Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is good and reassuring to hear. My last question is to the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. Two years ago, while I was a councillor, I put down a motion proposing that Ireland would once again look at hosting an early stage of the Tour de France race. It was very successfully held in Ireland in 1998. It took two years of planning. It ran really well. They ran a circuit along the southern coast counties and there was also a stage in Dublin. Like many council motions, I believe it got buried and never saw the light of day again. Lo and behold, I found out that it actually did make its way up to the Department and it was being considered by an expert advisory group. As we look beyond Covid at opportunities, will the Minister of State's Department look at the possibility of bringing a stage of the Tour de France back to Ireland? Would the Minister of State consider the Wild Atlantic Way? Better still, we have EuroVelo 1, the international cycle route going down the whole west of Ireland, looping down through Clare, Limerick and down into Cork and Kerry. There are some fabulous routes there. Would the Department look at restarting that?

The UK Prime Minister, Mr. Johnson, has made comments over the last 48 hours - and I am not comparing the Minister of State to the Prime Minister - where he has come out quite strongly against the European Super League. For any Irish football clubs that are listening in, they may not believe in their heads that they will ever win a champions league, but certainly the hearts and the hopes of a nation believe it. When we consider what Dundalk FC has done and what other big clubs have done in trying to get to Europe and to move through the phases, they live in belief, and this is what keeps fans going. Does the Minister of State plan on making a strong statement in opposition to the European Super League proposal from an Irish perspective and in the context of a club structure that really relies on what comes in through grant supports from UEFA and the FAI?