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

[Sandy Hill]

I much prefer Clones as a venue for Ulster Finals, the atmosphere, the town, the craic, I fear a lot of this will be lost if the thing is moved to Belfast,

but for the future development of the GAA in Ulster then the thing has to go to Belfast.  I'm not overly enthusiastic about Andersonstown to put it mildly, but we have to promote the GAA in Belfast.  The GAA is the North's biggest and best sporting organisation.  Today the Belfast Telegraph printed their Top10 sporting highlights of 2014, The GAA didn't feature at all!  By ignoring Belfast we are never going to fulfill the true potential of Gaelic Games in the North.  They cannot treat us as a minority sport when over 30,000 are regularly attending matches in Belfast.  With big attendances comes confidence and the ability for people to display more openly their pride in Irish and Gaelic culture.

"I much prefer Clones as a venue for Ulster Finals, the atmosphere, the town, the craic, I fear a lot of this will be lost if the thing is moved to Belfast"
I couldn't agree more! Many complain about the traffic and parking around Clones but would these things be any easier in Andersonstown; probably not! Clones carries years of Ulster Final tradition which Casement couldn't come close to matching.

I can't agree with you about 30,000 regularly attending games in Belfast; apart from the Ulster Final no other game would attract this figure. Forget about this development of Casement and divide the funds instead among  the clubs in Ulster, most of which are struggling just to keep their heads above water!

[DennistheMenace]

I thought the money was purely available for the development of a stadium and that it couldn't be divided up amongst clubs.

[johnneycool]

I thought the money was purely available for the development of a stadium and that it couldn't be divided up amongst clubs.

Correct. Its time people stopped talking nonsense about redirecting this that and the other money to Dunsilly, coaching and clubs and lord knows what ever.

The British Government funding is purely for a one off Stadium, not for the Ulster Council to spend as they would want.

[6th sam]

I thought the money was purely available for the development of a stadium and that it couldn't be divided up amongst clubs.

Correct. Its time people stopped talking nonsense about redirecting this that and the other money to Dunsilly, coaching and clubs and lord knows what ever.

The British Government funding is purely for a one off Stadium, not for the Ulster Council to spend as they would want.

I genuinely don't know what the restrictions on the funding are, but my understanding is that the three regional governing bodies were allocated money for capital projects, pro-rata , presumably from monies that would otherwise have been used on the Maze project. The governing bodies then submitted how they would wish to use the money: Ulster rugby decided to develop Ravenhill. IFA decided to use some for Windsor and the rest for other projects throughout the six counties.
Surely if we have to shelve Casement (which is quite likely as the 38k+ Stadium required to host Ulster finals looks a nonrunner in Casement) it will be back to the drawing board. Surely Stormont can not demand that we must use the money for a downsized Casement stadium, that wouldn't meet our needs, especially since the IFA were permitted the opportunity to use some of their allocation on other projects. Remember these are monies to which we are entitled , and the fact that our very reasonable plans to upgrade an existing stadium, have been scuppered by unforeseen planning problems, should not leave us hamstrung. I think any attempt to shoehorn the GAA into developing a stadium not fit for purpose, would be politically unacceptable.
So in short , options should be Casement at 38k, or elsewhere at 38k+(new build or upgrade of an existing stadium) +/- allocation of some of our entitlement on other projects. PS Personally, I wouldn't be against using most of the money for other projects , and having future Ulster finals in the further developed Croke park complex, which is currently underused, and hosted the best attended Ulster final in history only a few years ago! We have developed quality stadia in most counties, Surely now directing money into more local projects , will give us a better return in terms of development of our association.

[drici]

Tomorrow the judge will quash the planning decision. The GAA will apply again for planning permission for a 38,000 seater stadium at Casement Park with the JR concerns addressed.

100% correct.

[Jeepers Creepers]

Build it an they will come...

[angermanagement]

So who pays for the JR? Do the residents still get stung for their own costs?

[JPGJOHNNYG]

The judge has already made it quite clear that capacity for the area is an issue for him so I dont see how a new planning permission with all the i's dotted and t's crossed will make any difference. As noted before also a little concerned that the judge seemed a bit clueless about the GAA. Best to leave Casement altogether, at this rate the whole 77 million will be blown on legal fees.

[Jeepers Creepers]

So who pays for the JR? Do the residents still get stung for their own costs?

Article in the 'tele' saying the residents will have to pay towards the JR because of the length of time it has taken.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

So who pays for the JR? Do the residents still get stung for their own costs?

Article in the 'tele' saying the residents will have to pay towards the JR because of the length of time it has taken.

The first 35000 is covered and after that it is from the residents pockets. How much that is I dont know!

[johnneycool]

The judge has already made it quite clear that capacity for the area is an issue for him so I dont see how a new planning permission with all the i's dotted and t's crossed will make any difference. As noted before also a little concerned that the judge seemed a bit clueless about the GAA. Best to leave Casement altogether, at this rate the whole 77 million will be blown on legal fees.

Was he not basing his rationale that the Stadium proposed was much larger than required due to the fact that its almost 20 years since its stage an Ulster final and hence attendances at the ground were no where near 38K?

If so whoever was representing the Ulster Council did a very poor job of getting across that current Ulster finals regularly get such attendances and peaking in the early noughties in 60 plus thousand going to one in Croke Park.

[Lecale2]

I don't see anything in the judgement ruling out a 36,000 capacity. The DoE just have to do the impact assessments properly based on that figure against the numbers who have been attending matches in Casement in recent years. When the assessments are complete the GAA will have to address any issues arising. That's the process.
If the residents remain unhappy after another decision to approve has been issued they can go for another JR and so on we go!

[Applesisapples]

The Judge cannot rule on planning policy. He only considers and rules on the planning process and whether or not the planners have followed it correctly. If the permission is quashed then by running the application again and correcting all the omissions and not creating new ones then it is quite feasible that permission can be granted. In that case assuming that every thing is correctly done there would be no grounds on which to grant a judicial review. If in running the necessary consultations and impact assessments it transpires that the area can only accommodate a stadium of a certain capacity a JR would only be likely if the results of these assessments are ignored, unless of course there is work done which mitigates the effect of any increase in capacity. The judge does not have the power to adjudicate on wheter a decision is contrary to planning law...only on the process which first time around had a number of flaws.

[Down Follower]

I don't see anything in the judgement ruling out a 36,000 capacity. The DoE just have to do the impact assessments properly based on that figure against the numbers who have been attending matches in Casement in recent years. When the assessments are complete the GAA will have to address any issues arising. That's the process.
If the residents remain unhappy after another decision to approve has been issued they can go for another JR and so on we go!

Exactly, if you read the judgement, it is saying that the DoE did not complete the proper appraisals on a 38,000 capacity. It was basing its appraisals on much lower figures.  Likewise Road Service.
The judge does not state that 38,000 is too big.

[north_antrim_hound]

I don't see anything in the judgement ruling out a 36,000 capacity. The DoE just have to do the impact assessments properly based on that figure against the numbers who have been attending matches in Casement in recent years. When the assessments are complete the GAA will have to address any issues arising. That's the process.
If the residents remain unhappy after another decision to approve has been issued they can go for another JR and so on we go!

Residents aware demanding lower capacity due to crowd and traffic dispersion  and building prominence
We could call it Garth brooks syndrome