A spokesperson for the Minister for Sport Dr Jim McDaid last night insisted that no Government decision had been taken on when a normal schedule of sports events might resume. Reports emanating from the FAI claimed he had indicated that significant movement might be expected by the St Patrick's Day weekend.

Despite last night's denial, there appears to be a feeling that a staged return to normality, starting with purely domestic events, could get under way much earlier than the "30 days after the last new case in Britain" line floated at the weekend.

FAI president Pat Quigley said that McDaid had told representatives of the association at Monday night's meeting about the Stadium Ireland proposal that if there was no outbreak in this country then the Government would be looking seriously at putting sport back on the weekend after next.

However, the spokesperson for the minister said last night that he had been responding to an inquiry regarding possible compensation for loss of revenue due to the current crisis and, while indicating that none would be available, expressed the hope that things would soon be back to normal.

The spokesperson added that no decision had been taken at Government level on the question and none was anticipated at present. "It remains (the Minister for) Agriculture's call," she said.

Progress could be made initially on underage and locally-based events. That might pave the way for organisations like the GAA and FAI to at least partially recommence their competitive programmes. It seems unlikely, however, to be of much comfort to the IRFU, who have been hoping for a green light for the forthcoming Six Nations international against England at Lansdowne Road. British government scientists told EU officials yesterday that they expect the number of new cases to peak over the next few days after which the problem would start to clear up. But even on the basis of that, restrictions here could apply for a further two months.

Meanwhile, reacting to reports from Cyprus that the World Cup qualifer in Nicosia later this month would come under threat if any cases of foot-and-mouth disease were to occur here, Quigley said that the association had not been contacted by either the Cypriot FA or any government department there. He added that, as far as he is aware, "there are currently no restrictions on travel to the island from Britain" and he could not, therefore, see why the Ireland game would be threatened even in the event that some cases were uncovered here.

"The key point at the moment, though, is that there have been no cases, hopefully there won't be any and we have heard nothing from anybody to indicate that the game will not go ahead as planned. So, as far as we're concerned, it's full steam ahead."