Casement Park funding withdrawal announcement late on Friday branded shambolic

Casement Park in Belfast
-Credit: (Image: Liam McBurney/PA Wire)


First Minister Michelle O’Neill described the actions of the Government on Friday evening, with announcements that it would not rebuild Casement Park in time for the Euro 2028 football tournament and the pausing of funding for city deals, as “absolutely shambolic”.

“To bury bad news on a Friday evening, to hope that perhaps people wouldn’t notice – not good enough, not acceptable and not the way to do business,” she told media in Belfast.

“What we need to see is maturity. What we need to see is a constructive relationship. That clearly is not what was borne out on Friday evening.

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“When it comes to the funding of Casement Park, it was the British Government that wrapped it up as part of the Euros bid. What we now need to see from the British Government is what is the plan B? What is the contribution towards building Casement Park?

“It has now been delayed for an additional period of time because of being wrapped up as part of the Euros.

“We will continue to engage with the British Government in terms of what does that financial contribution look like. That’s work that is going to have to continue because we have to get on now and get Casement built.

“It’s the remaining stadia that is still not delivered, that’s not acceptable. We have seen rugby invested in, soccer invested in, let’s just get Casement Park built as was committed to many, many years ago.”

Meanwhile, Northern Secretary Hilary Benn said the previous government “didn’t do a thing” to advance the Casement project.

He told the PA news agency: “If you’re looking for someone to point the finger at – we’ve run out of time – on the Casement project, ask the question: between October 2023 and July of 2024, what did the previous government do to actually advance the project?

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn -Credit:Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire

“I think any reasonable assessment would be: nothing. Apart from saying ‘oh yes, we’ll put money in’, ‘oh yes, it will get built’, they didn’t do a thing for a major project which the British Government was committed to.

“When we asked to stage the Euros and said that Casement Park would be one of the grounds where matches could be played, they didn’t do anything for 18 months, and frankly we’ve run out of time and the cost had escalated, and those are the two reasons why we had to reach the conclusion that we did.

“I’m as disappointed as anybody else.”

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