Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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With that challenge out of the way and we now having a Government in the North that we can interact with and encourage, would it be opportune to re-ignite and rekindle that project? I recall standing on a very wet Sally Gap in July 1998, and it usually is wet in Ireland, waiting for the peleton to make its way up the Sally Gap. It would be a nice 30th anniversary in 2028 if we were able to stage that yet again. I know that the project would require a substantial investment but the return in terms of pure hard finance in the form of bed nights would be extraordinary and also the returns in terms of marketing Ireland and its landscape, culture and people to the world, which is predominantly what the Tour de France is all about. The tour has worked exceptionally well for France as a country. The benefits are many. Could we approach our Northern Ireland partners and say we missed the boat on that one but to look towards 2028, which would be the 30th anniversary of the last time the tour was in Ireland? Is that something that the Minister would consider?