Casement Park in line for major overhaul - 40,000 all seater Stadium.

[babarino]

Apart from the 300 drinkers does anyone give 2 damns

Many would take this view. A club in Belfast is a shebeen with a committee elsewhere. Having been there and done that they're great craic. Sounds like this whole spat is a result of poor planning. Surely they could have incorporated the club into the development, denying open access to pitch and stadium.

[THE MIGHTY QUINN]

Why don't they just bulldoze it

[THE MIGHTY QUINN]

Am I missing something here.  Is this a case thae 300 members of the Casement Social Club are holding this project to ransom?  I find it hard to have any sympathy for them, particularly when some here were making out that they were standing up for the rights of residents who were going to lose evening sunlight ! when, in actual fact, it would appear that the real issue was whether or not they would still be able to get pints at £2.50

[rrhf]

ok we would all love to have a pub beside us and feel like we owned it because of the amount of pints we drink but if that building owner instead wanted to make the building say a hairdressing salon, is it really any of our business.  People have a right to have a drink surely but it kinda sounds a ridiculous arguement. 

[johnneycool]

ok we would all love to have a pub beside us and feel like we owned it because of the amount of pints we drink but if that building owner instead wanted to make the building say a hairdressing salon, is it really any of our business.  People have a right to have a drink surely but it kinda sounds a ridiculous arguement.

That building owner had every opportunity to remove the social club legally and without any hassle but chose to bully people and in doing so have embroilled themselves in something beyond their control.

You've mentioned this several times now and to me it looks like big Jim, Frankie and Co looking a gift horse in the mouth, but what did they stand to gain from this current course of action?

Is the something else missing?

[AQMP]

Well...while I think the whole process around the new stadium has been a PR disaster, I broadly remain in favour of the development at Casement for a number of reasons that I won't articulate here.

Never mind the county footballers conceding 6-35 to two Div 4 teams, the shambles around the social club must be a new low in the county.  Talk about using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.  I agree with hardstation, are these the sort of people we want to manage a high profile £75 million modern stadium??  As an old timer here it pains me to read about members of the McCallin family (and others) being sent what are essentially aggressive threatening demands for payment considering the unquantifiable service they have given to the GAA in Antrim.

[AQMP]

Well...while I think the whole process around the new stadium has been a PR disaster, I broadly remain in favour of the development at Casement for a number of reasons that I won't articulate here.

Never mind the county footballers conceding 6-35 to two Div 4 teams, the shambles around the social club must be a new low in the county.  Talk about using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.  I agree with hardstation, are these the sort of people we want to manage a high profile £75 million modern stadium??  As an old timer here it pains me to read about members of the McCallin family (and others) being sent what are essentially aggressive threatening demands for payment considering the unquantifiable service they have given to the GAA in Antrim.

As you say, the McCallins are just one family being threatened here. Other members of the club, off the top of my head Frank Fitzsimmons, Mickey Darragh, John Crossey, Pearse McFall, Gilly McIlhatton, Roy McLarnon. Think of the years of service those boys have given to Antrim GAA and the GAA as a whole. Gilly invented the GAA ffs.

We are some crowd.

Yes, I mind him telling me he was in Hayes Hotel the day before the rest of them!

[Milltown Row2]

ok we would all love to have a pub beside us and feel like we owned it because of the amount of pints we drink but if that building owner instead wanted to make the building say a hairdressing salon, is it really any of our business.  People have a right to have a drink surely but it kinda sounds a ridiculous arguement.

That building owner had every opportunity to remove the social club legally and without any hassle but chose to bully people and in doing so have embroilled themselves in something beyond their control.

You've mentioned this several times now and to me it looks like big Jim, Frankie and Co looking a gift horse in the mouth, but what did they stand to gain from this current course of action?

Is the something else missing?

Yes, "re" and an "I'm" in your last sentence

[Gizzy15]

ok we would all love to have a pub beside us and feel like we owned it because of the amount of pints we drink but if that building owner instead wanted to make the building say a hairdressing salon, is it really any of our business.  People have a right to have a drink surely but it kinda sounds a ridiculous arguement.

That building owner had every opportunity to remove the social club legally and without any hassle but chose to bully people and in doing so have embroilled themselves in something beyond their control.

You've mentioned this several times now and to me it looks like big Jim, Frankie and Co looking a gift horse in the mouth, but what did they stand to gain from this current course of action?

Is the something else missing?

Yes, "re" and an "I'm" in your last sentence

Always a cunny funt ready to rip a post to shreds, lol.
What letters did I get mixed up?

[THE MIGHTY QUINN]

Am I missing something here. Is this a case thae 300 members of the Casement Social Club are holding this project to ransom?

