for additional tests.

THE Irish Horse Board (IHB) this week reaffirmed its commitment to the formation of an umbrella body for the sport horse sector.

John Treacy, chief executive of the Sports Council, has said Richard Burrows’ challenge to Pat Hickey for the Olympic Council of Ireland presidency is healthy for Irish sport.