The FIA World Motorsport Council in Monaco has voted to award Ireland a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) once again in 2009

Not only will Rally Ireland feature in this major event, it will launch the prestigious twelve round global series

The provisional date set for Rally Ireland is Thursday 29th January until Sunday 1st February

Rally Ireland's hugely successful debut in the WRC took place less than one month ago with a spectacular opening event in Stormont, Belfast and finished up in Sligo after three days of high octane action The event, which was broadcast in 180 countries worldwide proved to be Ireland's largest sporting event of the year with up to 200,000 spectators and 3,000 volunteers  Rally Ireland was sponsored by Failte Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland

Following the FIA's decision Rally Ireland founders Sean O'Co= nnor and Ronan Morgan said, "We are honoured that Ireland has been awarded the most prestigious position of opening the 2009 WRC series and this is a direct result of the hard work by the thousands of volunteers who worked on our event, our fantastic fans and the outstanding levels of political support we have received since we started the project  The residents of each stage must also be commended for their co-operation and support in making Rally Ireland the huge success it was

Rally Ireland ran across eight counties, north and south, opening wth a Super Special Stage in Stormont and concluding with an exciting Special Stage on Sligo's Atlantic coast at Mullaghmore It received widespread political support north and south.  The 2009 event will also be a cross-border initiative taking place in the same region