Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 December 2023
104. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the status of the application to host the Grand Depart in 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55743/23]
View answerThe Tour de France is the biggest cycling race in the world and, during 2022, Minister Martin engaged with her counterpart in Northern Ireland, the then-Minister for the Economy, regarding a potential joint bid to co-host the opening 3 stages of the race, the Grand Départ.
Departmental officials engaged with counterparts in Northern Ireland and established a project group to scope out the details of a possible bid. In July 2023 the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland wrote to my Department to advise that it had decided to cease work on the potential for a joint bid. As any hosting bid was envisaged as a north-south all-island initiative my Department is no longer pursuing a bid and this has been communicated to the event organisers.
Should the opportunity arise again to consider a bid to host the Grand Départ, whether jointly or singly, the experience gained in the process outlined above will be of use to any such future consideration.
