Cabinet set to approve Ireland’s joint bid to host Euro 28

Croke Park and the Aviva Stadium will potentially host seven games in Euro 28 if the joint bid from Ireland and the UK to host the second biggest soccer tournament in the world is successful.

The Cabinet will also be asked to approve the joint application from the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) along with four associations in Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. The bid must be submitted to Uefa by Wednesday.

Minister for Sport Catherine Martin and Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers will bring the memo to Ministers asking for permission to send a letter of support from Government to the FAI.

The bid is believed to have a very strong possibility of success as there is only one other bidder to host the tournament, Turkey.

Family affairs: How Ireland’s newly rich are putting money to work in secretive firms

---

All You Need Is Death review: Singular Irish horror is a symphony of weirdness

---

The Corrs’ manager’s secluded south Dublin home on an acre for €4.25m

---

Tactical breakdown: How Mickey Harte’s side have evolved into Derry 2.0

---

If successful, as many as 120,000 fans could travel to Ireland to attend the seven games held here, including a number of knock-out games.

The memo is expected to predict that the costs of upgrading the Aviva would be low as it has already been selected to host the 2024 Europa League Final. In addition, the stadium had been due to host games for Euro 2020, but the UK and Ireland withdrew because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is understood Croke Park would require greater investment to comply with the requirements of Uefa.

[ Malachy Clerkin: Hosts of the Euros do Uefa a favour, not the other way around ]

A report compiled after the Euro 16 finals in Paris showed 613,000 fans visited France for the tournament and that it was worth €1.2 billion to the economy.

By that comparison, the 2028 completion could be worth between €200 million and €250 million to the Irish economy.

Mr Chambers, who is Government Chief Whip, met remotely with representatives from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland last week to discuss their plans to host the tournament. Most of the work on the bid is being led by the big events unit in the Department of Sport.

Euro 28 will involve 24 teams even though a total of 32 teams was mooted at one point.

Among other issues for the Cabinet, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue is also expected to tell his colleagues that the supply of turkeys in the run-up to Christmas could be impacted if there are further outbreaks of the highly contagious avian flu on poultry farms.

Mr McConalgue will update the Cabinet on efforts to contain avian flu in Ireland, following the culling of 3,000 turkeys on a Co Monaghan farm this week.

There have been about 80 cases of the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 in wild flocks since July, but the case in Co Monaghan was the first in poultry.

Mr McConalogue will express concern that the supply for turkeys could be impacted, although he will also move to allay fears by setting out the precautionary and preventive measures that have been taken.

He will outline the measures his department has taken to stem the spread of the disease, including exclusion zones around farms and biosecurity measures.

He is also expected to spell out the implications the spread of the disease would have for international trade, as well as what compensation might be available for those impacted.