A brain perhaps? How do you come to that conclusion? Casement Social Club aren't holding it up any longer than Antrim GAA are.

I find it hard to have any sympathy for them

We know.

particularly when some here were making out that they were standing up for the rights of residents who were going to lose evening sunlight ! when, in actual fact, it would appear that the real issue was whether or not they would still be able to get pints at £2.50

Why do you rule out the possibility that both can occur simultaneously? Casement Social Club is a club at the centre of these residents' community and would be frequented by many residents. Therefore many members of the club would either be residents themselves or be friends of residents. It's all up if you can't have sympathy for your own or your mates' plight.
I will view each item as it arises and give my knowledge/opinion of it. If that frustrates you, so be it. It is a discussion board. As far as I can see, the two parties are not against the development but have issues with the proposed development. They are two totally different issues. The residents want the height/capacity reduced. The social club wants to remain throughout the development and beyond. Why does it appear beyond your comprehension to isolate different matters? You have tried to lump La Salle's pitch in with this and social housing at Visteon. Is your world 2d?

It's also interesting that your rhetoric towards 'drinkers' is similar to that of your club mate in an article he penned last year. What is it with people from Silverbridge GAC and alcohol? As has already been pointed out, your club aren't exactly behind the door when it comes to selling alcohol for profit. Why do you demonise others and use it as stick to beat all when you are sucking from the same trough?

Your link to Silverbridge is quite interesting. I don't ever remember any person, speaking on behalf of Silverbridge GFC commenting publicly about drink. But it's also interesting in that a number of posters who are opposed to the Casement proposals are quite prepared, depending on whatever the issue is, to categorise people from Silverbridge, into either the  Rab C Nesbit or Ian Paisley category ( for your information I sit firmly and proudly in the former). You all seem to be prepared to use Silverbridge as a means of getting at a specific  individual. So let's leave Silverbridge out of it, but before we do, let me explain their position.  Silverbridge as a football/community club is thriving,  however the Social Club is dead on its knees. It opens on a Monday, Thursday and Saturday  night and a Sunday evening till about 9.30. With the exception of Thursday when the darts are on, there would be no more than half a dozen punters in the place.. There's nobody going to it. It wasn't even open on St Patrick's Day. Social clubs in rural areas were finished when the licensing laws changed to allow pubs to open on a Sunday night and the drink driving laws were tightened up. It saddens me greatly but such is life. The Club does run a number of specific big fund raisers each year – Nathan Carter etc these attract a much wider audience than our Club and for these the club will have a bar, the bar that caused your friend Drici ( who I know for a fact hates the specific individual referred to above) much consternation some time ago.

So from that backdrop I find it hard to understand why this Social Club is such a big deal. Is it, for instance, as big a deal as the Praxis Mental Health Charity being told to move out of its cafe in Hillsborough Castle?  The Kitchen Bar had to move when Victoria Square was built, did the world end?  But perhaps you can all clarify this by explaining what role does this Club does play in the area and why it should be retained at the expense of the Casement redevelopment project

[Tony Baloney]

Was Pat Catney not handsomely rewarded for The Kitchen Bar, with the new version later taken over by Botanic Inns?

Praxis' income was 27 million last year - they'll find an alternative.

[THE MIGHTY QUINN]

When people come out and throw stones at the practices and people within GAA social clubs, others will take aim and fire back. That is the one and only reason Silverbridge Harps have ever entered this discussion.

No logic to that arguement.  I'm a Catholic so does this mean that every time I speak, I am speaking on behalf of the Catholic Church.

[Tony Baloney]

"@brendanbelfast: If the social club members at Casement are such dedicated Gaels why are they taking legal action which jeopardises the new stadium project?"

[THE MIGHTY QUINN]

Was Pat Catney not handsomely rewarded for The Kitchen Bar, with the new version later taken over by Botanic Inns?

Indeed.

Exactly, and why not? He owned the place so as the owner he was entitled to do what he wanted with his own property.  Now does the Antrim County Board not own this premises and if so is it not entitled to be able to do what it wants with its own property

[orangeman]

Was Pat Catney not handsomely rewarded for The Kitchen Bar, with the new version later taken over by Botanic Inns?

Indeed.

Exactlt, and why not.  He owned the place so as the owner he was entitled to do what he wanted with his own property.  Now does the Antrim County Board not own this premises and if so is it not entitled to be able to do what it wants with its own property

It seems the courts have already given their view on this subject.

Whatever the truth is, it's not doing either side any good and the more it's dragged through courts, newspapers, discussion boards, TV programmes, solicitors' offices etc etc, the more people on all sides become entrenched ( usually ).

Surely there are mediators who can act as honest brokers and resolve this before they tear all apart ?.