Smaller Casement Park ‘logical conclusion’ amid funding pressures

Gordon Lyons By Claudia Savage (Press Association)

A smaller Casement Park is the “logical conclusion” to funding pressures surrounding the problem-hit refurbishment, Stormont’s Communities Minister has said.

Gordon Lyons said the financing currently pledged by his department to the GAA stadium will remain available, but claims that the project has “gone wrong” under his leadership are “detached from reality”.

The minister’s comments come following reports the GAA has conceded that the redeveloped stadium’s capacity will be far below its planned size of 34,500.

If the stadium is scaled back to a capacity in the 20,000 range, it will not be big enough to host provincial matches such as the Ulster senior football final.

That annual fixture is currently held at St Tiernach’s Park GAA stadium in Clones, Co Monaghan, and has an official capacity of 29,000.

Plans for the West Belfast site have faced uncertainty because of a major funding shortfall.

The UK Government has pledged £50 million to the Casement Park redevelopment, the Irish Government has offered around £42 million and the GAA at least £15 million.

In a statement last week, Ulster GAA said it “remains fully committed to the delivery of our provincial stadium at Casement Park.

Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill reiterated her party’s commitment to Casement saying she will work with the GAA “to deliver a top-class stadium that meets the needs of Gaels in Antrim and across Ulster”.

Mr Lyons said on Monday he wants to “see the redevelopment of Casement Park on a basis that is sustainable, affordable and value for money that hasn’t been on the table up to this point”.

He told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster Programme: “I said it for two years, I said if we want to build it to that scale, the GAA would need to be prepared to provide additional funding and they repeatedly said they were not in a position to do so.

“The Executive is not awash with money, the GAA were not prepared to contribute any more, so the logical conclusion to all of this is that there needs to be a smaller stadium.

“That is the position I’ve advocated for the last two years, and I’ve been lambasted for it, but now it seems that others are moving on to that position.

“So would we always like bigger and better things? Of course we would, but let’s deal with the reality that we find ourselves in.”

Stormont ministers committed £62.5 million to Casement in 2011, as part of a strategy to revamp it along with football’s Windsor Park and the rugby ground at Ravenhill.

While the two other Belfast-based projects went ahead, the redevelopment of Casement was delayed for several years because of planning-based legal challenges by local residents.

Mr Lyons said his department’s funding will need to “be subject to certain tests to make sure that it is value for money” if plans change, but the capital “that was promised is still there”.

Given that the Windsor Park and Ravenhill refurbishments went ahead, the Communities Minister was asked if the scaling down of Casement represented a “parity of esteem” issue with Gaelic games.

Mr Lyons said: “I’ve been in post a little over two years. This saga has been going on for 14 years.

“For people to say that it’s all gone wrong because I have been in office is detached from reality and buys into the Sinn Féin and SDLP talking points.”

He added: “Why has football and rugby got their stadiums and been able to enjoy them for the better part of a decade? It’s because they took the money that was available at that time and spent it.

“That did not happen with Casement Park.

“There were objections from local residents. There were a number of planning issues.

“You had the SDLP minister acting unlawfully, you had issues with safety certificates, and then you had the prospect of the Euros being dangled in front of the GAA and the impact that that had on the project being able to move forward as well.

“If people can point to something that I have done that has been unreasonable, that would be fair enough, but they can’t, because this is entirely down to planning issues and the funding envelope not being there.

“I’m fed up of Sinn Féin politicians parroting these lines, ‘it’s time to build Casement Park, Casement will be built, just make it happen’, but they don’t actually have the solutions or are not prepared to provide the leadership necessary for this to go through.”