Government unveils €800m package for projects in the North
Includes upgrades of Casement Park and the
THE Government has unveiled an €800millionplus funding package for projects in the North, including €50million for the redevelopment of Casement Park GAA stadium in west Belfast.
The package also includes €600million towards the proposed upgrade of the A5 road, which runs through Derry and Tyrone and links Donegal and the northwest to the M1 motorway and Dublin.
The Government has also restated its commitment to build the landmark Narrow Water Bridge connecting the Cooley Peninsula in Co. Louth to the Mourne Mountains in Co. Down. The project will include the completion of the scenic Carlingford Greenway active travel route.
The money released through the coalition Government’s Shared Island Fund initiative also includes €12.5million to increase the frequency of the Belfast/Dublin rail link to hourly services.
The funding package was approved by the Cabinet yesterday morning, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan later formally announcing details at Government Buildings.
‘Boosting the all-island economy’
Mr Varadkar said the return of powersharing in the North had brought ‘renewed hope’ for what can be achieved through the Good Friday Agreement.
He said: ‘The funding announced today shows our commitment to working with the new executive, and with the UK government, to make the island of Ireland a better place for everyone who calls it home.’
The Government’s Shared Island package also includes €10million for a new visitor experience at the Battle of the Boyne site in Co. Meath and new cross-border cooperation schemes focused on female entrepreneurship and tackling underprivilege in education.
Campaigners have been calling for an upgrade of the A5 for many years due to the high number of fatal accidents on the road.
The Casement Park redevelopment has been delayed by a series of legal challenges and was further complicated by the lack of a functioning executive at Stormont for two years. The derelict stadium has been selected for matches at Euro 2028, which is being jointly hosted by the UK and Ireland, but will need to be completed by summer 2027 in order to be rubberstamped as an approved venue.
Mr Varadkar said the funding announced represented the largest ever package of Irish Government support for cross-border investments. ‘This funding is about all-island investment, boosting the all-island economy and improving connections north and south, benefiting both jurisdictions and all communities.
‘It is about understanding that, whatever the constitutional future of Ireland brings, investing in people, in quality of life, in opportunity, and for the generations to come, are all of our responsibilities and a common good we can best progress by working together.’
Micheál Martin said the package marked the ‘beginning of a new and positive chapter in crossborder co-operation’. A scheme to turn the A5 into a dual carriageway was first approved in 2007 but has been held up by legal proceedings from an opposition group.
Since 2007, 47 people have died on the single-lane road, including three members of the same family in one collision.
Niall McKenna, chairman of the A5 Enough is Enough campaign group, said the renewed funding pledge from Dublin was ‘good news’. ‘We were always confident that the Irish Government’s financial commitment would be reinstated. We met them last summer in the Dáil and there was cross-party support to promise to reinstate the full amount,’ he said.