Hosting the Olympic Games in 2072 would be a fitting way to celebrate 150 of Ireland’s participation as an independent nation, a Fianna Fáil Senator has said. 

Ireland has never hosted the Olympics and currently lacks the sporting and public transport infrastructure for a successful bid. 

However, Senator Malcolm Byrne said Ireland needs to be “ambitious” as a country and should start laying the groundwork for a bid now. 

“Why I like the idea of 2072 is that it marks 150 years since Ireland as an independent State first started taking part in the Olympics,” he told Lunchtime Live. 

“I appreciate it’s five decades away but I think one of our challenges in this country is that we haven’t engaged a lot in long-term planning and I think we need to look at engaging in a lot more long-term planning. 

“We also need to talk about the type of infrastructure that we need to be able to support our elite athletes.” 

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Senator Byrne said he could understand why many people who think an Irish bid for the Olympics would seem unlikely to succeed at the moment. 

However, he added that Ireland will be a very different country by 2072.

“If you could imagine in 1970s Ireland what 2020s Ireland would be, can you just imagine what 2070s Ireland might end up looking like?” he said. 

Senator Byrne also said a joint bid with “one of our nearest neighbours” would be an idea worth considering - in the same way Britain and Ireland are jointly hosting Euro 2028. 

“We’re a country that can punch above our weight, what is it that would require us to get to the kind of standard that our athletes… [would have] world class facilities,” he said. 

The French Government spent around €9 billion on this year’s Olympic Games.

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Main image: Supporters cheer on Jack Woolley of Team Ireland. Picture by: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile