Split over Casement Park funding gap: O'Neill and Little-Pengelly appear at odds over whether £100m shortfall is accurate

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said the shortfall between the money already in place and the cost of realising the GAA’s ambitions for a revamped stadium was “well in excess of £100 million”.

However, speaking alongside her DUP counterpart at an Executive press conference in Belfast, Sinn Fein First Minister Michelle O’Neill said she did not recognise £100m as being the size of the gap.

Ms O’Neill also told reporters that Communities Minister Gordon Lyons is due to meet the Casement Park programme board today (Friday) to discuss the ongoing impasse.

Plans for a 34,000-capacity stadium have been mired in uncertainty because of the major funding shortfall. Over summer, the UK government allocated £50m to support the redevelopment of the derelict west Belfast venue.

That’s on top of £120 million pledged by a combination of the Stormont Executive, Irish government and GAA – but it’s still not enough to cover the cost.

Planned since 2011, Casement’s revamp was delayed by legal challenges from nearby residents opposed to it and the estimated construction bill spiralled in the interim.

At today’s press conference, Mrs Little-Pengelly said the type of stadium the GAA envisaged for Casement was a significant factor in the size of the funding gap.

“It didn’t happen for a range of reasons; that was not because of political disagreement,” she said.

“It didn’t happen because there was a significant challenge locally in terms of the planning issues. There were different discussions that were happening at a local level.

“That commitment from the Executive remained from that time, of that amount of money, which I think was just over £60m – that remains on the table.

“But over that period of time, the cost of Casement went up significantly to the point of literally hundreds of millions of pounds of additional money being required. That money is not there for that, and that’s the reality, and that was the challenge that everybody faced.

“And while there’s been a cocktail of funding, there is still a very significant shortfall of well in excess of £100 million.

“Again, that was down not to any political disagreement or any political party holding that back. It was because of a range of local disputes and then also the ambition of the GAA to the type of stadium that they want, which has increased the costs very dramatically.”

Ms O’Neill maintained that a new Casement Park “will be built”.

“I think that this is a very doable project,” she said.

Asked if the Executive was prepared to provide an added £100m to see the rebuild delivered, she replied: “These are discussions that are ongoing in terms of [that]. I don’t actually recognise the figure even as the gap being £100m. So I think that’s the conversation that we’re actively engaged in.

“But, look, nobody loses from investing in sport. Nobody loses. Everybody wins when we invest in sports.

“So I am determined to work with Executive colleagues to make sure that we get all of these projects over the line, and I think that that’s well within our grasp to be able to do.”