SO there is another centre of excellence in a field near Cork city.

SO the Taoiseach and Dermot Ahern are miffed at the ‘bad timing’ of the revelations by the European Parliament’s Temporary Committee that 147 CIA flights landed in Ireland.

SO, Steve Hansen has gone back to the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’, joining fellow Kiwi returnees Graham Henry and Wayne Smith in their bid to capture the Webb Ellis trophy for New Zealand for the first time since 1987.

SO, it has come to this. The game of the weekend and game of the season presents itself in Croke Park this afternoon. If anyone still doubts the qualifiers are out-stripping the significance of the provinces, ask yourself this: which match are you anticipating more this weekend - Dublin and Armagh or Galway and Mayo?

THE support of the Irish community in Hong Kong was a huge encouragement to their Special Olympics officials to fight the Sars ban which threatened their involvement in the World Games in the opinion of the senior officers of their delegation.

SO, John Murphy from Utah (Letters, Feb 1) has cancelled his family holiday in Ireland this year.