Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will take those questions now, starting with Senator Ó Céidigh's. Fortunately, Ireland has a strategy for attracting events in the years to come and hosting the Rugby World Cup would obviously be a base for that. I do not know whether that strategy is for ten or 15 years but I do know that there is a long-term strategy in place. If we get the Rugby World Cup, our ambitions can then extend even further. We have the Women's Rugby World Cup coming up this year, which is a highly prestigious event even if it has not attracted the kind of commercial intake we had hoped. Nevertheless, it will put us on the map and help us with our bid.

I am very energised by the idea of sports tourism, though I am not sure that it has necessarily caught on in the circles in which I would like it to. It has not yet caught fire as an idea because some people persist in looking at tourism in a very conventional way. Sports tourism may, in fact , be the way of the future for Ireland and it is something to which we have to give serious consideration. Senator Feighan's suggestion about the Commonwealth Games is very much in line with that.