RT\u00c9 Radio<\/a> will not host any coverage of the games, which a spokeswoman insisted was for \u2018scheduling\u2019 reasons.<\/p>\nHowever, sources within RT\u00c9 told Extra.ie they were not given any explanation for the decision. They have suggested it was a \u2018cost-cutting exercise\u2019 and that the department had already been stripped back to its bare bones, a hypothesis RT\u00c9 rejected.<\/p>\n
One source explained: \u2018The Sports team got the news last week they wouldn\u2019t be going live with the Ireland games.<\/p>\n
\u2018I can\u2019t remember the last time a competitive game wasn\u2019t broadcast on radio. It sets a dangerous and worrying precedent for Irish sport. If you look at the number of sports bulletins on Radio 1, they\u2019ve all been cut. You only have four a day. There was nearly double that a few years ago.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s cuts and cuts and more cuts in radio, and now you\u2019re going to have people who want to listen to the match and they won\u2019t be able to, not on RT\u00c9 anyway.<\/p>\n
\u2018Newstalk will have it live, so it\u2019s playing into our competitors\u2019 hands and it doesn\u2019t make any sense. The team weren\u2019t given a proper excuse as to why they weren\u2019t going on Radio 1. I know it\u2019s a pain for other shows to have to miss their slots for sports, but it\u2019s always been the case that games were broadcast live.\u2019<\/p>\n
Discussions were held in RT\u00c9 about the games being broadcast on alternative stations. However, the decision was made by senior management that the games would not be transmitted.<\/p>\n
![\"16\/11\/2023](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/rte-sign.jpg\")
Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin<\/p>\n
The John Creedon Show will feature on Thursday evening instead of the match, according to the schedule on RT\u00c9\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
But sources said such programmes have always been moved when games were taking place, commenting: \u2018Just put it on somewhere. There\u2019s 2FM there as well as other stations. Just give it some sort of show somewhere.<\/p>\n
\u2018There are a lot of angry people in [RT\u00c9] Sports at the moment. And it\u2019s a bit strange they\u2019re celebrating 100 years of RT\u00c9 Radio, and at the same time they\u2019re not putting out three competitive Ireland games on the radio.\u2019<\/p>\n
A spokeswoman for RT\u00c9 defended its sports output and said the failure to broadcast the games was due to a scheduling issue.<\/p>\n
She said: \u2018We have had a fantastic year with sports. We have delivered above and beyond\u2026 what that team has done is amazing. From the [GAA] Championship, the Katie Taylor fight, the athletics, the camogie, Shane Lowry at the Irish Open and the Horse Show at the RDS. Look at the World Cup: we delivered 104 games live\u2026 The BBC and ITV split theirs.\u2019<\/p>\n
She said the games not being aired on radio was in \u2018no way\u2019 to do with the decision surrounding the broadcast of the Israel games, and is \u2018not part of any boycott or anything like that\u2019.<\/p>\n
The fixtures will go ahead on TV as normal, but the coverage of the Israel fixtures are to be stripped back amid a campaign for the Irish team to boycott the game.<\/p>\n
Miche\u00e1l Carrigy, Fine Gael TD and member of the Oireachtas Media and Sport Committee, last night called on RT\u00c9 to explain the latest decision to the public, given that it is \u2018an organisation funded by the taxpayer\u2019.<\/p>\n
![\"RTE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/RTE-Montrose.jpg\")
Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin<\/p>\n
He told Extra.ie he doesn\u2019t see how the matter is a \u2018scheduling issue, as schedules have been moved around before for games\u2019.<\/p>\n
He said the public could choose not to watch or listen to the coverage, if it is a case that choosing not to broadcast one fixture would impact others. He said he would not watch or listen to the fixture against Israel on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Mr Carrigy added: \u2018I can understand the reluctance to [broadcast the Israel fixture]. I think the vast majority of people in the country aren\u2019t in favour of the game going ahead. \u2018This is a UEFA decision, not an FAI decision\u2026 My opinion is UEFA should ban [Israel] from the competition. It happened with Russia, and I think the same should happen with Israel.\u2019<\/p>\n
Mr Carrigy said the station \u2018may be trying to appease the mood swing\u2019 of the public, but added that he was not aware of any contractual obligations or the \u2018knock-on effect\u2019 that not broadcasting one fixture may have.<\/p>\n
RT\u00c9 last week issued a statement about the set-up for the Israel games.<\/p>\n
It read: \u2018RT\u00c9 will meet its contractual obligations to broadcast the two UEFA Nations League fixtures between Ireland and Israel. The broadcast arrangements for the two games will be as follows: there will be no studio presentation; commentary will be taken from the international feed and will not be provided by an RT\u00c9 commentator; there will be no studio punditry; RT\u00c9 has not taken advertising or sponsorship around either game, and there will be news coverage of the games and the wider events surrounding them.<\/p>\n
\u2018These arrangements reflect RT\u00c9\u2019s decision to fulfil its contractual broadcasting obligations while limiting the additional production and commercial activity associated with the fixtures.\u2019<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Muiris \u00d3 Cearbhaill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RT\u00c9\u2019S sports department has been blindsided by a decision not to broadcast any of Ireland\u2019s Nations League games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-778818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Aviva](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Aviva-Stadium-6.jpg\")
Pic: INPHO\/Laszlo Geczo<\/p>\n