Casement Park: Work to clear site but still nowhere near enough cash to actually build stadium, reinforce unionists
Even though work to clear the site of Casement Park is about to start, there still isn’t enough money to actually build the long-delayed stadium, unionists have reinforced.
Starting on Monday, workmen are due to spend 12 weeks demolishing the current stand and clearing the area to make way for a rebuild that still isn’t fully funded.
Planning permission for the west Belfast stadium is due to expire this summer, and a few months ago Secretary of State Hilary Benn reminded that work has to start on site in order to keep it.
Some clearance has already taken place, with Stormont officials characterising the coming 12-week job as “restarting demolition”.
As announced by First Minister Michelle O’Neill this morning on social media site X, formerly Twitter, work will “begin at Casement Park next week to prepare for its regeneration”. She also described building a new Casement Park stadium is “a key Executive priority”.
Ulster GAA later confirmed the work will see “site clearance and the demolition of existing structures” including the stadium’s old stand, adding: “As the project progresses, we move closer to delivering our provincial stadium that will provide lasting sporting, social, and economic benefits for west Belfast and all of Ulster.”
But the long-delayed stadium is still well below the amount of money needed to actually construct it, having been mired in uncertainty for years because of a major funding shortfall.
DUP sports spokesman, MLA Stephen Dunne, reinforced that point, stating: “A huge funding gap still remains for Casement Park.
“It is now for the GAA to decide what extra contribution they will make, or how they will scale their project to match the funding available.”
Although budgeted at £400m, the stadium project downsized after it became clear it wouldn’t be ready in time for 2028’s Euro football championships, which are to be held across the UK and Ireland.
Now priced at £270m, it’s still struggling to get under way. A combination of money from Stormont, Dublin, Westminster and the GAA has roughly £210m in the Casement pot – though that includes more than £100m pledged by Sinn Fein Finance Minister John O’Dowd in a draft budget that hasn’t yet been agreed.
The £100m sum is a significant increase on the £62.5m Stormont originally ringfenced for the project 15 years ago.
A Department for Communities spokesperson said Ulster GAA “are restarting their site clearance and demolition works at Casement Park under their own contract and expense”.
For UUP MLA Steve Aiken, the stadium will need “a decent project manager” overseeing it to safeguard government investment and keep spending on track, as large-scale construction projects “have a habit of cost runaways”.
“Previous projects that have gone way, way over budget, like Ulster University at York Street, are not an example to follow,” he said.
Meanwhile TUV leader Jim Allister questioned the amount of public money being spent on Casement Park, adding a “modest TUV suggestion that a proportion of profits from non-GAA events should be recouped by the taxpayer” got a blank reception.
Plans to redevelop Belfast’s principal hurling and GAA stadium into a much larger facility ran into a long series of battles with west Belfast residents, who didn’t want the originally planned 40,000-seater in their area. In 2021, it won planning permission as a 34,500-capacity venue.