Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Who is running the bid to host the Rugby World Cup?

If the Minister is having difficulty opening a swimming pool in his constituency, it gives me little confidence in his ability to push on this bid.

In terms of this being an all-Ireland bid, in the event that parties in the North do not form an Executive, will the Republic be left with the full 100% liability or will there be an opportunity for parties in Northern Ireland to get involved in that?

In last week's Dáil debate on the Bill, the Minister said that the primary funding of the event will come from ticket sales. When pushed on ticket pricing by several Members, he said that they will be significantly lower than was the case for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. Tickets in 2015 were priced at up to £300 and the average price over the full tournament was quite high. What confirmation has the Minister had that prices will be significantly lower and what will prices be? How can he be sure of ticket prices six years in advance of a tournament to take place in 2023?

I support what Senator O'Mahony said in relation to the Rio ticketing fiasco. If we are to wait until September to debate that issue, it will have been 12 months from the incident occurring. The inquiry was set up to report within 12 weeks. It will have been 12 months. What is the difference between now and when it was set up? An investigation was ongoing in Rio when it was set up. This committee was assured that every party was going to participate fully, openly and transparently with the committee and there was, therefore, no need for a statutory inquiry. Who is now preventing the publication of the inquiry report? Some of those the Department felt were going to participate openly and transparently are now preventing its publication and preventing Members, as elected representatives, from debating its conclusions.