NI stadia: Casement Park redevelopment 'not sectarian'

The finance minister has said that the decision to continue with the redevelopment of Casement Park is not sectarian.

On Monday, the communities minister announced that a £36m funding package to upgrade and redevelop regional football stadia in Northern Ireland had been shelved.

Sinn Féin’s Deirdre Hargey said she would no longer be able to progress the plan, which had been in place since 2015, following the collapse of Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive, but the redevelopment of the GAA stadium would continue.

Her party colleague Conor Murphy said that "to try and describe that [the redevelopment] as sectarian is an insult".

“Neither the GAA or the soccer fraternity are sectarian," said the finance minister.

Mr Murphy added that three stadiums formed a flagship project and after the redevelopment of Windsor Park and Ravenhill, Casement Park was the only outstanding project.

On Tuesday, Ms Hargey said that the sub-regional stadiums funding has not been shelved, and that her department's proposal is "ready to go" but needed executive approval.

In July, the then First Minister Paul Givan suggested the final bill for Casement Park could be more than £140m. The original estimate was £77.5m.