HOSTING the Tour de France is recommended highly by officials at Portsmouth City Council. The town had the honour in July 1994.

"We were in a local pub trying to think of ways to celebrate the city's 800th anniversary when we came up with the idea," said Mr Geoff Lawton, city recreation officer. "We were amazed and delighted when we discovered it was feasible."

Four reconnaissance missions to the Tour to "pick up tips" prepared organisers for hosting the fifth stage, which was to prove even more lucrative than they had anticipated. Portsmouth pocketed £8 million from the substantial tourist spinoffs: research at the time showed day trippers and overseas visitors were spending an average of £40 per day.

About 145,000 enthusiasts flocked to the English seaside town for the cycling spectacle, and two million turned out along the circular route from Portsmouth to Brighton and back. But according to Mr Lawton, it is not just the short term economic benefits that Ireland should consider in the run up to the tour.

"We had very clear aims and objectives, and one of those was to use the tour to encourage a sense of civic pride and community spirit in the area. This has definitely been one of the tangible long term benefits of the Tour as well as the fact that our profile has been heightened all over the world."

Portsmouth City Council paid a fee of £500,000 (compared to the almost £2 million paid by Irish organisers) to the Societe Tour de France for the privilege of hosting part of the event.

And while the logistics of the Portsmouth stage were far less complicated than those envisaged for here, French organisers say they will look back to the English experience when it comes to sorting out any problems that may develop in Ireland.

"The only other times we have moved off the continental mainland have been when we went to Britain," said a spokeswoman in Paris. "So naturally any lessons we learned regarding transportation and such like will be put to good use in Ireland.

Mr Lawton plans to relive his Tour de France experience by travelling to Dublin to watch the initial stages. "It was an amazing social and economic boost that we in Portsmouth cannot recommend highly enough. A fantastic opportunity for Dublin and for Ireland."