The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is to contact the Turkish Government this morning in an attempt to get TV coverage of Ireland's vital Euro 2000 soccer clash in Turkey this evening.

Earlier yesterday, RTE said the prospects of the match appearing on the screens of home-based supporters were remote, following the breakdown of talks with the Turkish company that owns the television rights.

The negotiations floundered over an asking price of around £2.3 million. RTE said there was no chance of their paying any of the sums quoted and what would appear a paltry figure of $100,000 would have been considered top price by Irish broadcasters.

Following exhaustive efforts to communicate with the director general of Star TV, Bulent Cecik, RTE finally received a fax yesterday saying that its offer was not enough. Both TV3 and BBC also pulled out of negotiations yesterday.

"His demand is still $3 million so it is end game," said RTE's Frank Whelan yesterday. "For the first time in four weeks we got a fax back. It simply said: `we do not intend to sell the rights for the prices offered by you'."

Tim O'Connor, Group Head of Sport, also expressed his exasperation at the outcome. "This has been a most frustrating experience. We have never before encountered a seller who does not want to sell," he said.

A BBC spokesman added: "We are no longer pursuing the matter. We believe that we made a reasonable offer for the UK rights. We thought we'd made a responsible offer. They obviously thought differently."

Last night, however, a Dublin government spokesman said the Taoiseach, a keen soccer enthusiast, would be in touch with his Turkish counterpart Bulent Ecevit this morning to raise the impasse.

He planned to ask Mr Ecevit if there was anything he could do to permit RTE to televise the match, and also remind him of the national significance of the fixture for the Irish people.

Mr Ahern was expected to say, too, that he believed the prices being quoted for TV rights were too high.

Unless Mr, Ahern succeeds in his intervention, the bulk of Ireland's hundreds of thousands of armchair soccer fans will have to depend on RTE's radio commentary on the big game.

But some Dublin pubs and other supporters are also expected to be able to pick up TV coverage direct from Turkey through satellite dishes.

It appears ironic that the majority of soccer supporters in this country will miss one of the country's most important matches while viewers in Australia will have extensive coverage in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.

Thanks to the efforts of Setanta Sports Australia, who have been beaming GAA matches live into Irish pubs and clubs, the crucial Euro 2,000 tie will be enjoyed by our cousins Down Under in over 20 venues.