Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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173. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an up to date position on efforts to bring the Rugby World Cup 2023 to Ireland; if he sees potential for Killarney being a host town; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24923/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Last November the Government considered a Memorandum on the discussions and analysis to date on a potential bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023.   

While the Memorandum identified a number of challenges, the great potential of the event is also clear and I believe that hosting the Rugby World Cup on a cross-border basis in 2023 would be a great opportunity for Northern Ireland and Ireland.  In response to the Memorandum, the Government expressed strong support for the proposal and for the conduct of further work to get to the stage of making a formal decision to bid. 

To progress the matter further, Minister Ring and I met with Minister Arlene Foster and Minister Carál Ní Chuilín, who are the Ministers respectively responsible for tourism and sport in the Northern Ireland Executive, in Armagh on 22 January. We established a working group to examine some key issues further and to report back to Ministers in the summer.  The working group, on which the IRFU and relevant Government Departments from both jurisdictions are represented, has held a number of meetings to date.  I look forward to receiving their report.

In relation to proposed venues, this will only be decided as part of the formulation of a formal bid to host the event and in response to the stadia requirements contained in the Invitation to Tender for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which has yet to be issued by the International Rugby Board.