There is little reason to make us think that guts are in strong supply

HERE was a time when few soccer internationals in Dublin were televised, because it would interfere with the gate at the game.

Should the Government pass a law to compel the FAI to show the games free on terrestrial television? Should they then pass another law for everyone to see major movies free. That could be called the New Freedom! Wouldn't it be great? Of course, it wouldn't; it would ultimately lead to a new form of slavery in which the efforts of others would be legally hijacked. A few years ago, when the Broadcasting (Major Events Television Coverage) Act was being drafted, the FAI, IRFU, and GAA refused to cooperate in compiling a list of events that could only be televised free of charge.

One might say that the Government funked the issue then, because they would never have the guts to take on the GAA, or so much as the three associations the GAA, FAI and IRFU at the same. Guts were never in strong supply in the last government, and there is little reason yet to think that things have really changed.

That was never been Bertie Ahern's way of doing things. His Government is giving the FAI 15 million annually, and it is also planning to spend hundreds of millions building a national stadium that is primarily for soccer. Neither of the other two associations needs a new stadium. Thus the simple message to the FAI is that if they want public help, they must be prepared to give the public something in return, such as the right to watch the game on terrestrial television. RTÉ and TV3 could then fight that out between them.

If Sky wishes to broadcast Irish games around the world, they should have the right to bid for that facility. The vast bulk of its business is outside Ireland anyway. The issue that the Government must face is whether it is going to allow foreigners to take over the rights to show the games exclusively in this country. Today it is the right to watch a soccer match, what rights will be up for grabs tomorrow? This is an issue of national freedom. Providing the games free on Sky will be of little value to too many people. They might just as well be televising the game free in Australia. If Sky wishes to televise Irish games exclusively in this country, they should have to set up a terrestrial station here. The Government is giving the FAI more than eight times as much money as Sky on an annual basis, and this should give the Irish people the right to call the tune.

Last week in this column I referred to the Government's responsibility to ensure that the money that it gave to the Killarney Summerfest was accounted for properly. In the course of that article, I mentioned that in the past both long and not so distant Killarney got a very bad reputation for ripping people off. That was an historical fact, whether the people there like it or not, but I did add that this "is now very unfair". If Killarney people are so worried about their historical reputation, they should do something to prevent themselves getting the same bad name again.

It seems that I might have been a bit late in warning that "Killarney could be in danger of returning to its bad old ways," because judging from flood of complaints to Radio Kerry during the week it looks like Killarney has already reverted.

The point of my last column, however, was not that Killarney had gone back, but that "this country as a whole seems to be suffering from the old Killarney syndrome of rip off the tourist". The country is pricing itself out of the international tourist market.

Within the last decade, Dublin was the cheapest capital in the European Community. Figures out this week indicate that Dublin is now the third most expensive capital in the European Union, and this country has now the highest cost of living in the European Union.

We are no longer competitive and the proof of this is that so many of our own people are refusing to holiday here. Instead, they are heading for the continent and beyond for their vacations.

Some people are blaming Bord Fáilte for not doing enough marketing to offset the likelihood of a poor tourist season, but Bord Fáilte must face the reality of the law of diminishing returns. Our problem is not marketing; it is prices.

Maybe Bord Fáilte could have confused people in the past with the problems over exchange rates, but now that we are using the euro our continental visitors know the exact score. We are losing, and we will lose much more if we do not confront inflation, because this is a vicious circle, especially with the American dollar weakening.

Just as the Government could, and should, have attached strings to the money it gave to the FAI, it should have attached strings to the 485,000 it allocated to Killarney for the Summerfest to ensure that it does not contribute to the whole inflation mentality.

It has been obvious for months that we were likely to have a poor tourist season. John O'Donoghue did his bit to try to help Killarney by getting them the 485,000 for the festival. Kevin Moynihan was doing the minister a grave disservice when he tried to pretend otherwise in the Irish Examiner on Thursday.

Nobody is likely to be so foolish as to think that it was due to the influence of Jackie Healy-Rae, or any more unlikely character.

The Summerfest organisers got it wrong when they set the price of the Tom Jones concert at 49.50. They tried to cover that up by selling tickets at half-price in the last 48 hours and they gave away many for nothing at all. What I asked for was a proper accounting, but no figures have been forthcoming just waffle and competitive indignation from spokespeople for the committee and Chamber of Commerce. How much did the committee spend in all, and how much did they bring in? They made a mistake with Tom Jones, but let's face it, those who never made a mistake probably never made anything. They are making an even bigger mistake now, however, by insulting the intelligence of people in pretending that they were right all along about Tom Jones.

One group that I know paid 60 for each ticket, because they booked through an agency. They arrived at the stadium to find people sitting in their seats. When they complained, the people explained that their row had been taken out and they had no intention of moving until the organisers provided them with seats. It was seems that when the tickets were not going well, whole rows of seats were removed in order to ensure that there was not an empty look in the area in front of the stage.

This whole venture was backed by Government money and it is important that we should all learn from our mistakes. Kevin Moynihan stated that "the prices were similar to other events in Dublin or throughout the country".

Maybe I have been spoiled. I live in Tralee, and I never heard of such prices here, where they had Westlife, too, but the tickets were for free.