Letter: The Casement stadium plan is really about the GAA being able to make money from concerts

I am an avid sports fan but especially enjoy Gaelic sports, soccer and rugby.

I have been following the ongoing Casement Park debate for years now and would like to add my views.

I would love to see the Euros played at Casement but I don’t believe that £300 million should be invested in a stadium when we have the worst hospital waiting lists in Britain and an education sector which is grossly underfunded.

I am content to go to Clones or Croke Park and watch the Ulster Football Final if the money saved is guaranteed to be spent on our health and education sectors.

Look at the statistics for crowds at Ulster football and hurling championship matches over the past seven years. Only one match a year (Ulster Football Championship Final) attracts a crow of over 20,000.

The proposed 34,000 seater Casement Park has nothing to do with Gaelic games or other sports, it’s the GAA looking to use the stadium for concerts. They generated tens of millions in this past few years with pop concerts at Croke Park and other stadiums. Feile an Phobail will move all their big outdoor concerts to a newly built Casement.

How much of these profits from concerts will be ploughed back into sport, health or education?

There is enough funding already committed to built a 25,000 all seater stadium.

G. Reilly, Belfast 11