THE GAA remains committed to the rebirth of Casement Park, says Director General Tom Ryan, but he is concerned that the long-drawn-out project is not “directly” in the control of the Association.
The Casement Park project falls under the remit of Sports Minister Gordon Lyons, the DUP MLA for East Antrim who hasn’t yet attended a GAA match. Ryan said the GAA was awaiting progress on requests submitted to Lyons’ Department of Communities “two or three months ago”.
The GAA staked E15millon for the development of the iconic Andersonstown venue but even with that contribution the total amount of funding secured will not cover the projected cost of the stadium. The GAA cannot increase their stake, said Ryan who hopes that work will begin this year.
“We need to have a home for Gaelic games in Belfast and in Antrim,” he said.
“That is so, so important. The issue now is we have we have planning for something that the funding doesn’t cover and that planning clock is ticking.
“We’ve committed and honoured our commitment in full up to now. We have facilitated an increase in that funding.
“The concerning thing about Casement Park is it doesn’t seem to be directly within our control but everything that we have been asked to do, we have done, including funding.
“As I understand it, there are two or three things specifically that we asked of the department (of communities), perhaps two or three months ago and I think it would be great to see progress on those.
“There will probably be correspondence issuing to the department to just check on progress in the next day or two, so the ball is not in our court at the moment.
“I don’t say that with any degree of satisfaction because it makes me really, really uncomfortable. The imperative still remains and we will do everything that we can to make sure that that Casement is delivered.
“But funding wise, we’re at our limit now, we’re not going to be increasing it.”
