October 21 – Irish Culture and Sports Minister Catherine Martin said that she would like to see more matches of the joint-hosted 2028 European Championships be hosted in the Republic.
The 2028 Euros will be held across the United Kingdom and Ireland, with Dublin scheduled to host six matches at the Aviva Stadium.
The reason for this interest in more matches is because of the UK government’s decision to rebuff the requests of funding to rebuild, Casement Park in the west of Belfast. Five matches were scheduled to take place in the capital of Northern Ireland but with a tab exceeding £400 million to bring the stadium up to UEFA’s standards, the new Labour government has said no.
With Ireland becoming a major tourist destination, Martin, is looking at a bigger picture that does more than just staging football matches in Dublin saying: “I think that’s ultimately for the stakeholders themselves to decide. But yes, the more that can be held on a wider spread. I always talk about regional tourism as well, and looking at the 250,000 people working in tourism, 70% of them are in the regions.”
The other potential venues being considered are the home of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Croke Park, and Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork.
Thomas Bryne the junior minister for sport echoed Martin’s desire saying: “We want more matches, we’ve expressed a view to UEFA, we want them on a regional basis, I’ve spoken about that before. Our overarching objective is to have more games on the island. There’s ongoing discussions with partners about that, but it is their decision at the end of the day.”
Ireland had been due to host matches in Euro 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and strict rules regarding spectators attending matches, they were removed from hosting duties and the matches that were due to be played at the Aviva Stadium moved to St. Petersburg and London.
While the Irish national team has never really had success in this tournament, bar, 2016 when they made the round of 16 before losing to the hosts France, 2-1, the desire to host international football is stronger than ever.
With Irish hospitality legendary throughout the world, the prospect of thousands of fans milling around the pubs of the Emerald Island drinking copious amounts of Guinness has the brewery business salivating.
Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at moc.l1729507006labto1729507006ofdlr1729507006owedi1729507006sni@o1729507006fni1729507006