Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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96. To ask the Taoiseach the rationale for the decision to provide State funding to facilitate the Pope's visit here in 2018. [37189/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The visit by Pope Francis in August included a number of large scale events which were open to the public to attend. Thousands of people were expected to attend the Shrine at Knock and Mass in the Phoenix Park as well as lining the streets of Dublin to see the Pope.

The involvement of many of the State's agencies in these events was to ensure the security, health and safety of the public and to provide for crowd control and public order as well as providing the level of security required for any Head of State who might visit.