Casement Park: Executive funding ‘will remain available’, Lyons says

Money set aside by the Northern Ireland Executive for the redevelopment of Casement Park remains on the table after reports that the GAA looks set to scale back its plans, the communities minister has said.

Gordon Lyons has said he wants to see the redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast done on a “basis that is sustainable, affordable and value for money”.

It is expected the ground capacity will now be lower than the 34,000 planned.

As a result, it will not be able to stage Ulster senior finals but will instead be used for other provincial fixtures.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme, Lyons said: “As per the 2011 agreement, I want to see the redevelopment of Casement Park on a basis that is sustainable, affordable and value for money.

“That hasn’t been on the table up to this point.”

He said that “we need something on the table that’s a proposal that actually fits within the funding environment that’s there”.

The communities minister said that there “will need to be a new business case” made because “things have changed, not just in terms of the money that is available and the plans that will be coming from the GAA, but things have changed in terms of how we watch sport, what the visitor and fan experience is like as well”.

“Those things will all be taken into consideration but we are driven, from our point of view, in the executive, by the money that is available.”