Ireland’s biggest game in years took place on March 26 in Fortuna Arena in Prague, and thousands of Irish fans descended on the Czech capital to support the Boys in Green.
It ended in heartbreak for Ireland as Czechia won the penalty shootout 4-3.
The match received extensive media coverage on RTÉ.
Figures released to the Irish Independent under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act revealed the number of staff and contractors sent to cover the match.
The national broadcaster sent 12 people in on-air roles, including presenters, panellists, commentators and co-commentators for video and audio coverage.
Some of the on-air personalities who travelled to Czechia included RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline presenter Kieran Cuddihy, 2FM Drive with Demi & Mikey presenters Demi Isaac and Mikey O’Reilly and Inside Sport presenter Marie Crowe.
RTÉ presenter Kieran Cuddihy with members of Troy Parrott’s family in Prague. Photo: RTÉ
RTÉ had 12 people across editorial production roles travel to Czechia for coverage before, during and after the match to be broadcast live across all the national broadcaster’s platforms.
Nine people from RTÉ’s technical teams also went to Prague.
Meanwhile, six journalists were reporting in the English and Irish languages across video and audio services, on RTÉ News coverage, RTÉ.ie and on RTÉ’s social media channels.
Two people from RTÉ’s commercial partnership team working on sponsorship of match and live radio programmes and social media content also travelled to Prague.
The Irish Independent also sought records of expenditure associated with the coverage under the FoI Act, including travel, accommodation, production and any other related costs.
No other public service broadcaster in the world publishes such details
However, RTÉ has said there is no record at this time that sets out the total costs involved.
The national broadcaster said costs are “still being finalised” and “this is likely to take some time”.
“When the costs have been determined, RTÉ will publish information on our website,” a spokesperson for the broadcaster said.
“It should be noted that no other public service broadcaster in the world publishes such details. However, RTÉ will be doing so in the spirit of openness and transparency.”
The match recorded an average of 1.37 million viewers on RTÉ 2, which accounted for 78pc of people watching TV at that time.
The viewership peaked at 1.6 million at 10.34pm when Czechia sealed victory in the shootout.
Meanwhile, RTÉ Player recorded 1,059,000 streams, which was its highest for any single event on its website.
RTÉ Radio 1 saw a big jump in listenership, with the 8pm-10pm timeframe up by 120pc on the previous day.