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

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

There is a new proposed soccer centre of excellence proposed for the Galgorm area of Ballymena and you can bet every cent/penny you have that the planning and funding will be no issue here. Sin e

Costing 8 to 10 million. Casement was costing 300. It's apples and oranges.
£60million was ringfenced for the GAA if they got their finger out of their ass and organised something viable.

Exactly.

Nothing should ever be funded again until we get our huge bailout for our white elephant.

All the while we're going to sit on our hands for some more years so that the significant sum that is actually available to us can build us even less.

Fcukin prods.

[p3427977]

There is a new proposed soccer centre of excellence proposed for the Galgorm area of Ballymena and you can bet every cent/penny you have that the planning and funding will be no issue here. Sin e

Costing 8 to 10 million. Casement was costing 300. It's apples and oranges.
£60million was ringfenced for the GAA if they got their finger out of their ass and organised something viable.

That's wrong. It's 30-40m.

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

I saw 8-10 million quoted by the BBC today also.
How are they getting it so wrong?

[RedHand88]

I saw 8-10 million quoted by the BBC today also.
How are they getting it so wrong?

That's where I got the number tbf.

[snoopdog]

Casement does not need 300m wasted on it. The money they already have is more than enough to build 2 good stands and 2 open terraces. That is all that is required for the few times a year it will be used. And that should be sufficient for a few concerts also.

[NAG1]

Casement does not need 300m wasted on it. The money they already have is more than enough to build 2 good stands and 2 open terraces. That is all that is required for the few times a year it will be used. And that should be sufficient for a few concerts also.

Yeah so we will just settle for some second rate bullshit, while Windsor and Ravenhill look like new modern stadiums.

We are this far into it that they may as well push for the best level they can get.

Don't forget that it is Antrim Gaels who are bearing the brunt of this for all the reasons discussed over and over on here.

[Rossfan]

Hold out for what exactly?
The tooth fairy?

[6th sam]

I think the design of casement needs to be re-visited with a fresh business plan around opportunities and value for money. A marquee stadium and concert venue for the North, bringing significant investment into West Belfast would be some statement .

They should employ whoever is doing the new IFA centre. According to bbcni website they're building a state of the art , centre of excellence , 50 acre green field site , 5 pitches , 1 indoors, with spectator , meeting and medical facilities , all for £8-10 million. Must be a different contractor doing that refurbishment of the school pitch  in Derry for £710000, though I see that's not a problem as the EA don't need to apply to themselves for that money🙈.
The BBC also took the opportunity to flag up the estimate of £450m for Casement to meet UEFA specification!
Call me  paranoid 🙈🤔

[illdecide]

Guys in all seriousness the money is not the issue here, if the Galgorm scheme was £100m they'll find it. FFS they gave £50m for an ice rink (sweet Christ). The money for Casement is a smoke screen to stop Casement being built by sectarian bigots who don't want it for West Belfast and they know the additional money needed for the scheme is a 100% blocker. If this was Windsor Park and there were holdups for whatever reason (I know the GAA fecked up) on Windsor Pk and the cost spiraled out of control the way Casement has Windsor Pk money would still have been found should they have to steal it.

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

Casement does not need 300m wasted on it. The money they already have is more than enough to build 2 good stands and 2 open terraces. That is all that is required for the few times a year it will be used. And that should be sufficient for a few concerts also.

Yeah so we will just settle for some second rate bullshit, while Windsor and Ravenhill look like new modern stadiums.

We are this far into it that they may as well push for the best level they can get.

Don't forget that it is Antrim Gaels who are bearing the brunt of this for all the reasons discussed over and over on here.

Are you aware how much those redevelopments cost? Significantly less than what the GAA STILL has to spend on a new stadium.

There is no themmuns argument to be had here. It is an excuse for our own failures. It is MOPEry and it is totally pathetic.

