GAA official suggests possibility of increasing contribution for Casement Park

A senior official with the Ulster GAA has suggested the organisation may be willing to increase its contribution towards the rebuild of Casement Park.

It follows reports that the cost of developing the Belfast stadium has dropped to £270 million (€320 million), after the design was modified when plans to host Euro 2028 games there were abandoned.

In September, the British government ended hopes that the venue would host Euros games when it said it would not bridge a funding gap to deliver the redevelopment in time.

It said the risk to the public purse of missing the tournament deadline was too high.

The British government also expressed concerns about how the cost of the project had potentially risen to more than £400 million.

The Stormont Executive had committed to redevelop Casement Park in 2011, as part of a strategy to revamp football’s Windsor Park and the rugby ground at Ravenhill.

While the two other Belfast-based projects went ahead, the redevelopment of Casement was delayed because of legal challenges by local residents.

The Stormont Executive then committed £62.5 million to the Casement project.

The GAA has pledged to contribute £15 million.

The Irish Government has offered roughly £42 million and said this funding remains in place even without the stadium being built for the Euros.

The BBC has reported that the revised cost of developing the stadium is now £270 million, leaving a funding shortfall of about £150 million.

Northern Secretary Hilary Benn told a Westminster committee on Tuesday that he was not in a position to say if the UK Government would make a financial contribution.

Stephen McGeehan, head of operations for Ulster GAA told the BBC that “when that conversation happens about additional funding,