David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was at the launch of the three locations, Waterford, Limerick and Kerry, at the headquarters of Motorsport Ireland in January of this year. There was a lot of enthusiasm. Many people were in the room, including representatives from chambers of commerce, motorsport enthusiasts and people from different local authorities who were part of the consortium that made the successful bid to host the World Rally Championship. I know at first hand that, in Waterford, the local council, the CEO of that council and many others put a great deal of effort into this. It was a real slap in the face when Motorsport Ireland had no choice but to pull the event from Ireland. We had an opportunity to showcase the best of Ireland, Kerry, Limerick, Waterford and the south east. In its response, the Government said that it was looking for additional information and independent economic assessments. All that was being looked for was a maximum of €15 million over three years to host a world rally. It is staggering that the Government would let the ball drop like this. It shows the incompetence of the Minister of State and the Government that they messed up something that, in reality, you could not mess up if you tried. It is a spectacular failure on the part of this Government. The Government talked about independent economic assessments. How does it not trust the local authorities in the regions, which supported all of the bids? It is absolute nonsense and a monumental failure by this Government and by the Minister of State.

See this speech in context