Reasonable to expect GAA to pay more for Casement Park – Gordon Lyons

By Jonathan McCambridge (PA)

It is reasonable that the GAA should be expected to pay more than its original pledged contribution towards the redevelopment of Casement Park, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has said.

Mr Lyons said any decision that Stormont should increase its spend on the project would need to be made by the Executive and would have to be balanced against competing demands.

It follows reports that the cost of developing the Casement Park stadium has dropped to £270 million, after the design was modified when plans to host Euro 2028 games there were abandoned.

In September, the UK Government ended hopes that the venue would host Euros games when it said it would not bridge a funding gap to deliver the redevelopment in time.

It said the risk to the public purse of missing the tournament deadline was too high.

The Government also expressed concerns about how the cost of the project had potentially risen to more than £400 million.

The Stormont Executive had committed to redevelop Casement Park in 2011, as part of a strategy to revamp 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 because of legal challenges by local residents.

The Stormont Executive then committed £62.5 million to the Casement project.

The GAA has pledged to contribute £15 million.

The Irish Government has offered roughly £42 million and said this funding remains in place even without the stadium being built for the Euros.

The BBC has reported that the revised cost of developing the stadium is now £270 million, leaving a funding shortfall of about £150 million.

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn told a Westminster committee on Tuesday that he was not in a position to say if the UK Government would make a financial contribution.

During an appearance on the BBC Nolan Show, Mr Lyons was asked if he recognised the £270 million figure.

He said: “There are a number of figures out there depending on what the requirements would be and what Casement is to look like in the future.”

“We know because the Euros are no longer coming to Northern Ireland that means that the costs will have reduced because we won’t need all of the additional stuff that we would have needed in order to host games.

“As well as that, we don’t have that time pressure, which is what was increasing the cost because we needed to have it completed at a certain time.

“We will be very up front with people, there is still a gap there.”

He was asked if his department would increase its original commitment of £62.5 million.

He said: “We had made a commitment back in 2011. We absolutely stand by that commitment.

“Ultimately, if there is any additional resource to be allocated, there are many other competing demands within sport as well and that will need to be done on a fair and an equitable basis.

“But I still think we need to tease out what is required and what is reasonable.”

Mr Lyons added: “I have been allocated a sum from previous Executive agreements. I am not in a position to allocate additional resource, that would be a decision for the Executive and there would be other competing demands.”

Asked if the GAA should pay more, he said: “I think that the original contribution of £15 million should be looked at again by the GAA.

“I think it is reasonable for that to be looked at.

“If there is an additional contribution being looked from elsewhere, if the GAA are looking for a stadium that will require more than the resource that is currently there, I think it is right that additional resource comes from the GAA also.”

Casement Park stadium in west Belfast is derelict (Liam McBurney/PA)