Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

Given that, will the Minister of State outline the Government's range of commitments, including financial support, which the Department will know is €6 million, to enable Galway to win back the Volvo Ocean Race for 2012? This was an extremely successful experience for Galway and for Ireland in 2009. To touch on some of the highlights which have come from both economic and media evaluation of the race, €55.8 million was the total economic impact on Galway and Ireland. This was measured outside of a 40-mile radius of Galway city, which does not even take into account how Galway city benefited. Some €36.5 million was spent by race spectators who came from outside the local region.

There were 269 media representatives from all over the world. Having visited the Volvo base quite a number of times myself, it was fascinating to go into the media room where there were 200 journalists at desks. It was crawling with them. It was wonderful to see the world interest in the Volvo Ocean Race. It had a print readership and radio listenership of 234 million and a 1.327 billion global television audience. Some 99% of the people surveyed from outside the region said they would recommend Galway as a potential holiday destination.

We are looking for €6 million from the Government to bring the stopover of this event back to Galway and Ireland. In 2009 the hosting of this event generated €55 million. Given the investment in it, that is a ratio of 9:1. For every euro invested in it, the economy got €9 and within the same year. What investment can the Minister of State think of today that would yield that return? We are forming a world-known iconic brand in Galway and maritime activity with a stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The amount of smart thinking behind this is typified by Tourism Ireland. It uses the opportunity to host marketing promotions in a series of ports where there were stopovers in the Volvo Ocean Race such as Alicante, Cape Town and Boston. Other Irish organisations such as Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland used Ireland's involvement in the Volvo Ocean Race as a networking opportunity. The total attendance at the race village and Salthill during the in-port and departure weekends was 650,000. Some 87,000 non-locals visited Galway, 68,000 of whom stayed in the region. The average local person visited the Volvo Ocean Race stopover 4.2 times. I was unaware of this statistic, but I probably went there five times during the course of the two weeks. It is significant that 90% of the visitors to the locality had no active interest in sailing. That is an interesting finding because it brought more people into an understanding of the maritime sector, our coastline and that wonderful resource.

The chairman of Fáilte Ireland said that the Galway stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race attracted the biggest audience for Irish tourism ever, a bigger audience than the Ryder Cup in 2006. It showcased Ireland as a high quality destination and he believes that the Volvo festival has further increased Ireland's chances of hosting future world class events. Little did we know that the opportunity would land in our lap again to do the same thing. The Minister for Art, Sports and Tourism, Deputy Cullen, said the same thing. We look to him to provide the €6 million funding needed.

This brings me to the important points. We are one of the three final bidders. The decision is being made this week. We are up against Lorient in France and Lisbon in Portugal. In both cases, their governments are backing their bids. Serious competition exists, yet we in Galway know that we are the front runner and the Volvo Ocean Race organisers want to come back here. However, it will not come back unless the Government is willing to fund the hosting fee. If were to attract Formula One to Ireland, there would be a hosting fee. The question has arisen as to whether private funding is available. Yes, there is but that private funding will not jump the fence until they know there is a commitment by the Government to bring it back. What better income generators could the Government get now for the Exchequer in terms of taxes and VAT than an event such as this?

The hosting fee is all that is needed. The private owners of the boat are willing to put up the boat again at a cost of €4 million and they are also willing to run the boat. When I spoke to John Killeen today, who was the vision for this event and one of the key people behind this bid and the Let's do it Galway campaign and the Volvo Ocean Race, he said that they are willing to enter into a matching funding relationship. In other words, for the €6 million the Government would put up, they would ensure equal funding was provided through the provision of the boat, the cost of running of it and that side of it. There is a great deal to be gained from doing this.

I look forward to the Minister of State giving me good news. We are looking a gift horse in the mouth. It is a no-brainer. I do not know how we will ever come to terms with this if the answer is "No" from the Government. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response.