And as much as the Antrim Gaels were shafted, they were shafted by the GAA, and they walked straight into it with their eyes wide open. They were given plenty of warning but they saw big and shiny. They've to carry the can for that themselves.

[tiempo]

Institutional sectarian bigotry on the government side and naivety-incompetence on the GAA side, impossible to overcome that

[johnnycool]

Casement does not need 300m wasted on it. The money they already have is more than enough to build 2 good stands and 2 open terraces. That is all that is required for the few times a year it will be used. And that should be sufficient for a few concerts also.

Yeah so we will just settle for some second rate bullshit, while Windsor and Ravenhill look like new modern stadiums.

We are this far into it that they may as well push for the best level they can get.

Don't forget that it is Antrim Gaels who are bearing the brunt of this for all the reasons discussed over and over on here.

Are you aware how much those redevelopments cost? Significantly less than what the GAA STILL has to spend on a new stadium.

There is no themmuns argument to be had here. It is an excuse for our own failures. It is MOPEry and it is totally pathetic.

And as much as the Antrim Gaels were shafted, they were shafted by the GAA, and they walked straight into it with their eyes wide open. They were given plenty of warning but they saw big and shiny. They've to carry the can for that themselves.

Institutional sectarian bigotry on the government side and naivety-incompetence on the GAA side, impossible to overcome that

There's  truth in a lot of all this, make no mistake about it.

Antrim GAA leadership at the time were taken in and were going to get this big, shiny new thing buck shee and lost all reasoning.

Ulster GAA thought they were on the pigs back as well, took over the project and along with some local political reps tried to push through an unsuitable stadium for the area that didn't meet the H&S requirements, so there's plenty of blame to go round there too.

Then you've the DUP minister who didn't exactly bust his balls to push for extra funding when European championships were in the mix and allowed the clock to run down.

So we're now looking at more delays, more cost rises albeit the stadium doesn't need to meet UEFA criteria and no additional funding from the UK Gov, nor Stormont under a DUP minister who can throw 3/4m at a 3G pitch for a school with no application or oversight.

I'd go for a phased approach, get one or two high spec stands up and running with the design allowing for future development of the end terraces.

[tiempo]

I'd go for a phased approach, get one or two high spec stands up and running with the design allowing for future development of the end terraces.

Objective 1: venue open and operational with priority to have the best possible surface to play on and amenities for Antrim club finals and county games at a relatively basic level

Objective 2: agree with what you said, something to a good spec built in stages, the Brits won't be here in another generation or 2 so bleed them in the short-medium term, make it another reason for them to KFO

[Wildweasel74]

This is the GAA fault and nobody else, they knew the issues before hand, but run roughshod overbody thinking they get it build. It was the local people who had bigger objections to the plans, dragged it out through the court for yrs, fire issues leading to stadium alterations. while material costs went through the roof. But hey we blame the DUP for, what is, basically our c**k up. Had we bought a field on the middle of nowhere at the time, built a stadium and roads into it, it still be cheaper on what it cost now with casement, And easier got in and out off

[Evil Genius]

I hold no brief for the DUP - never voted for them, not so much as a 10th preference - a bunch of twats.

But it really is stretching credulity, on an almost Trumpian scale, to blame Lyons/DUP for the delay in getting Casement built.

I mean, Burns recently asserted "The facts are that the person who we need to champion this [Casement Park] is Gordon Lyons.

This conveniently overlooks the (ahem) facts that Lyons has only been the Minister with responsibility for Sport for 1 year and 3 weeks.

Yet this project is already 14 years old. During that time, the Ministers responsible, whether DfC or DCAL, have been Carál Ní Chuilín (6 years) and Deirdre Hargey (3 years), with the remainder accounted for by two Stormont suspensions (1 DUP and 1 SF). Oh and a few months with Paul Givan in charge around 2016/17.

Will Burns now add SF and SDLP to his list of "hostile" [sic] parties at Stormont?