Northern Ireland stadia funding in jeopardy after Executive collapse

The Oval had been set to receive a redevelopment budget of £10m from the Executive

A £36m funding package to upgrade and redevelop regional football stadia in Northern Ireland is in jeopardy following the collapse of Northern Ireland's power-sharing Executive.

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey said she will no longer be able to progress the plan.

In 2015, the Executive had allocated £36m for the sub-regional programme for local football.

But Hargey said the proposal required Executive sign off.

The Sinn Féin minister said she had been committed to delivering the funding before the end of the mandate but said "it is not my fault people walked out of the Executive".

"I had aimed this was to be done before the end of the mandate, but because some walked away, this can not now be done," said Hargey in response to criticism from DUP MLA Peter Weir.

The Department of Finance confirmed to the BBC that there will be no impact on the redevelopment of Casement Park.

"Casement Park is a designated Executive Flagship project and funding will be provided in line with that prior commitment," the department said.

In line with the Irish Football Association's 2011 Facility Strategy, the Stormont Executive had committed £36m to the development of football stadia after the completion of Windsor Park.

In its 2015 consultation, the then Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (now Department for Communities) had divided the pot of money into five areas.

The Oval, the home of Glentoran, was set to receive an investment of £10m so it would be suitable for "hosting high-level competition matches with a moderate capacity level of 6,000 to 8,000 persons".

A second strand of £17m was to be made available to other Premiership clubs who were capable of hosting fixtures with a 5,000 capacity.

They could apply for funding of up to £3m to provide "stadia which can sit at the hub of key communities and can offer quality football facilities and community facilities which bring revenues into the club tenants, thus making football in these areas more sustainable".

IFA Championship clubs were also set to receive a total of £3m, with a potential sum of £500,000 available to clubs who applied, while a further £3m would be put towards "a single high quality facility" for intermediate and junior football.

The final strand was meant to be a sum of £3m put towards a national training centre to "support current talent and nurture future generations".

Lawlor not surprised 'in the slightest'

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme, Northern Ireland Football League chief executive Gerard Lawlor said he was not surprised "in the slightest" by Monday's development.

"I think this has been part of the plan for a long time, we're now waiting nearly 11 years for this," said Lawlor.

"I don't think when we're sitting now on 14 February that the minister was ever going to deliver this in the current mandate. We've been asking for clarity.

"I know a lot of people are upset at this and I'm not surprised in the slightest because I think this has been the game all along.

"We've already put plans in place to take our plea elsewhere. That is currently under way and we will just continue with those plans.

"I don't think it has gone completely, but the question for us that we haven't been able to get answered is, the money is not visible in the 2022-25 budget either for the Executive, and no upspend - there is upspend for Casement Park, but there's no money for football.

"We're being used as a political football as we have been for nearly 10 or 11 years."