Casement Park project could face further delay after waste material discovered on site

PROJECT: Casement Park in Belfast, which has been announced as one of the proposed venues for Euro 2028.

The GAA's Casement Park redevelopment could face a further delay after waste materials were discovered on the Belfast site.

The substances, not associated with the running of the old stadium which closed in 2013, were found during a routine pre-construction investigation at the Andersonstown Road grounds. It formed part of the preliminary work including clean-up and demolition that began in February.

It has yet to be determined if the removal of the materials from the venue will be a lengthy process. However, such procedures can be delicate. The GAA has yet to receive the report from the investigation work at the site.

Casement Park has been listed as a venue for Euro 2028 and is due to host up to five of the tournament’s fixtures. In February, the Irish government committed €50 million (£42.76m) towards the rebuild as part of its cross-border initiatives funding package.

However, the UK’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris has claimed in a letter that the estimated total cost of the project now stands at over £308m (€360m).

"I need to be clear that the UK Government will not accept a position where it is expected to cover the scale of a funding gap there appears to exist for a project in which costs have increased considerably with no guarantee that costs will not rise further,” he wrote.

The figure has been disputed as a worse-case scenario figure by GAA sources who have suggested the cost of building the 34,500-capacity venue will be approximately £200m (€233m).

Despite remarks by former president Larry McCarthy in February, the GAA are not expected to review their £15m (€17.5m) commitment to Casement Park as new Uachtarán Jarlath Burns has said he expects Eaton-Harris to “make good” on his assurances last year that the money would be found for the stadium. The Stormont Executive’s original contribution in 2011 was £62.5m (€73m).

Sources close to the project are hopeful of positive funding developments before the end of month.