Brian O’Driscoll would be “a fabulous ambassador” for an all-island bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Minister for Sport Leo Varadkar said this afternoon.
While Mr Varadkar said any decision on nominating ambassadors would have to be agreed with the Northern authorities and the IRFU, O’Driscoll’s name was also referenced by IRFU chief executive Philip Browne.
Mr Browne said the backing of people like Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell was “very important” for marketing the proposal.
Mr Browne said Ireland had great potential to make such a bid with a range of stadiums across the island giving visitors the chance to have an “all Ireland experience” and a “great tournament”.
“It would be huge. Effectively we are of a view that this would be largest sporting event that could be held on the island”.
Both Mr Browne and Mr Varadkar praised the backing of the GAA which they said was “crucial” and “vital” to the compilation of the bid.
They agreed the bid could be worth up to €800 million to the island in terms of economic benefit..
Mr Browne told The Irish Times the State would have to guarantee a figure "somewhere south of €100 million" for the tournament organisers, but he said this would be adequately funded by gate receipts. "That is one of the things, a State guarantee. That has to happen for any nation putting in a bid", he said.
Mr Browne said Ireland’s competitors for the tournament would naturally be South Africa, France and Italy, but he said rugby supporters were used to coming to Ireland and the island could offer a great tourist experience and mount “ a great tournament”.
“There is perfect infrastructure in place. We have Croke Park - one of the biggest stadiums in Europe - we have the Aviva Stadium, we have a redeveloped Casement Park coming on stream in Belfast, we have a redeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork which will be coming on stream, so we will have about about five stadia coming on stream each with capacity in excess of 40,000. Aviva obviously has 51,000 and Croke Park has 83,000.”
Mr Varadkar said the island had “better infrastructure” than New Zealand and he said it was “fabulous” that the GAA was “on board” backing the bid. He noted ongoing work at Páirc Uí Chaoimh and at Raven Hill in Belfast and said he did not believe the International Rugby Board would be taking a risk in allocating the tournament to one country.
The risk was “more for the host country” he said.
But he said there would be need for additional facilities such as Semple Stadium in Tipperary and training facilities and accommodation in smaller towns.
The “next step” in the process was for him to go to Cabinet and brief his ministerial colleagues and seek approval to engage meaningfully with the Northern Ireland executive and the other bodies.
In relation to ambassadors he said “it is really not my call” but he said O’Driscoll would be a fabulous ambassador “there is no doubt about that”. A decision on the tournament is expected in 2017, giving a four year lead in for the bid.
