A TEST CASE
NEIL WANTS PROMISE KEPT Mcmanus says British Government must prove true to word
NEIL MCMANUS has called on the British Government to cough up the shortfall to rebuild Casement Park.
Although site clearance work is ongoing at the Belfast venue (inset), which has been closed since 2013, construction needs to start by the summer if the 30,000-plus capacity stadium is to be completed by 2027, UEFA’S deadline for it to host Euro 2028 games.
Costs around the project have spiralled in recent years with the original bottom line figure of €90.2million jumping to a mammoth €358.3million, according to a Department for Communities estimate issued to Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-harris last December.
The Stormont Executive has pledged €72.7m to the project and the GAA €17.5m while the Irish Government has made a €50m commitment.
It still leaves a significant funding gap, with Heaton-harris saying yesterday that “any taxpayer contribution to the Casement Park project will need to be made on a “value-for-money basis” and that “there is no blank cheque here”, while pointing out that a contractor has yet to be appointed.
But former Antrim hurler Mcmanus insists that the British Government should make up the difference to honour the promise that was made to the three main sporting bodies in the
CHANCE TO WIPE SLATE CLEAN..
BY PAT NOLAN
SUNDAY’S wipeout against Kilkenny will be quickly forgotten if Antrim can pull out a result against Wexford, says Neil Mcmanus.
The Saffrons suffered a humiliating 32-point defeat (5-30 to 0-13) in their Leinster
Championship opener
(above) last Sunday, but have a shot at redemption as Keith
Rossiter’s (inset) side come to Corrigan Park on Saturday.
Mcmanus said: “I played in plenty of Antrim teams who have taken hidings off the top
North, irrespective of Euro 2028 deadlines.
He said: “I’d nearly take a step back from it and say the long and the short of it is that there were three stadia promised, three stadia commitments made from the British Government.
“One was Kingspan, one was Windsor and the other was Casement.
“They have to fulfil the third one of those, regardless of the European Championships. “I’m firmly of the belief that the British Government should pay for it.
“They have promised three stadia, they’ve delivered two of them which leaves the GAA teams and we kind of always prided ourselves on, ‘We’ll keep going no matter what’.
“Obviously it didn’t happen and that’s the difference in getting beaten by 14 or 15 points and getting beaten by 30 points. Your reaction to how the day is going.
“I’d say whenever the lads reviewed it they probably have to hold their hands up to that but, as I say, this weekend, if they do something, get a result of some description here, all will be forgiven very, very quickly.” isolated on its own.
“Historically we’ve been neglected by the government in the North, as a GAA community, and they should fix that.
“The GAA have been consistent in terms of what this will do for West Belfast, for Antrim Gaels, for Ulster and it’s so important to the association as a whole, not just Belfast or Ulster
“The GAA has been underwhelmed by the support that the [British] Government has given and there’s an opportunity here for them to demonstrate that they do care about the Association and what it provides for so many of the people living in the north.
“Let’s build Casement Park and show people that you care because you can talk but you have to demonstrate things.”