Casement Park inquiry: Stadium safety expert makes new pressure claims

Paul Scott said he was told that the stadium design team "had access to high-ranking police officers"

Stadium safety expert Paul Scott has made new claims about pressure allegedly put on him behind the scenes over the Casement Park project.

He told a Stormont committee that Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) official Ryan Feeney told him he could persuade senior police officers to drop concerns on safety at the new stadium.

Mr Feeney is a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

He has said the claims are completely untrue.

He has consulted lawyers about taking action.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has also said it came under no such pressure.

The claims were made at a meeting of the Culture, Arts and Leisure (CAL) committee at Stormont on Thursday.

Exchange

Mr Scott, who works for Sport Northern Ireland, was asked by William Humphrey of the DUP about a report on Casement Park drawn up by the safety technical group, which Mr Scott chairs.

The report outlined concerns about emergency exiting arrangements at the planned 38,000-capacity stadium, and concluded they were not fit for purpose.

The committee is hearing evidence about the redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast

Mr Humphrey asked Mr Scott if any pressure was exerted to try to change the report.

Mr Scott told the committee: "We were advised that the design team, the GAA, DCAL (Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure) had access to high-ranking police officers and that they would be able to get the police report changed."

Mr Humphrey then asked who had told that to Mr Scott.

"Ryan Feeney advised us and also Carl Southern," Mr Scott said.

"It was saying: 'Well, look, if we get the police to change their views, then the other emergency services will follow suit. You guys are going to be left on your own and you will look very foolish.'"

The PSNI's Anthony McNally said there was "never any effort to put pressure on the police" to change the safety report

Ch Insp Anthony McNally from the PSNI was also at the meeting. He intervened immediately.

He said: "I was involved in conversations from last summer through to now with the GAA where they did come in to speak to senior police in relation to Casement, and I can certainly say there was never, through any of those conversations, any effort to put pressure on the police to change the report."

Comments

Mr Feeney later issued a statement, saying: "I emphatically deny the allegations by Paul Scott.

"Paul Scott and I never had a conversation, at any stage, on the PSNI's role or involvement in the Casement project.

"I attended a series of meetings with the PSNI on Casement and every one of these meetings involved other GAA officials and design team members.

GAA official Ryan Feeney said he "emphatically" denied Mr Scott's allegations

"I would ask the BBC to note the comments of chief inspector McNally at the CAL committee regarding this matter.

"I have already taken legal advice and intend to take immediate action on this matter."

Mr Southern used to work for the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, but no longer works there.

It is believed he is now working in England.

The BBC is making efforts to try to contact him, to inform him of Paul Scott's remarks and seek a response.

Another safety officer working on the Casement Park project also appeared before the DCAL committee on Thursday.

Laura Strong said she was left feeling "quite shaken" after a meeting at a Belfast hotel last year with officials from the GAA, the stadium design team and civil servants from DCAL

Laura Strong claimed she was ridiculed and laughed at after expressing concerns about the proposed new stadium.

She said she was left feeling "quite shaken" after a meeting at a Belfast hotel last year with officials from the GAA, the stadium design team and civil servants from DCAL.

'Quite shaken'

Ms Strong told MLAs that she and her Sport NI colleague Mr Scott faced a "barrage of abuse" when they outlined their concerns about emergency exiting arrangements at the proposed stadium.

She said: "We were subjected to ridicule, abuse, felt patronised and considered that efforts were being made to humiliate us.

"People were openly laughing at us … I left feeling quite shaken."

Mr Scott claimed the GAA later apologised.

He said: "One of the representatives of the GAA phoned me the next morning to say 'Paul, I'm so sorry about what you had to put up with yesterday, it was just uncalled for'.

"And another member of the GAA said similar things."

Mr Scott and Ms Strong said the Casement meeting in question took place at the Wellington Park hotel in south Belfast on 17 June last year.