Rugby video cost €10k

THE Government spent nearly €10,000 promoting Ireland’s ill-fated Rugby World Cup bid in a threeminute video on social media.

The promotional video featured Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, then-tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald and Sports Minister Shane Ross alongside sports stars such as Brian O’Driscoll.

Amid increasing concerns that the €5m Strategic Communications Unit, announced by Mr Varadkar, will be used as a party political tool for Fine Gael, the news that the video cost €9,500 was called ‘the potential tip of the iceberg’ by Fianna Fáil TD Thomas Byrne. His party leader Micheál Martin told Mr Varadkar in the Dáil, ‘There is a huge danger of the blurring of the lines between bona fide departmental campaigns and full-blooded political campaigns.’

Last month, the 2023 Rugby World Cup was awarded to France.