Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We must acknowledge and compliment the IRFU on taking it upon itself to bid for this World Cup in 2023. I assure the Minister that Fianna Fáil will be supporting the bid. However, it raises many questions. Like previous tourism initiatives, such as The Gathering, this has the potential to generate enormous income for this economy, income that is still much needed. However, it has become clear over the past number of months that the Department is one of the most disorganised in the history of the State. Chaos has prevailed in every decision that has been made. I refer to the Bus Éireann strike, the fact that we are still awaiting the publication of the Moran inquiry, the fact that, with a stroke of his pen, the Minister jeopardised the operations of many hauliers, and the fact that appointments to State boards under the Minister's remit still have not been made. Like every Minister, the Minister relies on the advice of those in his Department. Was he not advised to move earlier on the pre-legislative requirements? I know he answered this in his speech but I am still not happy. Why did he wait until the end of the candidate phase of the process to seek legal advice from the former Attorney General on Government procedures to properly underwrite the bid?

In September 2015, the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, as the junior Minister, gave the Government's undertaking to underwrite the bid. In October 2016, during the next phase of the assessment for the bid, the Minister gave a commitment on behalf of the Government to underwrite the bid. He put out a fancy press release on the issue and we moved on to the next stage, which commenced on 1 November 2016. The Minister waited until 7 April 2017 to seek advice from the former Attorney General, or so the Minister tells us in his letters. Was it because the Minister was not talking to the former Attorney General following the disagreements over a previous motion in 2016 regarding the eighth amendment on which the Minister did not agree with the former Attorney General? We now see the Minister taking two opinions from the former Attorney General.

The Minister and his Department must get their act together. Clarification needs to be provided on the breakdown of the full costs that the Government is prepared to underwrite for the tournament. The figure is reported to be €380 million, and I remind the Minister about what happened when the 2015 Rugby World Cup was held in England. The Labour Government and the then Minister for Sport, Andy Burnham MP, agreed in 2008 to underwrite a figure of £80 million, which was a host fee for the tournament, and also provided guarantees to cover security costs. This was done in 2008 well in advance of the bid being submitted in 2009. The host fee of €120 million for the 2023 Rugby World Cup is an increase of €40 million from the host fee that was required to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The Government has rightly agreed to underwrite this in this Bill but, in the near future, we need clarification on the breakdown of the rest of the costs that the Government is prepared to underwrite for the purposes of transparency.

The Bill contains an undertaking to provide support in respect of public transport services for the tournament. I remind the Minister that it is the duty of his Department to do so anyway and it should not have to be enshrined in legislation for him to do so for the tournament. There is time and a place for political grandstanding but I agree that it should never come at the cost of positively promoting Ireland. Fianna Fáil will ensure that this legalisation will pass through the House in the required time before the summer recess on 31 July. The Minister needs to accept that rushed legislation is never good practice but everyone in this House needs to accept that lreland's bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup could be over before it begins without this legislation being passed so it important that we get the Bill through. We need to take a bit of short-term pain to reap the long-term gain. On foot of the letter of 30 May 2017, the Minister wrote to the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport, of which I am Vice Chairman, and asked us to by-pass pre-legislative scrutiny. We agreed to do so but as Deputy Troy said, we did it without giving other Deputies a chance to ask questions. We spent three months on the fixed-charge legislation and when we get a chance to come here, this Bill is rushed through and I must say I am disappointed. I hope the hosting of the 2023 Rugby World Cup is a low-risk and high-return situation.

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