John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also join with Senator Victor Boyhan in welcoming today's launch of the 2023 bid for the Rugby World Cup for Ireland. We are experiencing a rich vein of and a golden era for sport in Ireland at local, national and international level. We have seen this in rugby, soccer, GAA, rowing, sailing, and newer sports. Last week, I visited the new upgraded sports campus in Abbotstown. The facilities there are wonderful.

Sport has a tremendous capacity to unite people. I compliment all the stakeholders involved in this bid for the Rugby World Cup. The Government, the Stormont Administration, the GAA and the IRFU are coming together to back it, headed up by the former Tánaiste, Dick Spring, as well as many others, including Hugo MacNeill. It shows sport has an ability to unite in a way that politics sometimes struggles with. Will the Leader invite to the House the Minister of State with responsibility for tourism and sport, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, who today announced a new round of sports capital funding to be open in January, to explain the timeline for this bid as it goes along?