Ireland's controversial defeat to France in Paris last night attracted the highest television audience of the year to date and the highest audience for any sporting event since 1995.
A phenomenal 2.06 million people representing 50% of the Irish population tuned in at some point over the course of the game to see a heroic Irish team battle for a place in the 2010 World Cup.
1.07 million people watched RTÉ Two for the entire four hours of coverage of the game including pre and post match analysis making it the most-watched programme of the year so far.
It's the first time since 1995 that any sports event on any channel available in Ireland has achieved such a high audience.
The second most watched programme of the year to date was Ireland's defeat of Wales to win the Grand Slam with Ryan Tubridy's debut on The Late Late Show taking the third spot.
The Top 10 programmes year-to-date are dominated by home-produced RTÉ programmes with RTÉ holding 9 of the Top 10 spots.
While sport features prominently, The Late Late Show, RTÉ News, the All Ireland Talent Show also occupy the league table top positions. The only non-RTÉ programme to make the top 10 is TV3's simulcast of ITV's X Factor- The Results.
Noel Curran, MD, RTÉ Television said, 'I'm delighted RTÉ is still continuing to satisfy audiences with RTÉ One and RTÉ Two consistently providing the most popular programmes of all channels available in Ireland.
'RTÉ is still the place to see key national events as well as quality home-produced Irish programming and we will continue to deliver a wealth of indigenous programming for viewers to enjoy with the return of viewer favourites the All Ireland Talent Show and The Late Late Toy Show yet to be delivered in the coming weeks.'
