Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are now thinking in these terms and it is very exciting. Let us think about the Olympics. Why not? I remember Gay Mitchell suggesting this a few years ago and he was laughed to scorn and told that it was not possible. It is now a real and realistic prospect. If we build up our stadiums and present ourselves as a credible bidder - which we obviously are, especially if win this rugby bid - then the sky is the limit. I think the Senator is right and Fáilte Ireland is certainly promoting this. New Zealand, for example, followed up its hosting of the Rugby World Cup with both the Cricket World Cup and the FIFA U-17 World Cup. This current bid holds the prospect of opening new channels for us and we should certainly be thinking in those terms.

There are two political features of this project that I consider to be particularly exciting. One is the North-South aspect. It is fantastic that there do not seem to be any political difficulties involved in this at all. There is enthusiasm from all communities, be they those without a rugby tradition or those in Northern Ireland who might have difficulties in doing anything in the context of a united Ireland. It is fantastic that both have joined together in this without any difficulty or acrimony. The fact that the GAA has been so incredibly willing to help the IRFU with this project is really encouraging. That is the direction in which we are moving.

Deputy Catherine Murphy asked where the risks lie. As the Deputy knows, people have mentioned figures like €200 million or €300 million. These kinds of figures will never materialise. We are absolutely sure of that. That would be in scenario where no tickets whatsoever were sold, whereas we, in fact, expect to go into surplus. What is important to note in the context of risk is the fact that we have taken out cancellation insurance. That is very important. The cancellation insurance does not cover eventualities like a big team being knocked out very early and that kind of thing is certainly a risk. What it covers is things like terrorist offences, acts of God, etc., leading to cancellation. Further risks are covered in the budget. Of course, there are certain things that we cannot guard against. The danger of the figures not being as good as in past Rugby World Cup competitions is always there but it is very small. In comparison with the Rugby World Cup hosted in the United Kingdom, for example, we expect to get a huge number of British visitors. That obviously did not apply in the British case because they were already there. The British fans are the best travellers of the lot. There certainly are risks, then, but we have taken every precaution, both in terms of the insurance I mentioned but also the thorough the forensic risk examination that we have been carrying out for the past four years. This has looked at all the risks and we think that it is a risk worth taking.

I now come to the issue of hotels, accommodation shortages and pricing. This remains something of an unknown because we do not know where we are going to be in 2023. We have looked at this crisis, which is a difficulty at present, particularly in Dublin. The tournament will take place in Ireland's shoulder season of September and October. This is really good time to host it, not just for tourism and sports tourism, but also because there will not be the same critical pressure on hotel beds that there would be in mid-summer. We estimate that we will need 2.7 million bed nights for tourism and we have 12.2 million beds over this period. An agreement has already been reached with the Irish Hotels Federation and the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation on availability and pricing for the tournament. Regarding capacity in Dublin, 6,000 additional beds are anticipated by 2020. This will have improved further by 2023. Much of the tournament, of course, will take place outside Dublin so I do not anticipate this being the problem in 2023 that it is today.

In response to the question about ticket reselling, we have been asked by World Rugby and UEFA to look at measures to counter unauthorised ticket sales. We are doing so, and there is an ongoing consultation process on this by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. We will continue to look at possible legislation in this regard. This is certainly something that of which we have to be conscious because ticket touting on a massive scale would damage the State's reputation.