The Minister for Justice has called for a rematch after a blatant handball put France into the World Cup finals.

Dermot Ahern says the governing body FIFA should be held to account after Ireland were beaten by a controversial extra-time goal illegally set up by French captain Thierry Henry.

He has confessed to using his arm to control the ball before squaring for teammate William Gallas to finish.

Assistant Manager Liam Brady has also said the Irish team would be willing to go to Paris and play the French again. 

Minister Ahern, an avid football fan, says he was hugely disappointed about the outcome of last nights game.

“Like any football fan, you don’t mind being beaten fairly – but I don’t think we were beaten fairly last night” he said.

“Given the fact that we’ve found that their is a precedent back in 2005, when Uzbekistan and Bahrain played and FIFA ordered a replay because of what they said (was) a technical error by the referee”.

“In my view there should be a re-play in this” he added.

The Republic’s assistant manager Liam Brady also backed calls for a replay.

“For the dignity and integrity of football, we will go to France and play again,” the coach said.

Meanwhile, Players’ chief Gordon Taylor today called for the introduction of video replays after the incident in Paris.

Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, said the stakes are now too high to allow such expensive errors.

“The time has now come to start using video technology to make sure we get the right decision. For a sport that is so high profile, with so much money and so much prestige at stake, it has to be used” he said.

“You can bring in as many assistant referees behind the goals as you like but, until there is technology, there will continue to be debatable decisions” he added.