Debate contribution: Casement Park: Non-GAA Events

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 17 February 2026.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

17 February 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Casement Park: Non-GAA Events

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5394387

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I declare several interests: most of my family members are members of the GAA; I am, I think, technically still a member of Patrick Sarsfields GAC, although I have not played for many years and was not really much good; and I may be the only Member in the House who is a member of Casement Social Club. There is no doubt that the Casement Park development has been beset by disaster from the get-go. In more recent years, the role played by unionist Ministers has tended to dominate proceedings. That is not unimportant, but, for me and many others, it is not the full story. Those same parties have been particularly vocal in claiming that public money should not be spent on sports infrastructure at a time when public services have been and are being stripped back in schools, hospitals and elsewhere. Quite often, those same parties supported the stripping back of those services. There is a story from before, which is not often told in the House or elsewhere: a story that it is hoped that people will forget. I am here to remind people about some of the reasons why we are where we are. The truth is that, if they choose to, Governments can afford to invest in sports and culture as well as in essential services such as health, education and infrastructure. Many would argue that, in the past 20 years or so, they have refused to adequately do both. As a starting point, we should reject the either/or approach that assumes that it should be either sports or education, or either culture or health. It is worth remembering that we are at this point currently because we were supposed to have a multipurpose sports facility at the Long Kesh site, which would have encompassed all sports, music concerts and other events. That was not built because of the ongoing crisis in unionism. The then First Minister, Peter Robinson, initially agreed to the development of the site, but backed down after being forced to concede to harder-line elements in his party — a familiar story. Casement Park lies empty because of the disaster that surrounded it and the politics that dominate this place. It is also empty because of the greed that has been shown by the upper echelons of Ulster GAA and by Sinn Féin, who wanted to drive ahead with a 40,000-, 38,000- or 34,000-seater stadium, regardless of what people in the area thought or how they would be impacted on. It is telling that, although a key pillar of Sinn Féin's strategy for the North has been Casement Park, it has been unable to lay a brick there, despite holding the posts of Finance Minister, Economy Minister and First Minister, and having a junior Minister. Residents of Mooreland, Owenvarragh, Stockmans and the wider Andersonstown area raised concerns about the size and scale of the development that was going to be on their doorstep, and they were denigrated for it; they were called anti-GAA and told to suck it up. I pay tribute to those residents and to the work that they have done not just for their community, which is my community, but for every single one of us. Members in many quarters of the House did their best to bury the health and safety concerns that were raised by people such as Paul Scott and groups such as the Mooreland and Owenvarragh Residents' Association (MORA), whose judicial work in the courts system helped to highlight the dangers of ploughing ahead with a dangerous development that could have resulted in a Hillsborough-type disaster in West Belfast.

I was quoting what is in the news, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, but I am moving on anyway.

For many, Patrick Murphy, a journalist for the 'The Irish News', put it well in an article last year, in which he stated:

"The GAA’s mistake was not to build a 15,000-20,000 capacity stadium"

at Casement in 2011, which:

"would have been similar in size to GAA stadiums in Newry, Armagh and Omagh."

He claims that the option of 38,000 was never about attracting large numbers to GAA matches but was a GAA "vanity project", to use his words, similar to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in —.

Go ahead.

That was not meant to be a speech. I will not take lectures from the Member opposite or his party, who ignore residents and their concerns and repeat the mantra of anti-GAA to people who live in West Belfast. It is ridiculous and not true. I will move on. Look at the example of Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork, which is now called SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. What is the equivalent being proposed for Casement? In the 2013 book, 'GAAconomics: The Secret Life of Money in the GAA', Michael Moynihan discusses how the Celtic tiger led to the GAA's splurging on stadiums that were simply too big. He writes that, of the 26 stadiums in Ireland with a capacity of over 20,000, the GAA owns 23 of them. Everybody should support the development of Casement Park, despite what was alleged earlier. We always did from our end, but there is a difference between manageable development and overdevelopment, and greed as well, which needs to be challenged. Definitely, in this context, there are effectively two GAAs. There is the one of volunteers and players who break their backs every week to show up to training, help facilitate the training, washing the kits week in and week out, driving teams to matches and playing on the pitch in rain, hail or shine. That should be contrasted with the upper echelons of the GAA, who refuse to adequately invest in grassroots GAA but also blindly push a corporate vision of Casement Park and, not to mention, have an ostrich approach to the GAA's association with Allianz as well. Casement Park was, as mentioned, a New Decade, New Approach commitment but, at this stage, it does not look as though it is going to be finished by the end of this decade. In my amendment, the principle of venues that host non-sporting events paying money back into the public purse when they have received a significant amount of public money for their development is a worthwhile principle and an agreeable one. My concern, though, with the motion — hence the amendment — is that it singles out the GAA exclusively. My amendment outlines that the same should apply to all stadiums that receive public funding. For example, if there is a large music concert or event at Windsor or Ravenhill and it is lucrative and profitable, surely the same clawback model should exist that is being proposed here for Casement Park. If it does not, it seems to be just an attempt to stick the boot into the GAA for the sake of it. The Member has been fairly consistent in that, which is his prerogative. Neither Casement nor any other development of stadia should be about developer profits, gentrification or a low-wage neoliberal tourist economy. It is time to move on from the mega Casement and the failed economic model that drove it. It should be guided by the original ideals and values underpinning Cumann Lúthchleas Gael,

: a community project supporting amateur athletes and building grassroots GAA. I commend my amendment to the House.

1,222 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:51 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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