Six nations games called off
Ireland’s Six Nations rugby union fixtures with England and Scotland were called off Tuesday night because of the foot and mouth crisis.
The Irish Rugby Football Union confirmed the move after a second meeting in successive days with senior officials from the Department of Agriculture.
The IRFU said the strong advice and recommendation to them from the department was that both the England game at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, on March 24, and the match with Scotland in Edinburgh, on April 7, should be postponed.
In a statement, the IRFU said: "The department has advised that 30 days should elapse from the date of the last confirmed case of foot and mouth in the United Kingdom before it is safe to resume international fixtures with UK based teams without risk of introducing the virus into this country."
New dates will be decided by the Six Nations committee.
This followed the postponement of Ireland’s fixture with Wales in Cardiff last month.
Meanwhile, Irish punters appear to be making an each way bet on their Cheltenham racing festival travel plans.
While there was an upsurge in cancellations yesterday, the Irish Travel Agents Association president Fergus Kilkelly said that only 14% of the estimated 5,000 punters who made arrangements to travel to Cheltenham have cancelled.
Punters who cancelled by close of business last night would be entitled to a refund of 40% plus all taxes on their travel packages.
If Cheltenham is cancelled then punters who booked through all airlines, bar Ryanair, will get a 100% refund on their fares. If it goes ahead then they get to go racing.
Mr Kilkelly said he would not be surprised if some punters were adopting a wait and see strategy when it comes to travelling to Cheltenham.
However, Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh continued to appeal to racing fans not to make their annual pilgrimage to Cheltenham.
Tomorrow is the last day for declarations for the 100 or so horses who are entered for races at Cheltenham. Irish champion jockey Ruby Walsh has declared his intention to take part in the festival.
It is expected that Irish trainers will not scratch their entries despite having declared their intentions of not sending runners to Cheltenham.
Trainers are expected to keep their Cheltenham entries live hoping that a change in circumstances will permit their charges to mount challenges for the top races at the festival.
