'Biggest week of all' for Casement Park as funding announcement imminent
GAA president Jarlath Burns has said this is the 'biggest week of all' for the Casement Park project as he awaits news of British Government funding for the project.
The home of Antrim GAA has been shut since 2013 amid numerous hold-ups around planning and funding, with the opportunity to host games in Euro 2028 having now passed.
The Stormont Executive has pledged £62.5m (€74m) towards the project, while the Irish Government will stump up £43m (€51m) to go along with the GAA's £15m (€18m) - but that is a long way short of the total required to complete the development with costs having spiralled and British Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announce what contribution her government is prepared to make towards the shortfall.
"This is a big week for it,' said Burns. 'This is the biggest week of all. We keep saying the next few weeks are crucial, but I think tomorrow we're going to hear the spending review.
'As it stands now, I don't know what decision has been made by the British Government as to what they are going to give. And I hope it's generous because it's something that we would really like to see moving on.'
There will likely be pressure applied for the GAA to up its contribution but Burns said: "Well, not if the British Government decide that they are going to fund it all. That would be a great situation for us.
'So we don't know what they are going to give. We don't know then what inflationary uplift the Northern Ireland Executive is going to give. That would be between the two government parties.
'But we will then just take it from there. We will then have our own decisions to make, yes. But we are very committed to getting this stadium.
'Clones is wonderful. It's a fantastic stadium, a very quaint stadium. But we all know that for this modern era, we need to have a modern stadium where people can go and they can watch the games in comfort and enjoy it.
'If you look at the Ulster final, for example, you had Armagh, Donegal in the ladies' game, I think it was at 1 o'clock. And our game was maybe at 5 o'clock.
"It's a long, long sit for people when you don't have the capacity for food and water runs out and the toileting situation, all of that. So we really just want to modernise and Casement Park is our best opportunity for that.'
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