Republic of Irelandwere beaten 2-1 on aggregate after France won with goal scored when captainThierry Henry handled the ball in the build-up.

Fifa insisted its disciplinary code saysreferees' decisions "are final".

And the situation took on a political aspectas the Irish and French prime ministers disagreed over the matter.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen called onFifa, football's world governing body, to order a replay, saying he would raisethe issue with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at a Brussels summit.

But France's Prime Minister Francois Fillonresponded that the Irish government should not interfere in footballingdecisions.

Republic manager Giovanni Trapattoni said hedoes not expect a replay.

 "When a referee decides a game hasfinished I know it is impossible to replay the game," said the Italian.

"This situation has to give a chance towho is responsible to rethink. It can be repeated in the future and we have tostop it."

Fifa confirmed that it has received theletter from the FAI.

In a statement, football's world governingbody added: "As stated in Law 5 of the Laws of the Game, and also inArticle 13, paragraph 6 of the Regulations of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, 'noprotests may be made about the referee's decisions regarding facts connectedwith play. Such decisions are final, unless otherwise stipulated in the FifaDisciplinary Code.'"

Trapattoni's side lost the first leg inDublin 1-0 but were leading 1-0 in Paris before Henry handled the ball andsquared for William Gallas to nod in a goal that sent France to the 2010 WorldCup finals in South Africa and left the Republic heartbroken.

"The handball was recognised by theFifa commissioner, the referee observer and the match officials, as well as bythe player himself," read the FAI statement.

"There is precedent for theinvalidation of such results. In 2005, the bureau of the Fifa World Cuporganising committee reached a decision to invalidate the result of a World Cupqualification match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of a 'technicalerror by the referee of the match'.

 "The Football Association of Ireland ishoping that Fifa and its disciplinary committee will, on behalf of footballfans worldwide, act in a similar fashion so that the standards of fair play andintegrity can be protected."

FAI chief executive John Delaney added thatthe organisation had also written to their French counterparts as he urged Fifato back up their words over fair play with actions.

"It is up to the people who govern thegame now. Every time I go to a Fifa congress I hear about fair play andintegrity," said Delaney.

"This was not a league game. This was adefining game with the whole world watching and if Fifa believe in fair playand integrity, this is their opportunity to step forward.

"From the French FA point of view theyneed to look at themselves in this situation.

"Henry is their captain and a wonderfulfootballer but does he want to be like Diego Maradona and his legacy to be thishandball, this goal that got them to the World Cup in an unjust manner?

"If we had qualified in this manner, Iwouldn't be happy."

Referee Martin Hansson and his assistantsfailed to see Henry's offence and Trapattoni questioned the appointment of theofficials, as well as Fifa's decision to seed the play-off draw at late notice.

The Fifa rankings had Ireland in 34th place,meaning France, Russia, Portugal and Greece were seeded for the two-leggedplay-off matches.

 The top four teams were then drawn to faceIreland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine and Slovenia.

"All fans saw what happened on thepitch," said Trapattoni. "I would only like to say I would like Fifato explain how they selected the referee for this important game.

"For this important game we needed astronger referee - an important referee."

He added: "I would give the advice toFifa - maybe in the future change the rules about the play-off. Play two gamesand at the end of 90 minutes have no extra-time.

"I will go to Fifa and advise them 'gostraight to penalties'. It's better for football. I think there are mistakes inlife - I've seen many situations in football but change the rules.

"All sports lose credibility with thissituation - it affects the integrity of the game. For me, it's bitter. Thereare many questions - they changed the rules about the seeded teams, then usplaying away last.

"There are many doubts that have to beeliminated. Out of the non-seeded teams we were the only ones to play thesecond game away - why?"

Trapattoni refused to blame Henry butbelieves this sort of situation could force Fifa into bringing in the type ofvideo technology that many in the game say is needed.

"There is a 30-second stop and weclarify the situation," he said. "I'm sure in the future they willhave to do something about it. It wasn't up to Henry to say I touched it withmy hand."

Earlier, Republic of Ireland assistantmanager Liam Brady said the team would be willing to replay their World Cupplay-off match against France.

"We would go to Paris and playagain," Brady told Radio 5 live.

"It will not come to that but we wouldbe willing to go to Paris, on their home ground, and have a fair winner."

17:40 GMT, Thursday, 19 November 2009

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