First Minister ‘working night and day’ to ensure Casement Park is built

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said she will work “night and day” to ensure Casement Park is built.

However, Ms O’Neill declined to say when pressed by Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole as to whether work will start in this Assembly term, which is due to end in 2027.

Last week Ms O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly appeared to be at odds over the scale of the funding gap that remains to rebuild the now-derelict GAA ground in west Belfast.

Ms Little-Pengelly said the shortfall between the money already secured and total was “well in excess of £100 million”, but Ms O’Neill said she did not not recognise that figure as being the size of the gap.

She also said that Communities Minister Gordon Lyons had been due to meet the Casement Park programme board on Friday to discuss the ongoing impasse.

Plans for a 34,000-capacity stadium have been mired in uncertainty because of the major funding shortfall.

In the summer, the UK Government allocated £50 million to support the redevelopment of the currently derelict west Belfast venue.

While that added to around £120 million that has been pledged by the Stormont Executive, Irish government and GAA, it was not enough to bridge the gap to cover the cost of the rebuild.

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.

The estimated build cost spiralled in the interim. While planning permission has since been secured, the money committed to the rebuild is not currently enough to deliver it.

As well as the Stormont contribution of £62.5 million and the UK Government’s £50 million, the Irish Government has offered around £42 million and the GAA has pledged to contribute at least £15 million.

During questions for the Executive Office on Monday, Mr O’Toole asked Ms O’Neill on when work will start on Casement Park.

The First Minister responded: “Casement Park remains a flagship project of this Executive and we are actively working at making it happen.

“This project must be built for all the reasons which the member is only too aware of, in terms of the economic benefit, in terms of the construction itself, but the investment in Gaelic games is something that’s been very long overdue, but I can assure you that I am continuing to work night and day to ensure that it is done.”

Mr O’Toole pressed Ms O’Neill for a “specific answer” on whether work will start before the end of this mandate.

She responded: “Casement Park is going to be started, and, yes, Casement Park is going to be built, and I am going to work night and day to ensure that that’s the case.”