Mr. Michael Cawley:

We were not asked by the Minister to do that. He asked us to meet Bord na gCon, with Tourism Ireland. We met the board and made the decision. The Minister did not ask us to make it. He just asked us to meet the board.

On the issue of sport promotion generally, we entirely supported the bid to host the Rugby World Cup. We provided the administrative support. The Government, through Fáilte Ireland, put up €1 million for the bid which, sadly, was unsuccessful.

We initiated a cycle race on the Wild Atlantic Way. The event was held for two years and we are trying to restart it because cycling is huge as both a leisure and competition activity.

I will not go into too much detail, but we promote a broad range of sports in many ways. For example, we work with Mr. Peter McKenna in Croke Park to fill the empty seats at the hurling semi-finals. In the past there was capacity for 40,000, but that figure has now bee increased to 70,000 owing to a change in the pricing structure. I do not care who goes to Croke Park, whether it is visitors or Irish people. It is a fantastic spectacle and a shame to see empty seats at some of the big games. Croke Park has fixed the attendance issue in a certain way and we have worked with it in promoting events abroad. The television coverage of GAA games by Sky Sports in the past couple of years has helped a lot to promote the product. We work with all sports bodies, but in the past few years we have worked in particular with the GAA and the Irish Rugby Football Union. We are also involved with Union of European Football Associations in supporting the Nations Cup games that will take place in 2020 or 2021. We are assisting in providing the expertise it needs to maximise the impact of the games for us as a country in terms of the visitor experience.

Golf promotion is a major area of activity for us. With Sport Ireland, Fáilte Ireland has sponsored the Irish Open for the past few years. That sponsorship will finish this year, but Sport Ireland will keep the event going. We have leveraged our sponsorship to help smaller golf clubs which are the ones that really need to attract tourists. The Killarneys and Ballybunions of this world are full. We have used the exposure on television to market golf in Ireland. We received massive coverage in working with the European Tour. We also help smaller golf clubs in a practical way to join us. We have developed the Links Alliance in Dublin. We have also developed the North West Alliance which includes Belmullet Golf Club in County Mayo, Enniscrone, Strandhill and Rosses Point golf clubs in County Sligo and all of the golf courses in County Donegal. There is a common website on which one can book accommodation. Economically, the initiative is very good for the clubs and the regions because visiting golfers spend between €300 and €400 on green fees and another €700 or €800 on accommodation, food and so on. Fáilte Ireland has taken a keen interest in the sector. We have a special manager in the organisation who is dedicated to golf promotion and has done fantastic work in that regard.

Fáilte Ireland is involved across the entire spectrum of sport promotion.