MAYBE he meant it. Maybe when Chris Heaton-Harris just two years ago spoke of the Casement Park stadium, he actually believed every syllable dripping from his mouth: “We’ll get the money, don’t you worry,” he told us. And where it would come from? “All partners. I guarantee it.”
If Heaton-Harris believed what Heaton-Harris was saying he must have been outstandingly stupid, even by British Secretaries of State standards. If he didn’t believe what he was saying, then he was doing what most of us recognise as lying.
The proposed 35,000-seater stadium that was to be one of the venues where the 2028 European Football Championship would be played was originally expected to cost £110 million to build. Or maybe a bit more.
As it happens, a lot more. Today, two years later, the estimate is well over £250 million. The original hope that the stadium would play a part in the Euro 2028 Championships has been booted out of the conversation. And the size of the seating capacity has been shrunk and shrunk.
Compare that with the Ravenhill Rugby stadium. It cost some £19 million, with the Stormont Executive forking out £14.7 million. The renewed stadium has been operating since 2014. That’s over ten years ago.
Or compare that with Windsor Park. Its refurbishment cost nearly £30 million, with the Stormont Executive producing nearly £25 million and the IFA some £4 million. The renewed stadium has been going since 2016. That’s just short of ten years.
So why is the Casement Park story a sad and sorry tale? Well, for one thing, some of the local community said they didn’t like the disruption that a major stadium would cause to their lives. That was because, besides being used for big GAA games, Casement would have hosted a range of events, notably big-name concerts. The dispute dragged on, with the new stadium downgraded from 38,000 seats to 34,000 seats.
Had Casement Park been built as originally planned, it would have hosted Euro '28 games, which would have provided considerable income to West Belfast and beyond. But that didn’t happen. Instead, what we have is Stormont providing £62.5 million, the Irish government some £43 million and the GAA £15 million. And when that’s all added up, there’s still a gap of £150 million between the Casement Park dream and the Casement Park reality.
The Westminster government hasn’t committed anything yet. Why is that? After all, the Irish government contributed £43 million.
Maybe the British see that there are no votes for them in this twisted corner, so why would they do anything other than posture? Faced with the shortfall in funding, the GAA says it is extremely disappointed.
But like Orange bands parading, that’s the whole point of so many obstacles frustrating the building of Casement. Whack the drum and drive the message into the Fenians’ heads: we’re still in charge.You may think there’s parity of esteem, but look at the facts: Ravenhill refurbished, Windsor Park refurbished, Casement Park a weed-covered wilderness. And this despite the fact that far more people here play and attend Gaelic games than rugby or soccer.
In some ways it’s a wake-up call, as was the BBC Spotlight programme on Gerry Adams. We realised that the British Broadcasting Corporation has, as the name plainly shows, the interests of Britain and unionism at heart. Likewise with Casement Park.
That said, miracles do happen. On Wednesday of this week, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer is to announce her spending plans. Who knows? Maybe she’ll push £150 million towards Casement.
Oh, look! There’s a squadron of flying pigs heading towards West Belfast.
