The Government was accused yesterday of depriving thousands of Irish soccer fans of seeing last night's home European Championship soccer qualifier by failing to listing sporting events for "free to air" transmission sooner.
Fine Gael said the problem over the live screening of the Ireland-Switzerland game could have been prevented if the Government had designated sporting events for protection when the Broadcasting Act was introduced in 1999.
"The Taoiseach must explain the three year delay between the enactment of the Broadcasting Act in November 1999 and the production of the list," Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, said.
The Labour Party spokesperson on Communications, Mr Eamon Gilmore, claimed the list would result in even more sports events being sold off to pay per view television. "The decision to exempt the home rugby internationals from free to air broadcasting means that the IRFU is now free to sell these events to pay television."
In the Dáil yesterday, the Taoiseach said it was "regrettable" that the Irish football public could not see last night's game.
Mr Ahern said he hoped the matter would be resolved by the next home match, which is not until June 2003.