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https://www.rte.ie/sport/united-rugby-championship/2026/0122/1554592-lancaster-backs-connacht-to-thrive-in-new-surrounding/

Bit in here about work completed on Connacht rugby's ground in Galway.

Obviously not to same scale as Casenent Park but gives an idea on timescale. They build  high performance unit as well beside it so some of the money went there.

Could Casement not be done on a phased basis? Like, say, 2 quality stands. Then terracing at both sides that then could be changed to stands (without much change/work) and fit the way round to the two main stands?

€40m Euro for 4,100 seats, 1600 terrace and 830 premium.


Do the same along the two sides at Casement.
Factoring for length of pitch (at say 1.35x), you'd be looking at something (very approximately) along lines of:

€110 million
11,000 seats
4,000 standing
2,200 premium.

Then for a few million more, you could refurbish the two end terraces to bring peak capacity up to probably far side of 23k.

Which would more or less be the perfect stadium for 99.99% of football or hurling matches played in Ulster.



and yes, of course it could be done in stages. Problem is that those in charge don't have a notion what they are doing.

This is just demolition. Even the Ulster Council can't balls that up

For real? For example:

"We discovered undisclosed and unexpected Asbestos in the roof of the old stand. We now have to stop and reappraise how we perform the demolition in line with Health & Safety guidance.

I spoke too soon...

Sorry, sorry - just to clarify - that is only an example.

Not saying its actually happened. Or at least, it hasn't happened as far as I am aware of.

Modi plays a blinder every time. India is establishing colonies in every western country without a shot fired. Fair play

Let's see if it's as well received as the Irish diaspora. Frankly there are worse people you could have living next door than Indians. Very smart, civil people with a good hard work ethic. They'll add value to wherever they end up.

Worse people? Who?

You by the sounds of it...

With the age of that building, it was always going to have that

I wholly expect it does and that may have been part of the reason it was shut so quick.

Now - if that is the case - I'd like to think the contractors are entirely aware!

Hopefully there has been no wink-wink nudge-nudge bullshit that then falls apart in the cold light of day.

[Robotic/autonomous care.]

The reason why I asked is their a solution to all this was because, is because I can't think of one

There isn't a fix.

Things that need to happen to mitigate it:

Robotic/autonomous care. Not "AI" or anything like iRobot, but a basic machine that could:
- prep a meal,
- raise alarm if person under care falls,
- aid in hoisting person under care into and out of bed

Aim being to supplement existing home-help, so instead of 2 people/visit, one could do, or instead of 3 visits a day, 2 could do with midday meal prepared by robot. Its not unrealistic that we get at least that far in robotics in 5-10 years.

Live-in elderly relatives
You said yourself, the way things were this kinda happened. Now your looking at how could planning be eased for granny flats etc. Social expectations are gonna have to adjust about having elderly in-laws and parents living under your roof. (first hand know this is not easy!)

New builds
Every new build should have fundamentals in place for someone to live on the ground floor. Kitchen, loo, shower, bedsit/bedroom. Townhouses are fking useless.

Sheltered housing (aka folds)
Clearly needs to become more widespread. Many folks will want to hang on in their own house, others might not mind moving so much.

AI augmenting GPs
Half the time a GP is googling the fking symptoms anyway.
A robotic and AI system which would more readily include testing of blood/urine etc should see more accurate results and unload work from the bottleneck that is supply of cheap humans. It might keep people away from A&E for longer and provide better diagnosis.

Homecare
Where the money comes to fund wages of homecare I've no idea - hence the robotics suggestion. Even if that worked better than I could think possible, it'll still fall far short of enough.

How we avoid eventual overloading of hospital beds, I have no idea. I don't know how it won't reduce to a triaging by likelihood of survival and those with less chance of surviving more or less abandoned to "take one for the team".

This is just demolition. Even the Ulster Council can't balls that up

For real? For example:

"We discovered undisclosed and unexpected Asbestos in the roof of the old stand. We now have to stop and reappraise how we perform the demolition in line with Health & Safety guidance.

The fact that PuC is the best comparison in terms of making money from the corporate sector is a worry given the continued losses there since that reopened.

Casement will almost certainly morph into a perpetual disaster draining the coffers of the Ulster Council.

It costs money to keep a white elephant painted bright brilliant white you know.

Durty cheatin' armagh tramps... ye'd expect no less 

Otherwise it's just another county ground, which might be what we end up with.

Which is all we ever needed to start with.

Kilcoo have won 1 All Ireland, a pretty poor return from multiple Down championship wins.

One would argue they have massively underachieved. 2 Ulster and 1 all Ireland.

3 final losses in 4 years.

They have their all Ireland but there will be plenty of regret when they look back

Probably will have a lot of regret. I had finished playing quite a few years before the senior winning started, and despite winning a few underage county titles, I do look back more at the ones that got away with "what ifs...". In fact, given it makes me reflect on whether body checking Benny Coulter might have given us another minor title, some of the current lads are likely to be f**king haunted.

But as others point out, you need to consider the size of Kilcoo before saying "underachieved".

There is one primary school in the parish. In my year for instance, there were just seven other fellas. Yes, there has been some more houses built in the village in intervening years, but in the grand scheme of things, its still a very small place.

Back in my time, we'd went from Div 3 straight through to Div 1, even won the league a couple of years later, but not the big one. Men would have gladly given body parts for just 1 county title!


So the only ones that may look back with regret might be the players - but certainly no parishioner will - I for one couldn't be prouder of what they've achieved. They've given us more than we would ever dream of in the early 2000s. I know, 'cos I was one of the ones dreaming.

Even if the Ulster Council screwed up a thousand Casement Parks - they'd be nothing on that lot.

Long past the point of insidious. Now just nakedly corrupt and pandering to power to acquire more power themselves.

I for one, will be making a point of not watching.

Telegraph is right wing muck - lump it in with the Daily Heil.

Wouldn't pay much attention to anything it says without agreement from other sources across a broad spectrum.

At present, £170m (€194m) is available for a revised venue, which would comprise 18,000 seats and 12,000 terrace.

Lets say that is comprised of 2 stands either side of 9,000 seats each and end terracing of 6,000 each (not an unrealistic assumption).

Could they not do a Stage #1 of 1 stand + 1 uncovered end terrace - just to get the pitch back open?


Then - based on observation of attendance and demand - stage #2 could be either a seated stand on other side, or covered terrace on other side. With stage #3 being the final uncovered end terrace.

Or is that all too obvious?

Surely Newry would be suitable.

Have to admit - if they can make the pitch in Newry playable in basically all conditions these days - what excuse does Omagh have?

It's a bog. Common knowledge that Dungannon is a much better venue.

Yeah. It is in a bog. But Newry is half in the sea and the other half in the canal.

Is the Healy Park pitch not above the level of the Killybrack road?

I'm not seeing a fundamental reason why it can't be drained.

I think the Tyrone board need to let Prunty have a look at it.

Surely Newry would be suitable.

Have to admit - if they can make the pitch in Newry playable in basically all conditions these days - what excuse does Omagh have?