Casement Park redevelopment important to people of Belfast and to me, says Benn

By Rebecca Black, PA

The Northern Ireland Secretary has described the redevelopment of Casement Park as important to the people of the region, and to him, but said funding will have to be identified.

The derelict former GAA ground in west Belfast was earmarked as a venue for the Euros hosted by the UK and Ireland in 2028.

However, the UK government announced last week that it would not help fund the project for the Euros because the risk of missing the tournament deadline was too high.

Casement Park was originally to be rebuilt as a GAA venue at the same time as investment in the football ground Windsor Park and rugby stadium at Ravenhill over a decade ago.

However, the redevelopment of Casement was delayed due to factors including legal challenges by local residents.

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Hilary Benn declined to say how much money the UK government might be willing to contribute to Casement Park.

On Wednesday, Mr Benn described being in a “new situation” with a new design needed as well as work to identify funding for it.

Speaking during a visit to Derry, Mr Benn said the UK government was forced to take the decision not to redevelop Casement Park for the Euros due to the previous Conservative government having “done absolutely nothing” to take the project forward.

“When we arrived, we immediately asked independent experts to look at it but the conclusion they reached, we reached, was even if you put a load of money into it, you could not be sufficiently confident that the stadium for the Euros would be delivered on time,” he said.

“There was an unacceptably high risk, and that is why we reached the conclusion that we did, and let everybody know.”

Mr Benn said he met GAA president Jarlath Burns in recent days and understands the importance of Casement Park.

“We’re in a new situation now and I am determined, because I understand the importance of the project to the GAA, to the Executive, to the First Minister who put out a statement on Friday reaffirming her commitment to it, we need to work together to find a way forward,” he said.

“There are some obvious things we need to do while taking stock. The specification required for the Euros is no longer required because there were things that the Euros wanted that added to the cost.

“So we need to look at that. The design will have to be different from the one that was put together for the Euros and I am committed to finding a way forward, but we’re going to have pause and work out what actually is going to be built, what it will look like because the design will be different and secondly how the money can be identified to take it forward.

“But it is a really, really important project to so many people in Northern Ireland and it is to me.”