Stormont ‘does not have £100 million sitting about to fund Casement Park’

The Stormont Executive does not have £100 million “sitting about” to bridge the funding shortfall over the Casement Park redevelopment, Emma Little-Pengelly has said.

The deputy First Minister told MLAs it was her understanding the GAA is not currently willing to put any additional funding towards the rebuild of the west Belfast stadium.

Plans for a 34,000-capacity stadium have been mired in uncertainty because of the major funding shortfall.

In the summer, the UK government allocated £50 million to support the redevelopment of the currently derelict GAA venue.

While that added to around £120 million that has been pledged by the Stormont Executive, Irish Government and GAA, it was still not enough to bridge the gap to cover the cost of the rebuild.

SDLP MLA Justin McNulty raised the issue at ministerial questions, stating people were “fed up” with years of delay.

The deputy First Minister said the delay was “never a political issue”.

She said money currently committed to the project is “not sufficient against the plans the GAA have”.

She said: “I understand the GAA are not willing at this point to put any additional money from their perspective into the project.

“That will leave a significant shortfall in relation to the aspiration and costs versus what is on the table, that is a challenge for people to look at, including the GAA.

“I look forward to seeing what the GAA proposals are in relation to that.”

Alliance Party MLA David Honeyford said there needed to be “cross-departmental leadership” to deliver the project.

Ms Little-Pengelly responded: “The project was not delayed by the Northern Ireland Executive, it was not delayed because of political disagreement, it was not delayed because of the DUP.

“There were lots of