Government 'will not be found wanting' in preparing bid for 2030 World Cup

The Government "will not be found wanting" in preparing a bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2030, says Sports Minister Jack Chambers. Picture: Getty

The Government "will not be found wanting" in preparing a bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2030.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson last night confirmed that the UK and Ireland will prepare a bid for the tournament which will be submitted between 2022 and 2024.

An Irish Government spokesperson added: “The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media will continue to undertake feasibility work, together with its partners, to assess the viability of a bid and we look forward to further extensive engagement and collaboration as we seek to refine our hosting proposals in the coming months.”

Sports Minister Jack Chambers.

Speaking this morning on RTÉ radio, Sports Minister Jack Chambers said that he was confident that the governance challenges which have beset the FAI could be overcome. He said that the "footballing family" had the "drive, ambition and passion" to make the bid successful.

"We will have significant competition for this from a European and international perspective so it will need significant work.

"This year we progress significant work on the whole feasibility process, and then see for next year would open the process for the submission of a bid which can be submitted between 2022 and 2024. And so, we are at an early stage of this process but the fact that we have an ambition across the two islands to try and work together to bring the biggest football a big one in football to the biggest tournaments in the world to our shores I think is really positive, and we'll do everything we can."

Co-operation of GAA

Mr Chambers added that the goal is to take the competition out of Dublin, which will likely need the co-operation of the GAA. He said that there is "significant co-operation and there is great co-operation anyway between the different governing bodies of sport" and that this would continue throughout the bid.

 Gordon Elliott: investigation into an image on social media that showed the Grand National-winning trainer sitting on a dead horse on his gallops.

Asked about the picture of horse trainer Gordon Elliott which went viral over the weekend, showing Mr Elliot sitting astride a dead horse, Mr Chambers said that he was "shocked".

"I was absolutely shocked, appalled and horrified by that photograph. It showed a complete and profound error of judgment, and it was really disturbing from an animal welfare perspective,

"I think everyone across the country and even internationally who saw that photo was shocked. And I think he has to be held fully accountable for his actions. It is important from an Irish perspective, from that we have the highest welfare standards and someone myself who grew up with animals and I think anyone, whether they did or they didn't, I was shocked by it and I think consequences are important and he needs to be held fully accountable,"

Mr Chambers said that "everything should be on the table" including a ban and that Mr Elliot's explanations so far "doesn't explain what everyone saw".