Talks to reopen on hosting Tour de France Grand Départ on cross-border basis

Mr. Murphy, who is responsible for tourism, has asked his officials to reopen talks on bringing the prestigious bike race to Ireland again.

“In July 2023, discussions on a potential all-Ireland bid to host the Tour de France Grand Départ were suspended, largely due to the absence of an Executive.

"Since coming into post, I have instructed my officials to reopen that dialogue. As part of those deliberations, the cost of the bid would have to be weighed against the benefits.

"I note that, when the Giro d'Italia Grande Partenza was hosted in Ireland in 2014, it generated around £2.5m in economic activity, £12.7m in tourism impact and attracted around 227,000 visitors,” he said.

When the Giro d'Italia – one of cycling’s three ‘Grand Tours’ – was staged here ten years ago its three stages took place between Belfast and Dublin.

The last time the Tour de France started in Ireland was in 1998 when the country hosted three stages in Leinster and Minister.

Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan said there had been a ‘£2.45 benefit for every £1 spent in bringing the Giro d'Italia here’ and that this had included ‘£13m in additional tourism spend and £12m of free advertisement worldwide to over 56m viewers’.

"Does the Minister agree that bringing events such as, potentially, the Tour de France or the European soccer championship to Ireland has a positive benefit for our economy, tourism and businesses in general?” he asked.

Mr. Murphy replied: “That is well recognised. Of course, they require some upfront investment, and at a time when we are very challenged financially by the funding available to the Executive, but most of those large events tend to have a longer-lasting economically beneficial outcome, certainly for tourism, which is a growing market for us and a key part of our industry.

"It will be no different for the Euros, if, hopefully, we can secure their coming here.

"I approach it from the point of view of what the investment can achieve. The question is whether we can secure the necessary investment when we set it against all the other priorities that the Department has. I look forward to doing the analysis and rejoining the discussion, which has been parked as a consequence of there being no Executive, to see what the estimations are for it and what we can hope to achieve.

"I do not pretend to be as keen a cyclist as the Member, but I enjoy the odd spin on my bike. I was present for the Giro, and it was a great event, particularly because it came through south Armagh as well.”

Since 1903 the Tour de France Grand Départ has taken place outside France on 26 occasions but never in the North of Ireland.

This year's Tour will set off from Florence while it has already been confirmed that the 2025 edition will return to home turf when it sets off from Lille.

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