Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. My question is in respect of the process. The Minister answered my question well in terms of his reference to Bill Beaumont, a rugby legend and member of the executive council, who defied the executive independent report because, as we know, the English backed Ireland.

I would like to speak about what those involved in rugby are saying, as opposed to what is stated in the report. Jim Glennon, is a former Irish rugby forward and politician who knows the dark world of voting in both disciplines.

He noted last weekend that after all the millions of euro invested in the bid, all the travel and hard work, Ireland's prospects of hosting the World Cup had come down to this, namely, that the outcome was in the hands of our Six Nations allies, Scotland and Wales. It was time to pull out all the stops and ensure every connection with anybody involved in rugby was exploited to the full. That is what it ultimately seems to have boiled down to: good old horse trading. If that was indeed the case, what exactly was our canvassing strategy? Did the Minister meet his counterpart in the Scottish Assembly, for example, to try to organise a quid pro quowhereby Ireland would assist the Scots on the next occasion? Was there any engagement in this vein with the Welsh Assembly Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport, Dafydd Elis-Thomas? The Minister, Deputy Ross, might think I am being facetious but I urge him to consider the words of Brian O'Driscoll in the aftermath of the vote, "What goes around comes around." The former Ireland rugby captain was not holding back in pointing out what he considered to be the ramifications of this decision.

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