There has been a renewed call for the broadcasting rights for Irish international sports to be sold on an island-wide basis after viewers in the north were blocked from viewing RTÉ coverage of Ireland's opening match in the Women's World Cup.
Northern soccer fans were unable to watch the RTÉ 2 broadcast on Thursday, due to the UK broadcast rights being held by BBC and ITV. The match could be watched on UTV.
RTÉ holds the rights from FIFA to broadcast the World Cup games in the Republic only, and a geo-block prevents northern viewers from accessing coverage.
The block prompted Sinn Féin senator Niall Ó Donnghaile to criticise the situation, saying it causes "upset and offense" to northern fans of the Irish squad.
He said in a tweet on Thursday: "The ongoing geo-blocking of Ireland football games for viewers in the North causes deep frustration, upset and offence. People are particularly annoyed that this is the case for the World Cup."
He added that he had highlighted the issue with the FAI.
The Irish News approached RTÉ for comment.
Meanwhile, RTÉ has apologised over sound issues that plagued Thursday's coverage of the match. Viewers reported the audio skipping, and a visual delay that saw commentary being aired seconds ahead of play.
