Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Senator does want to know, but he is not going to find out. However, it would be capped at a reasonable figure. It has been capped in order simply that the bid will meet the requirements of those who are actually offering and selling the event to us. It is a competitive bid, which is why we are not going to tell Senators what the guarantee would be capped at. It has been capped at a reasonable level to keep us in the contest. That is what it is about.

I will address the first issue as to why we were rushed. We are not really rushing. The legislation is going through quickly, as Senators have rightly pointed out. As I said in my opening contribution, this process has been ongoing since 2013. We had people with expertise from around the world, including in Deloitte, involved before we took the decision to proceed. We looked at what had happened in Britain to see if we could do it and the experts came to that conclusion. The decision was then referred to a working group with representatives from the North and the South. It looked at the proposal in great detail and stated, "Yes, we can do this." It went before the Cabinet several times. I have answered questions many times in this House, the Dáil and at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport. There is no doubt that the proposal has been subject to enormous independent scrutiny, but that does not mean that Senators should not ask questions about what is happening and the final figures. Their questions are very welcome.

I will leave out the positive stuff because there is no point in going over it. The question has been asked regularly, "Is this going to be shared?" It came from Senator Ned O'Sullivan and others. They want to know it the event would be shared, open to everybody or just an elite group of people? That is not the intention.

The free-to-air issue is slightly complicated. It is probably one to which Senators would not like the answer. The rights are owned by World Rugby, but all of Ireland's games would be broadcast free-to-air, which would be absolutely guaranteed.We can assure the Senator of that. The others will not be free. However, serious efforts will be made to keep ticket prices at reasonable levels. There is a market for tickets and we want as many people as possible to get there, the market to be satisfied and the demand to be there but there will be tickets starting from approximately €20. There will also be fan zones to accommodate people. It has mass appeal. This is a united Ireland game. As the Senator said, it is a fantastic way of uniting everybody. I appeal to all Members to support it. I welcome the questions of Senators and I hope I can answer them. They have all been answered in so far as I currently can. I will return to the House. I am quite happy, as Senator Boyhan said, to come to the House as often as Senators would like, as I do regularly, to answer questions on this issue because I think it is right to do so and Members are asking questions for the right reasons. There has not been any political point scoring in the House today. All Members want this to work. I thank them for their contributions.