Gay Mitchell, the Chairman of the new Dáil European Affairs Committee, says he will seek clarification from the European Commission about the powers of the Irish government to protect terrestrial broadcasting of major sporting events.
This follows EU Commission official Christophe Forax's comments saying that the Government could insist that Ireland's home international games are broadcast live and free of charge on terrestrial television - despite the FAI deal with Sky Television.
Mr Forax said if the Government draws up a list of sporting events that had to be kept on free-to-air television, an EU directive would allow it to be applied retrospectively.
Meanwhile, the Labour party has called on Communications Minister Dermot Ahern to designate the home soccer internationals as events which should be free to air under the 1999 Broadcasting Act.
Minister for Communications Dermot Ahern said last weekend that he would be entering consultations with the main sporting bodies over the summer with a view to drawing up such a list.
Filed by Johnny Proby
