Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 20: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if a cost benefit analysis has been carried out on staging the Ryder Cup in the K Club; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34828/06]

Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 21: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the amount of State funding spent on staging the Ryder Cup in September 2006 in the K-Club, Co. Kildare, including tourism and Fáilte Ireland, the various Government Departments including Environment, Heritage and Local Government; if an evaluation has been carried out on the cost and benefit of the event; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34701/06]

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his views on the television viewership figures recorded in North America and Europe for the Ryder Cup; if these figures fell short of Government expectations; if this will have a detrimental effect on the marketing opportunities that presented themselves for Ireland for the duration of the tournament; his further views on whether this was partly caused by the failure to list the Ryder Cup as a free to air television event; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34803/06]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 25: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his views on whether longterm damage has been done to the tourism industry here by efforts to financially exploit many visitors, especially those from North America, who came here during the Ryder Cup; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34824/06]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 26: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the benefits of the staging of the Ryder Cup here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34823/06]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 20, 21 and 24 to 26, inclusive, together.

The Agreement signed with the PGA European Tour in 1998 for the staging of the Ryder Cup in Ireland provided for a payment of €9.5m to the Tour over the intervening period. Of this, the Exchequer, through Fáilte Ireland, contributed €4.9m and the three co-sponsors contributed the balance (Bord Bia, Waterford Crystal, AIB).

An additional €4.5 million was allocated to Fáilte Ireland in 2006 specifically to support an enhanced programme of marketing and promotional activities around the Ryder Cup, including a National Branding Programme and a number of golf marketing initiatives. Additional funding is also being provided to Fáilte Ireland this year to support costs associated with a complementary programme of events with the European Tour, including the official opening and closing ceremonies that made such a positive impact on international and domestic audiences. The aim of these programmes was to capitalise on the opportunities offered by the unique event that is the Ryder Cup with a view to promoting an enduring positive image of Irish Tourism.

I am not in a position to provide the Deputy with information relating to expenditure that does not fall within the aegis of my Department.

There is, I believe, little evidence to suggest that any significant inflated pricing occurred around the Ryder Cup. The tourism agencies were particularly vigilant in all of their dealings with the various elements of the industry and urged a commonsense approach to the pricing of their product during the period of the Ryder Cup. Furthermore, the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs, at the request of my Department, undertook a special initiative around that time to ensure that price lists in catering establishments and licensed premises were displayed prominently. In this regard I refer the Deputies to the reply given by my colleague the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in response to a Question, reference number 21922/06, on 11 October last.

I am informed by Failte Ireland that the research unit of the European Tour is currently undertaking a full review of delivered TV audiences in terms of both live and deferred coverage and any subsequent magazine style shows. This work will continue for a number of weeks. However, the early indications on live coverage numbers across our two key source markets, Great Britain and the USA are that the TV audiences for SKY and BBC were up when compared to previous Ryder Cup events, while NBC's viewership numbers on the Saturday and Sunday were down on the previous Ryder Cup. I am satisfied that the "free to air" issue was not a significant factor in the coverage numbers for European and American TV audiences.

The success of Ryder Cup 2006, in terms of organisation and the presentation of a positive image of Ireland, has been widely acclaimed. Based on the experience of past tournaments, it has been estimated that the economic benefits of the event to Ireland are of the order of €130m. It is expected that, over the coming years, there will also be a lasting long-term benefit to the tourism industry, and the golf tourism sector in particular, as a result of the worldwide television coverage of the event and the raising of Ireland's profile generally. Furthermore, the positive experiences of overseas visitors to the event will serve as a valuable source of word-of-mouth marketing for our tourism industry for many years to come.

Fáilte Ireland, in conjunction with the PGA/European Tour, have commissioned Deloitte and Touche to conduct an economic impact assessment on the Ryder Cup in Ireland and I look forward to the results of their work, which are expected early in 2007.

The International Sports Tourism initiative was established by the Government some years ago to support efforts to attract major international sporting events with tourism potential to Ireland. From its commencement in 2000, the initiative, which is administered by Failte Ireland, has sponsored a total of 102 events to the end of 2005 with a funding allocation of close to €30m.