17 December 2010
ULSTER COUNCIL GAA
Comhairle Uladh CLG
PRESS RELEASE
The Ulster Council GAA welcomes the draft budget statement made on Wednesday by the Minister for Finance and Personnel which includes a commitment by the Executive for a capital envelope for regional sports stadia development. This underlines the existing commitment made by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister on the 8th April 2009 to meet the strategic needs of the three largest governing bodies of sport, namely Ulster GAA, IFA and Ulster Rugby.
Ulster GAA now looks forward to the conclusion of the draft budget consultation process and are hopeful of a positive response regarding regional stadia development funding so that Ulster GAA Stadium Project Board can progress with its plans for the redevelopment of Casement Park Stadium in Belfast.
Ulster Council GAA aims to meet its strategic requirements first indentified in the GAA’s “Enhancing Community Identity Report” in 2002 by providing a stadium of 40,000 capacity that will be an all seated stadium.
The President of Ulster Council GAA, Aogan O Fearghail commenting on the budget announcement said:
“The Ulster Council is pleased that after several years of work by the Stadium Project Board led by both Tom Daly as Chairman and Danny Murphy as Provincial Director, we now have a reasonable level of commitment around the future funding for the Casement Park project due to the announcement made in yesterday’s draft budget statement.
The redevelopment of Casement Park will have major economic, regeneration and social benefits for the entire community. Sport makes a strong social and economic contribution to society in areas such as the promotion of tourism, health and wellbeing, community development, social capital and cohesion and contribute to good relations. This project is another example of the positive role that sport has to play in the wider community. It is envisaged that the overall project costs for the Casement Park redevelopment will be in the region of £100m with significant investment coming from both the GAA and Government.
I am grateful to all of those who have made a contribution to this ongoing process and would highlight the continuing input from officials of both the Antrim County Committee GAA and the Central Council GAA who have been supporting the Ulster Council in this project.
I recognise the work undertaken by government officials, bodies and departments in this process, namely OFMDFM (Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister) Strategic Investment Board, Department of Culture Arts and Leisure and Sport NI. I would also thank the many consultants and advisers who have provided support in this initial stage of the process: Gilroy McMahon Architects (Des McMahon and Deirdre Lennon), Peter Quinn Consultancy Services (Barry McGurgan), Cunnane Stratton Reynolds (Eamonn Prenter) and Sammon Surveyors (Brian Conway).
The Stadium Project Board will now continue its planning and consultation work alongside the three stadium sub-groups namely: Finance and Business Planning subgroup, Planning, Design and Development sub-group and Community Relations and Public Relations sub-group” and we look forward to the completion of the budget consultation process and the approval of the Assembly’s budget 2011-2015 in February 2011”.
