13 hours Ago
The new cost for the Casement Park redevelopment is understood to be in the region of £270m (€325m) – much lower than the initial £300m (€360m) estimate to meet UEFA's guidelines – and Ulster GAA are keen to kick on. Ulster officials await response from Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, about an "urgent meeting" to discuss the "importance of Casement Park being built". Ulster GAA's statement in full: "Ulster GAA’s full focus is on the delivery of its approved plans for the 34,500 capacity provincial stadium at Casement Park, which will host Ulster finals and major GAA games.
"The costs of Ulster GAA’s provincial stadium will be significantly lower than the costs required to build a stadium to UEFA specification. "We recognise the pressures that there are within public finances, and we will continue to work with the Department for Communities and all partners to ensure our provincial stadium is delivered in an efficient way. "We welcome the comments by the Secretary of State, yesterday, about the importance of Casement Park being built and we await his response to a request for an urgent meeting.
"We look forward to discussing the project plans with him and commitments given by him, and his predecessor, on the delivery of our provincial stadium. "We once again call on the British Government, the Minister for Communities and the NI Executive to work with Ulster GAA to finally deliver on commitments first given to us over 13 years ago, and within successive Programmes of Government, to deliver upon our strategic stadium need. "Having directly negotiated partnership funding of €50m with the Irish Government, in addition to our long standing commitment of £15m, we will work constructively with all partners to agree the funding required for the project.
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