Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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46. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will outline her proposals in respect of a current bid by Ireland to host a Tour de France stage. [56855/22]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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64. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide an update on Ireland's participation in a joint bid to host the Tour de France. [56832/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 64 together.

The Tour de France is the biggest cycling race in the world and I have discussed on a number of occasions over the past year with my counterpart in Northern Ireland, the then-Minister for the Economy (which encompasses tourism), what a wonderful event it would be for the whole island if we could co-host a future Grand Départ, the opening 3 stages of the race.

We promote the entire island of Ireland as a tourism destination via Tourism Ireland, a key North-South agency, and we believe that the television and other media audiences that the Tour attracts would provide a great opportunity to show off the incredible scenery, history and visitor attractions that we have throughout the island.

We have also discussed the cross-border benefits of positive collaboration between our respective teams, and the wider community, on such an exciting project. We agreed that an all-Ireland bid could tell a powerful story and show our shared island in a really positive light. This is the context to the joint letter of interest which my office issued last month to ASO, the Tour de France organisers, and we are now following up on this interest.

My officials have engaged with counterparts in Northern Ireland on the establishment of a project group to scope out the details of a bid and the first meeting of this group will take place later this month. A meeting has also been scheduled with the Tour organisers to outline our shared interest in making a bid and also to fully understand what the Tour looks for in a successful Grand Départ.