Cricket World Cup bid
Deputy Andrews warned that Ireland’s 2030 T20 World Cup co-hosting bid could be jeopardised without a stadium and facilities. The Minister of State said a sports campus master plan is being finalised, Cricket Ireland is engaged, and Government supports the bid and long-term facilities.
It is hard to follow that.
There are growing concerns that Ireland will not be able to co-host the 2030 T20 World Cup for cricket. Cricket is the second biggest sport in the world. There would be a significant benefit to the Irish economy, millions of euro would come in as a result of it and it would lead to massive exposure for Ireland as a destination. We recently had a great win over England and we are tenth best in the world. In 2018, the Government promised it would build a cricket stadium but four years later nothing has happened. Ground needs to be broken on a new stadium by 2023 so time is running out. Will the Taoiseach give a reassurance that we will not have to hand back this tournament to the International Cricket Council? It will be disappointing if the Government drops the ball on this.
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I thank the Deputy. We hope to finalise the master plan for the sports campus in the coming weeks, which will go before the Government. Sport Ireland is engaging with Cricket Ireland on the development of high-performance facilities, including an oval and a cricket crease. The Deputy will be aware of very successful cricket games that have been held in Malahide. We are eight years out from this particular tournament. We submitted an expression of interest as part of our joint hosting and we have a very strong major events team. I am not sure where the Deputy's particular concerns are coming from. I met with Cricket Ireland-----
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-----in recent weeks. I am due to meet with that organisation and its CEO, Mr. Warren Deutrom, again in the coming weeks. We have a very strong working relationship with Cricket Ireland. It knows that the Government has always been supportive of this particular bid, in addition to developing the business case around long-term cricket facilities for the sports campus.