Communities Minister Gordon Lyons insists the £36.2million being made available through the NI Football Fund and the redevelopment of Casement Park “aren't connected” – but reaffirmed that he remains committed to delivering on the Belfast stadium.

Casement Park was due to host matches at the 2028 European Championships but lost those rights in September when the UK Government confirmed it wouldn’t be providing the extra funding.

The announcement made last year in a joint letter from NI Secretary Hilary Benn and Sports Minister Lisa Nandy to Lyons cited significant costs that had risen above £400million, ultimately concluding “that it is not appropriate for the UK government to provide funding to seek to build Casement Park in time to host matches at Euro 2028”.

Football clubs in Northern Ireland are now finally able to apply for their piece of the £36.2million investment pot which was initially pledged in 2011 after Lyons announced the Performance Programme – one of three strands in the NI Football Fund – opened on Thursday evening.

placeholder image — Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has opened applications for the Northern Ireland Football Fund. (Photo by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker)

Calls remain for Casement Park to be developed and Lyons says he’s still committed to delivering the funds which were promised nearly 14 years ago.

"The commitment that was made by the previous Executive is one that I remain committed to, which was the £62.5million that was committed in 2011,” he said. “There was no reason for the Football Fund to be held up all this time.

"That money could and should have been released a long time ago but we're in the position with Casement Park where we have a budgetary envelope and money from different stakeholders that doesn't match what is on the table for the stadium that currently has planning permission for Casement.

"There's a gap there which exists and the job now is to bridge that gap, either by allocating additional resources from the different stakeholders, reducing the size and cost of the stadium or a mixture of both.

"I stand committed to work with the GAA and other stakeholders to find a way forward on this."

Lyons acknowledges that some in the past have tried to link the NI Football Fund with Casement Park’s redevelopment but insists that’s not the case.

"They aren't connected and unfortunately in the past some have tried to link them,” he added. “Some didn't want one to go ahead without the other going ahead but all that is done is reduce the spending power of this pot.

"That's why I've been determined to move this forward as quickly as possible to make sure we have the ability to get it spent.

"These two are not connected in that they aren't dependent on one another. I reiterate on what I've said before that the commitment to Casement still stands and I'm willing to engage with others about this.

"We have to recognise there's a gap and we have to be realistic in how that can be bridged."