Casement Park funding should not be ‘an issue of contention’

IRISH funding for the redevelopment of Casement Park should not be ‘an issue of contention’, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has insisted.

A multimillion-euro package for projects in the North was announced on Tuesday by the Government. This includes €50million for the redevelopment of the GAA stadium in west Belfast, which has been earmarked to host matches in the Euro 2028 soccer tournament.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, while welcoming the support for ‘genuine cross-border projects’, said it was not the Dublin government’s role to finance public services and infrastructure in the North.

Mr Martin said that funding the cross-border initiatives was about having ‘practical connectivity’ and developments that would be of ‘mutual benefit’ to people living on the island of Ireland. ‘We all collectively want to host the Euros 2028,’ he told RTÉ Radio. ‘It’s a shared objective between the UK, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, in terms of what would be a wonderful tournament and it would be a terrible shame if Belfast was not in a position to host matches in that tournament.

‘In my discussions with [Northern Ireland Secretary] Chris Heaton-Harris, I think we always made it clear that we were there to support Casement Park. I don’t see that it should be an issue of contention.’

Asked whether he thought the funding for Casement from the UK government was secure, he said: ‘My sense was that it was secure, that it was an important part of the broader picture... increasing and improving sports infrastructure across Northern Ireland.’