English premiership?   Salary cap £4 million

Irish Rugby ? 36 million

Leinster ?  4 million

Munster ?  4 million

France:

Albi ? 8.7 million – relegated from Top 14

Montauban ?10.3 million ? relegated from Top 14

Perpignon ?12.4 million

Biarritz ?14.4 million

Racing Metro in Paris 16 million

Brive ?16 million

Toulon ?17 million (Jonny Wilkinson, Filipe Contepomi)

Clermont Auvergne ?19 million

State Francais ?21 million

Toulouse ?28.1 million

According to the IRFU, if Minister Ryan goes ahead and makes the Heineken Cup involving Irish teams free to air the loss to the IRFU will be ?12 million or 18% of income. This will not be replaced by advertising and will destroy the pool arrangement with the other Rugby Unions.

The above figures will tell you laud and clear that the provinces will be destroyed by such an eventuality and that there is a huge risk to Irish rugby from French wealth. All Irish teams are in transition at the moment due to the ageing star factor and every asset has to be used to get replacements trained through the Academy systems and also to import key personnel. They have given me great feelings since 1999 and I am very grateful to the players for this. There bravery and skill has been magnificent. I remember when I wondered would Ireland ever beat England again. Remember when the Italian-Irish Englishman Dallaglio said that England should not bother with the Celtic nations that they should really only play the SANZAR teams because Ireland etc were too weak. Well four-in-a-row has laid that to rest Mr Lawrence!

I don?t care if the government grant aided our team, the League of Ireland and all the inter-county GAA teams also. Sport lifts the people and has become the heartbeat of the nation. If Ryan wants to cut the sports incomes, let the government replace the money.

I know that the Heineken Cup final involving Munster had an audience on TV of 532,000 and that the Sky version involving Leinster only had 119,000. It is obvious that the H Cup has made French teams beatable. During the previous era, Leinster and Munster would be hard pressed to beat Llanelli or Cardiff. Now???

Ryan?s position on children, social class, geography and the Australian experience is correct and the money will over-ride that if it is not replaced. Lets not risk a mess Minister. If Ryan does this, I hope Fine Gael objects to the EU and also changes the regulations when the government changes. If the UK, also made the latter stages of the Heineken Cup free to air on television then it is doable but if the Republic of Ireland is alone then No Sir.

The fundamental point is that our teams must be allowed be maximally competitive. Leinster without Brian O?Driscoll, Gordon Darcy, Rob Kearney, Jamie Heaslip, Leo Cullen, Luke Fitzgerald etc and Munster without Paul O?Connell, Doncha O?Callaghan, ROG, David Wallace, Keith Earls etc would not have competed at the very top level. So we need the money. The Irish public has got great value for the sports investments made either directly through Croke Park or Lansdowne or through the player tax breaks.

My Message ? Ryan ? Get off the Pitch. I neither vote for you nor pay to see you play!

David Kelly in the Irish Independent dubbed Eamon Ryan ?The Minister for Condescending Piety?. Spot On!

EAMON RYAN is no fool. In seeking to vastly expand the number of sports events to be screened free-to-air on terrestrial television, the Minister for Communications has done his research. He has also identified a problem regarding the exclusivity of television audiences on pay-per-view. Sport should never become too smug about this and sometimes governments need to keep an eye on them.

Minister Ryan is also on familiar terrain. He attended Gonzaga, played in UCD and his family, including an uncle who played for Munster, is steeped in the game. Thus, when he recently proposed that Ireland?s Six Nations games and Irish Heineken Cup games be ring-fenced on free-to-air television, it was all the more heartfelt.

Minister Ryan cites audience figures for Leinster quarter-finals which were on terrestrial television and then on pay-per-view, which drew audiences of 250,000 and 70,000 respectively. He points to the Munster-Biarritz final of

2006 which drew 500,000 viewers in Ireland, and the 2008 decider which attracted just 100,000, and countless examples from other sports.

He wants his son and a generation of young fans to be able to watch these matches without going to the pub or a clubhouse, not to mention pensioners and others, and these are all valid concerns ? although the spin-off to clubs and pubs shouldn?t be overlooked.

