Ireland miss out on chance to host World Rally Championship

Motorsport Ireland has announced that Ireland is no longer being considered to host a round of the FIA World Rally Championship in 2025.

The organisation claim to have received confirmation from Minister of State for Sport, Thomas Byrne, that the department would need "at least six months" to undertake further independent economic assessments and analysis of the proposal.

In January, Motorsport Ireland proposed three host locations in their bid to bring the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) back to Ireland for the years 2025-27.

Kerry, Limerick, and the South East region, based out of Waterford, were all included, with the intention that the three regions would host on a rotating basis.

A statement released by Motorsport Ireland read: "To date, Motorsport Ireland have received no questions or feedback on any of the documents submitted to the Department.

"Due to having received no update [from] the Department by the Q1 deadline, Motorsport Ireland requested, and were granted, an extension of a fortnight from the promoter.

"From the beginning Motorsport Ireland have been very clear that March 2024 was the cutoff for receiving acknowledgment if we were successful or not in our request for funding. This deadline wasn't chosen by Motorsport Ireland, this was an operational deadline set by the World Rally Championship promoter.

"To learn on the last day of our extension from the promoter that Minister Byrne's Department now require another six months to undertake further independent assessments and analysis is very frustrating."

The minister responded to Motorsport Ireland's claims by addressing the concept and committing to offering support after 2025.

"What the government has said very clearly is that we are prepared to consider