GAA chief Jarlath Burns admits the organisation had last-minute ‘optimism’ about Casement Park before a funding decision was made – The Irish News

GAA President Jarlath Burns said that after months of internal pessimism, his organisation had become “optimistic” again that the new Casement Park could be completed in time for the 2028 European Championships. Shortly before, the British government had finally ruled out funding for the realisation.

The Armagh man spoke on BBC NI's Sunday Politics programme of his disappointment at last Friday's announcement that London would not fund the new stadium in west Belfast to host matches in four years' time.

Burns criticised the timing of Friday's confirmation, saying it was “not the way to do business”. However, it came as no surprise to the GAA's top brass, who had been preparing for the news for some time.

However, he said hopes had been raised again ahead of recent talks between British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Simon Harris, but these too had been cruelly dashed.

“To be honest, we have known about this for several months,” he said of the financing decision.

“I was pessimistic about this; I expressed that very clearly back in May.”

He said that we knew at the beginning of May that it would be “very difficult to pull this off” because the stadium would have to have been in operation for at least a year for the European Championship test.

“We were just waiting for the bad news to come and finally it came,” he said.

Before the final nail was driven into the coffin of hopes for Euro 2028 on Friday, Mr Burns said that a positive outcome had recently been expected following the Labour Party's victory in the British general election.

“From the outset, (Northern Ireland Minister) Hilary Benn spoke positively about the prospects for construction and for a while our pessimism gave way to optimism. Even last week at the Farmleigh talks with the Irish government, we began to become optimistic that there would be a major announcement.”

He said of the new British government: “They have come to the conclusion that there is very little money left and they have to make difficult decisions.”

Mr Burns said Casement Park would have been a “wonderful opportunity for the whole of Northern Ireland to come together on a major project”.

Meanwhile, the GAA chief questioned the recent £400 million cost estimate for building the new stadium in Andersonstown.

“That certainly did not match the numbers we received from our management consultants, who are stadium experts,” he said.

He confirmed that the construction of the new Casement Park remains a priority for the GAA.

“We will really put all our energy into this,” he said.