Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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58. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the detail of the preparations for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25377/18]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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In 2014, Dublin won the right to host 4 matches of the UEFA EURO 2020 tournament comprising three group games and one second round game. The bid to host was a collaborative effort between the Football Association of Ireland, Dublin City Council and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. 

Since then a Local Organising Structure (LOS) has been developed with the participation of the three main stakeholders and other organisations key to delivering the tournament.  This structure includes a Project Board to oversee the overall project, a Project Working Group to manage it on a day-to-day basis and a number of sectorial sub-groups.  The LOS is working closely with UEFA to meet their hosting requirements for EURO 2020 in areas such as the presentation of the stadium, broadcasting facilities, fanzones and spectator experience, transport, security, commercial rights protection, and national promotion. 

The dates for the UEFA Euro 2020 matches were recently announced by UEFA.  The dates on which matches will take place in Dublin are:

Monday 15thJune

Friday 19thJune

Wed 24th  June

Tues 30thJune  (Round of 16)

The times of the matches have not yet been announced but the announcement of the dates will aid the preparations for the tournament in particular transport arrangements. 

The first major event of EURO 2020 will be the live televised draw for the qualifying groups, which will take place on the 2nd of December 2018.  In September last, the Dublin LOS won the bid to host this event and, accordingly, attendees representing UEFA's 55 National Associations will come to the Convention Centre Dublin for the event next December.  It is expected that there will be 650 guests, including almost 300 delegates from the participating countries, 350 media representatives accredited to cover the event, and more than 70 broadcasters to show the draw live to an audience of 140 million around the world.

Preparations for EURO 2020 will intensify over the next two years with the qualifying campaign kicking off with the new Nations League starting in September, tickets going on sale in 2019 and qualifying being completed in March 2020.