Ireland’s bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup has suffered a serious blow.
On the day Ireland submit their final bid documents to the World Rugby headquarters, a legislative issue with Ireland’s hosting has arisen.
Look out for the #Ireland2023 bid bus this afternoon. Travelling from @AVIVAStadium to @WorldRugby with some special guests & the bid! pic.twitter.com/wu26QKzrXE
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) June 1, 2017
The Irish Independent are reporting that Minister for Sport, Shane Ross, has written a letter to the Oireachtas revealing that he received advice from the Attorney General saying that emergency legislation would be required to support Ireland’s bid to host the tournament.
In the letter, Minister Ross says that “a matter of urgency” has arisen and that the draft legislation he is proposing is necessary to support the staging of the Rugby World Cup.
“The draft guarantees to be provided by the State to support the staging of the tournament were received from the Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) on April 7,” it reads.
“After consideration of the vires (powers) of the Minister, the Office of the Attorney General advised on May 4 that express statutory authority through the passing of primary legislation is necessary for a Minister to provide the necessary guarantees,”
After receiving advice from the Attorney General, Minister Ross drafted the Rugby World Cup 2023 Bill (2017) to help support Ireland’s bid and it was approved by the cabinet last week.
However, the bill needs to pass through Oireachtas by the summer recess which is at the end of July.
Minister Ross has attempted to fast track the emergency legislation, saying,
“Given the urgency of the legislation, I have asked the House Business Committee not to refer the Bill to the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport to move instead to drafting by the Office of the Parliamentary Draughtsmen. I trust you understand the reason for this approach is to do everything in my power to secure passage of this vital piece of legislation in an extremely constrained time period.”
The news has already hit headlines over in South Africa, a country that is also vying to host the tournament with Sport24 revealing that the country had submitted their final bid on Tuesday and that South African Rugby CEO Jurie Roux is confident of a winning bid.
In the build up to the official bid, Ireland have released a number spine-tingling videos to help their bid.
Wish us luck! Ireland is making a bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup! 🏈 Join us in supporting #Ireland2023 pic.twitter.com/TanXJc8XzV
— Discover Ireland (@TInordics) June 1, 2017
