None of the three main sporting bodies is to attend a public forum in Dublin today on the proposed designation of sporting and cultural events for free-to-air broadcast.
The FAI, the IRFU and the GAA have each turned down invitations from the forum to attend.
The public session forms part of a consultation process on free-to-air broadcasting launched by the Minister for Communications, Mr Ahern, following the FAI's controversial decision to sell the broadcasting rights for home Irish soccer internationals to Sky Sports.
A spokesman for the FAI denied that its non-attendance was a snub to the Minister. Nor was it related to a fear of public criticism, he said.
"We have co-operated from day one with the Minister. We have given him a written submission, and are meeting him next week."
He added it would take "the guts of three hours" to go through the submission as a whole, and the forum, which, he noted, was just "one element" of the consultation process, would not allow for this.
The FAI's submission, which will be published on its website today, argues against designating home qualifying matches for the European Championships and World Cup on the grounds that they do not meet criteria which define "events of major importance to society".
In an analysis of viewing figures for 2001, the FAI points out that only one qualifying match, namely the play-off game versus Iran in November, ranked within the top 20 programmes, at number 13. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Fair City and The Late Late Show were among the programmes which polled ahead of it.
"Qualifying games, excluding play-offs, for tournament matches attract considerably less public interest (average 375,000) than the tournament games themselves (average 649,000)," the FAI said.
"Such evidence clearly indicates that these games cannot be reasonably regarded as being of 'major importance for society', as specified by the EU Directive."
The FAI said it acknowledges Republic of Ireland matches at the World Cup and European Championship Finals "are appropriate for designation as proposed".
However, "the designation of effectively all of the FAI's valuable broadcast properties would impose severe financial constraints on the development of the game at both a domestic and international level".
The submission noted that TV income currently represented about 66 per cent of the FAI's total commercial income. "The Government's grant finance of €20 million, under the Sports Capital Programme, goes directly to the clubs and leagues and is not part of the FAI's revenue streams."
Of RTÉ, the FAI said it "exploited" its monopolistic position in the market, "which is borne out by the fact that they paid no rights fees whatsoever to the FAI for international home matches prior to 1996".
The FAI also claimed most EU member-states "do not see any merit in designating events, let alone football matches". Only three countries - Austria, Italy and Germany - have designated qualifying games.
Mr Ahern has already drafted a proposed list of events for designation. This includes the All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals, Ireland's Six Nations rugby games, and Republic of Ireland home and away qualifying and finals soccer matches.
A spokesman for the Minister said yesterday the list was being treated as a "minimum", which could be added to.
Up to 100 people are due to attend today's forum, which begins at 9.30 a.m. at Dublin Castle.
Members of the public had been asked to pre-register if they wished to attend, and all those who made submissions were specifically invited. Mr Ahern is due to open the forum.
