The sale of the Republic of Ireland's away qualifying ties in the European Championship has been put on hold following the Government's decision to publish a list of protected sporting events.
The company handling the sale of the away rights, Sportfive, has decided to seek legal advice to verify whether the Government can force the broadcast of key games on terrestrial television.
Last week it emerged that Sky Television had offered to pay Sportfive €17 million for a package which included three of both Ireland's and Scotland's ties and two of England's.
Leading executives of Sportfive, which is based in Hamburg, were in touch with top RTÉ executives yesterday, informed sources told The Irish Times last night.
Football associations in Europe handle the sale of domestic television rights directly, but contracts with foreign broadcasters are pooled and sold by companies such as Sportfive.
Sportfive's decision to bide its time may increase the Government's hopes that it can secure live coverage of Ireland's forthcoming matches, preferably by agreement with Sky.
Meanwhile, RTÉ could be forced to pay more to televise events under a proposal which would settle disputes between the broadcaster and sports organisations by arbitration.
The suggestion, aired by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, last night, could help to curb sporting anger at the listing plan announced by the Minister for Communications and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern.
However, the arbitration proposal will not solve the crisis caused by the Football Association of Ireland's sale of its home soccer rights to Sky unless it agrees to tear up its contract.
The GAA has confirmed that it has "no objection" in principle to the inclusion of the All-Ireland senior finals on the list."The association is looking forward to meeting the Minister as part of the consultation process, when the GAA will have the opportunity to put its position in respect of all of the issues raised."
Mr Ahern last night welcomed the GAA's statement and looked forward to a meeting on the issue. "I am particularly pleased that they see the value of ensuring their games are available to as many people as possible, thereby promoting the sport among the wider public."
The FAI insists that the Government is using national and EU legislation to "retrospectively and wrongly" list both the Republic's European Championship and World Cup games. Sky is also paying €5 million to the FAI for the right to broadcast the Irish home games live in the UK.
However, the Government continues to insist that the proposed listing - which is unlikely to be finalised until mid-September - is not retrospective.
Instead, it argues that the FAI and other interested parties were aware of the EU Television Without Frontiers directive, and the consequent Irish legislation, before they signed the deal with Sky.
