Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Paschal Donohoe says a successful bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup will bring almost 400,000 international visitors to Ireland.
Donohoe was speaking to Newstalk's Oisin Langan and says the next step is to set up a bidding company.
"The next step now is that we are going to put together a bidding company and bidding organisation to get our bid ready. Work on that will begin immediately. There will be a very important workshop taking place next May,"said Donohoe.
He also said that the invitation to tender will be issued in May 2016 and expects a decision in July 2017.
Listen to the full interview via the player:
Meanwhile, a survey suggests that 73 per cent of Irish adults support the World Cup bid.
'The Philip Lee Sport Report' was conducted on behalf of the commercial law firm by Amarach.
