Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister might be somewhat surprised that I do not support these amendments. I do not believe we as a Parliament should tie the Government's hands behind its back in terms of what it can underwrite to win this venture. We have to be conscious of the fact an unbelievable amount of work has been done on the bid, going back to November 2012 when Deloitte sports business group conducted a feasibility study on it. I met the IRFU in my capacity as party spokesperson. I understand Deputy Ryan's frustration on the need for greater interaction between Members of the Oireachtas and the IRFU, and he is right. The IRFU was due to come before the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport to speak specifically on this issue but as many of our committee meetings were taken up with the strike in Bus Éireann, the meeting with the IRFU was deferred on a number of occasions and it is regrettable it did not have an opportunity to come before the committee.

I have a suggestion for the Minister, which may be helpful and beneficial. Will the Minister quantify the benefits and how we as a country can stand to gain from hosting the Rugby World Cup? He has alluded to our tickets being at a reduced rate compared with what was charged in the UK, and because of this, he believes we would get a greater number of visitors. He needs to quantify the spending power of the visitors and the research that has been conducted on it. This might help alleviate some of the fears of my colleagues. I ask the Minister to correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that each of the three remaining countries that have put forward a bid would have to stump up €120 million if it won the bid.

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