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11th August 2024
03:58pm BST
A Fianna Fáil Senator has suggested that Ireland should look to bid to host the Olympics... in 2072.
Senator Malcolm Byrne made his remarks following Ireland's most successful Olympics ever, breaking the national record to bring home seven medals, including four golds.
Mr Byrne, who is vice-chair of the Oireachtas Sports Committee, said that a bid for hosting duties in 48 years would "almost mark the sesquicentenary of when Ireland began competing in the Olympics as an independent State".
"There will probably be a few eye rolls at this suggestion," he continued.
"But I think we could start to develop a plan so that we have the world class infrastructure to host major international events and there is none bigger than the Olympics.
Mr Byrne continued: "Given the joy and pride that our Olympians have given to us all across the island in recent weeks, we should commit to ensuring that our country has the best facilities for them in all disciplines."
He added that Ireland needs to invest in "some long-term planning and setting an ambitious goal of hosting the Olympics in half a century's time should not be beyond us".
He said that "cynics will knock the move but let us be imaginative and explore what we would need to do as an island to achieve this goal."
Senator Byrne noted that the 1952 Olympics hosted by Helsinki was the last time a small country hosted the Summer games.
"I know that there are enormous costs, but the transformational opportunities are incredible.
"Can we envision a Dublin and an Ireland in half a century that could be the centre of the sporting world and that would leave an incredible legacy?"
Paris 2024: "Invest in sport. Look how positive it makes everyone."@DervalORourke @RM_Heffernan and @soniaagrith discuss the legacy of #Paris2024 and how Ireland can build on the success of the past fortnight #Olympics pic.twitter.com/vRmnWmQlfw
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 11, 2024
Speaking about matters more relevant to the here and now, RTÉ pundit Rob Heffernan has called on the government to "put their money where their mouth is" and invest in sport to back up Ireland's Olympic success.
Speaking after the Irish women's team agonisingly missed out on a medal in the 4x400 relays, Heffernan said: "There’s loads of stuff we can do, we need to fund more coaches.
"We’ve no PE in primary schools in Ireland. We should have athletics coaches going into the primary schools following the GAA model because athletics is the fundamentals for all sports.
"And even if you don’t end up a competitive athlete, you’ll end up with a healthier more resilient society. We need more tracks. The size of Cork, we’ve only one track, and that’s privately owned.”
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