Motorsport Ireland intends to re-engage with the Government this summer on a bid to bring a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) to the country, organisation president Aiden Harper has said.
Ireland has twice hosted a championship round, the last time being in 2009.
In 2024, Motorsport Ireland launched a bid to have the WRC return to Ireland that would see Kerry, Limerick and the southeast, based in Waterford, host on rotation for the years 2025-2027.
The deadline for inclusion in 2025 was missed and the Government said it would need to conduct an independent economic assessment before committing to funding for future years.
Last November, the sporting body confirmed that it had paused efforts for calendar inclusion to allow for an internal “strategic review” of all operations.
“We hope to be engaging with the major bids unit around June or July of this year, in order to put a meaningful proposal together,” Mr Harper told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
“To get on that calendar we would have to be showing an expression of interest by November this year and we would be looking at 2028 or 2029 to be the first year of the WRC if it returns to Ireland.”
Motorsport Ireland president Aiden Harper
The purpose of the review, Motorsport Ireland said in a statement, was “to allow time and stability for an independent facilitator to assess all areas” of the organisation and sport and “allow Motorsport Ireland to make important decisions, in a stable environment, to futureproof the sport and inform future strategic goals”.
When the proposal is re-examined, Mr Harper said, the plan will look at one location rather than three on rotation.
For State funding of €15 million, there would be a return of €300m over the three years of the rally being in Ireland, Motorsport Ireland had claimed in 2024.
“We have used case studies from other countries of similar sizes, where the numbers have been proven. We can certainly stand over them. But as every year goes on, costs go up,” Mr Harper said.
“I’d say about 95% of the countries are all completely government funded. That was our ask from the Government, for which they were quite supportive. We couldn’t host this without being fully Government funded. Motorsport Ireland don’t have a major bank account to host this,” he added.
The bid would be through the Department of Sport’s Major International Sports Events Policy, which was launched in 2024.
Events supported under that policy included the NFL game in Croke Park last September, the hosting of the Ryder Cup in Adare in 2027 and hosting some Euro 2028 matches in Dublin.
The WRC first came to Ireland in 2007 but there were four years of work to get to that point, said co-promoter of the inaugural event, Ronan Morgan.
He, along with Sean O’Connor, worked with Fáilte Ireland on the idea. The preparation involved a pilot event and candidate event as proof of concept as well as political engagement as part of the cross-border element of the event.
The event was considered the first major cross-border sporting event in Ireland since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Between 100,000-150,000 people attended the 2007 running of Rally Ireland, academic research by Ulster University found, and it was worth at least €39m to the economy of the northwest region.
It was also the second-highest viewed event in terms of television coverage, which was one of the key indicators at the time.
“From the point of view of showcasing the country, keeping the WRC teams happy and willing to come back, it was a big success,” he said.
“It proved that Ireland can step up and put on the big world show, when necessary. Clearly we are showing that big events to come like the Ryder Cup and whatever it might be. There are lots of big events that Ireland can host and we are well capable of doing so.”