CCTV cameras are to be installed at playing fields used by East Belfast GAA which have been the target of repeated security alerts.
The Belfast City Council-owned training facilities in the Church Road area have been subject to multiple security alerts and reports of criminal damage, believed to be sectarian, since the GAA club formed in the east of the city in 2020.
Union and Northern Ireland flags were also put up around the Henry Jones playing fields during a camogie match earlier this year.
During the most recent security alert on August 5 two nearby roads were closed and premises, including a nursery and a school which was hosting a summer scheme, were evacuated.
There have been repeated calls by nationalist politicians for an end to targeting of the club which is seen as an attempt to intimiate and discourage the playing of Gaelic games in the east of the city.
The club however says its aim is to integrate Gaelic games “into the vibrant community of east Belfast”, and says it already has more than 400 members playing men and women’s football, hurling and camogie.
A spokesperson for Belfast City Council said design work for the CCTV camera installation was now complete and they would be installed in September, with work ongoing to find a contractor.
“Engagement is also planned with key user groups for later this year around improvements to the pitches, as well as plans for perimeter fencing around the site,” they said.
Last year Belfast councillors agreed to implement extra security measures after a review of the site by the PSNI following several security alerts.
The PSNI’s Crime Prevention Team had been tasked with assessing the site and the current range of preventative and protective measures in place.
Elected representatives agreed to spend £12,000 on the installation of the CCTV cameras at a meeting of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee last October.
Members also agreed to spend £25,000 on lighting in the car park of the facility, while a decision on whether to spend £120,000 on a fence around the perimeter of the pitches was deferred.
Two separate security alerts were sparked at the playing fields earlier this year following councillors’ agreement to install the additional security measures.
On 5 August, two roads were closed and a nursery and school which were hosting a summer scheme, were evacuated but later “nothing untoward” was found by police.
In May of this year a suspicious device labelled an “elaborate hoax” led to the closure of the pitches and the cancellation of a children’s training session.