The Irish government was blamed today for failing to ensure that next week's vital Ireland-England Six Nations rugby championship fixture at Twickenham was shown on terrestrial TV channels. Former arts minister Michael Higgins accused current minister, Sile de Valera, of being directly responsible for the fact that the vast majority of Irish viewers would not be able to see the big game, as it would only be available to the Sky Sports channel.
"It is an absolute scandal that this great event on the Irish sporting calendar has been hijacked by Sky Sports," Higgins declared. "Minister de Valera's incompetence is at the root of the problem. Under European Union law, the government can nominate certain culture events, including sporting ones, that must be available free to all viewers on terrestrial television."
"Under the law, Sky Sports would be obliged to offer coverage of the England-Ireland match to RTE and our TV3 channels. Yet Ms de Valera has failed to nominate the sporting events and Sky Sports have exclusive coverage of next weekend's match. It's a disgrace," Higgins added.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
