The FAI are considering concerns raised by the Taosieach, Mr Ahern, following today's meeting over the deal struck with BSkyB that will see Ireland's home matches for the next four years aired on Sky TV's subscription service.
In a short statement this evening, the FAI said the deal with Sky and TV3 was based on an evaluation of "the significant benefits accruing to the future development of the game of soccer throughout the country".
Significantly, it said Mr Ahern had outlined the Government position in relation to the Broadcasting Act 1999. The Cabinet this week asked the Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady, to examine the Government's legal position if it were to intervene.
However, the Tánaiste earlier gave a clear signal the Government is ready to act.
Ms Harney said the Attorney General had given the cabinet a preliminary view that there were legal grounds for intervention in the deal which will see all of Ireland's home games broadcast on Sky TV’s subscription channels for the next four years.
She also said the FAI should be clear about their reliance upon the Government for funding and the obligation that places upon the Association.
"Each year we give a huge amount of funds to bodies like this, and of course the FAI in particular want to see the taxpayers fund the national stadium, so we cannot on the one hand expect the taxpayer to pay for the infrastructure and then deny the very same taxpayers the opportunity to watch the matches, we cannot have it every way," Ms Harney said.
She also appeared to favour the matches being broadcast on RTE, rather than TV3 who have secured the rights to a delayed transmission of the matches under the terms of the Sky deal.
She said: "I also believe since we have a national broadcaster, if public broadcasting means anything, it must mean that people have the opportunity to see the matches without having to pay for them above their licence fee which they pay for."
Emerging from today's meeting the FAI general secretary, Mr Brendan Menton, said: "The FAI and the Government share a common objective and that is the betterment of football in this country. We now have to start the process of internal consultation."
But Labour's Communications spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore said the meeting achieved nothing and that there was no legal impediment to the Government acting immediately on the issue.
"The Government has ducked and dived for a full week on this issue with conflicting signals from various Ministers every day. They now know that in Irish law and in EU law they have the power to ensure that Irish home internationals can be listed for terrestrial television viewing and should act immediately to do so, rather than engaging in unnecessary and protracted discussions with the FAI," he said.
It is understood the Government will seek changes to the deal to ensure the matches are available to the public for free, though this would not rule out Sky using making one of its sports channels free-to-air in Ireland for the duration of the match or putting matches on Sky One, which is not subscription.
The Government were concerned about the legality of intervening in a done deal but got encouragement yesterday from the European Commission. The Commissioner with responsibility for Education and Culture said the EU's Television Without Frontiers directive allows for sporting events of special significance to be designated as free-to-air.
Ms Viviane Redding told Fine Gael MEP Mr John Cushnahan that it was her responsibility to ratify any list submitted by member states and that any legal action as a result could only be taken through the European courts. She also said the law could be applied retrospectively.
The directive has been used by the British to protect events such as the Grand National and the FA Cup final but international qualifiers are not on the list. Irish sporting bodies organisations oppose Ireland listing events because they fear it would worsen their negotiating position with Irish TV companies.