THE IRISH GOVERNMENT has set its sights on hosting the 2026 Ryder Cup and the Fifa World Cup in 2030.

Active discussions to host the Ryder Cup have been held with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Sports Minister Shane Ross and the European Tour bosses.

Ross today briefed his Cabinet colleagues on the work being done behind the scenes and the meetings held over the last couple of months.

The minister attended the Ryder Cup in Paris recently and met with organisers of the European Tour primarily to discuss potential future hosting of the tournament in Ireland.

As a follow up to that visit, the CEO and Deputy CEO of the European Tour met with the Taoiseach and the minister on 5 November.

Officials from the department are also participating in a preliminary feasibility study in regard to a potential UK and Ireland bid to host the 2030 Fifa World Cup.

Last September, the FAI was invited by the football associations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to join in an initial feasibility study to consider whether it would be possible to submit a joint bid to host the World Cup in 2030.

Since then, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the FAI have met with the FA and UK Sport who are co-ordinating the joint study.

It is intended that this study would be completed by the end of the year and that in January the football associations and government would consider whether the proposal warrants further in-depth examination.

European championships 

Ross also updated the Cabinet on preparations to host the Uefa European Football championships in 2020, which will be a hosting partnership between the FAI, Dublin City Council and the government.

In 2014, Dublin City Council and the FAI put together a bid to host the Euro 2020 Championship in Dublin.

The bid was successful and Dublin will host four games of the Championships in June 2020 along with 11 other host cities – Baku, St Petersburg, Rome, Munich, Budapest, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Bilbao, London and Glasgow.

The games in Ireland will be between 15 – 30 June 2020. If Ireland qualifies, the team will play two games in Dublin.

The event will be broadcast worldwide to an audience of five billion and will be attended by 2.5 million people across Europe.

The cost of hosting the tournament is approximately €14.5 million.

While the FAI/Uefa will be covering the cost of the staging of the matches, team base camps, stadium operations and other costs, Dublin City Council will be responsible for activities such as fanzones and public viewing areas, which will cost around €3.8 million.

The government is contributing approximately €4.5 million, which will pay for free transport from Dublin Airport to the stadium and free transport on match day for match attendees.

The government will also cover the costs for policing and security, as well as for the national promotional programme.

All four matches in Dublin are expected to have full attendance – approximately 200,000 attendees altogether.

The department estimates are that there could be up to 160,000 overseas visitors attending the matches, with direct spend by overseas tourists coming within the range of €20 million to €50 million.