Besides which, those figures tend not to factor in pub audiences, and many young fans congregate to watch Heineken Cup (and Irish) games in a friend?s house.

Like rebuilt stadiums, the so-called Charlie McCreevy tax break shows how government can have a positive affect on sport. This bargaining tool helped the IRFU ensure a golden generation of players remained based with their provinces, and continues to do so.

The Minister will argue that the Government has ploughed plenty of money into the coffers of Irish sport, an annual ?4 million into rugby and the ?190 million which the Government and we the taxpayers contributed to the Aviva Stadium.

But sport pays such investment back. Various independent researches estimate that Heineken Cup games generate around ?10 million for the local economy, and international games six times that.

Also, it is the responsibility of the Government to re-invest taxpayers?

money into society ? including sport ? and let?s not even bring up that hoary chestnut about the Lotto millions.

As things stand, the IRFU take in about ?16 million in its share of television revenue from the Six Nations and the Heineken Cup, which is pooled between the six competing European unions or federations and shared out. The union estimates that were their Six Nations and Heineken Cup games listed as free-to-air, their vastly reduced bargaining position simply wouldn?t wash with their fellow Europeans, none of whom would have their hands tied to the same extent.

(As an aside, the Rugby World Cup, the Six Nations, the Lions and the ERC are all based in Dublin, but how long would that last with Ireland bringing markedly less television income to the table?)

The Minister understands the IRFU could lose something in the region of ?12 million annually in reduced television income, but he argues that they could make up the shortfall in increased sponsorship and marketing. The union claims that even experts in the field say the most they might recoup would be ?3 million, and that the main financial winners would be the terrestrial broadcasters.

Of course, if the Minister and the Government are so sure of their figures, why don?t they guarantee the anticipated ?12 million shortfall?

But it would also open up a legal hornets nest concerning the existing Six Nations and Heineken Cup television deals, not to mention how Ulster games would be categorised.

As things stand, the only Irish rugby matches listed as free-to-air are their World Cup games. And while the Minister may nurture a genuine fear that Ireland?s Six Nations games could one day be signed off to pay-per-view, they are currently on terrestrial television, while deferred highlights of Heineken Cup games are on terrestrial television.

Thus, the only net effect would be to ensure Munster and Leinster pool games and (if they?re fortunate enough) knock-out games, are screened live free-to-air.

Perhaps there is merit emulating the French in listing any Heineken Cup final involving an Irish side as free-to-Aar.

But, in all honesty, can Munster v Treviso or Leinster v Calvisano be deemed sporting events of national importance, up there with Irish World Cup games? That?s a great compliment to the Heineken Cup, but clearly this is nonsense.

Even if the IRFU, who employ over 300 people, suffered a shortfall of ?10 million instead of ?12 million, plenty would have to give, from both the professional and domestic games. Further trimming down player contracts alone could lead to a flight of Earls, with a marked decline in results for the provinces and reduced revenue streams, for nothing generates income quite like winning sides.

It is therefore entirely conceivable that the very thing the Minister and the Government think they might be protecting, they would, in fact, be helping to destroy. It would be particularly ironic if the Government were to help fund the Aviva Stadium and at the same time handicap Irish rugby to the point were it would be considerably less competitive in their new home.

The IRFU will today host a high-powered press briefing to outline their concerns, and they?re not exactly known for being a militant organisation.

But the fear in all of this is that the Minister has backed himself into a corner, and won?t want to be seen to back down, preferring instead to test the water in the EU.

Minister Ryan and the Government might also feel it?s a populist vote-winner as well, but they should tread particularly carefully here.

While it may be true to say the most important day in politics is today, this is not the same as a budgetary measure which can be rectified a year later or next time out. If the Minister is wrong and the IRFU are right ? and the IRFU are the experts in this field ? then it could take a generation to fix.

If it ain?t broke, why fix it? In such a scenario, does the Minister and the Government want to be known for bringing down the House of Irish rugby?

Destroying Irish rugby would be a hell of a legacy.