Despite one of the highest Irish representations ever in the Network Q Rally of Great Britain, the event will get little coverage on this side of the channel.

Not, as you might think, due to the apparent apathy some sections of the media hold towards rallying, but because Irish organisations simply can't cover it.

Because the World Rally Championship is an FIA event, only a select number of accredited journalists can attend. And if you want to attend, Bernie Ecclestone will charge you for it.

It won't exactly cost tuppence either. For the first time this year, IRN, the radio news network wing of ITN, couldn't attend the British Grand Prix at Silverstone as they would have had to splash out a six figure sum for the privilege.

Unlike Formula One, the rights for the world rallying are distributed by country only. So while Nick Harris can provide F1 reports from across the world for the likes of WLR, CKR, and RTE Radio 1 on top of his work for BBC Five Live, he couldn't do the same from the Network Q.

Normally, Irish stations would pick up reports from UK sports agencies, or in turn from ITN.

But in this instance, British reporters can only report for British stations.

Alternatively, Spanish reporters could only broadcast to Spain only, with other Spanish-speaking countries having to tackle the rights issue individually.

What that means basically is that no Irish broadcasters will be there, as nobody can broadcast on-course reports to Ireland apart from Irish organisations who have the rights, and nobody in Ireland was willing to splash out a five figure sum for the priveledge.

It may be different next year, as a number of news agencies are looking for worldwide broadcasting rights, which would mean Irish stations could pick up crystal clear on-course reports and on-the-spot interviews.

This year though, we'll all have to rely on the net, teletext and crackly mobile phones.

Welcome to the Dark Ages!!!