Northern Ireland stadiums funding ready to go but needs executive sign-off, says Minister Hargey

East Belfast stadium The Oval was earmarked for a £10m investment as part of the funding programme

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey says the sub-regional stadiums funding has not been shelved, and that her department's proposal is "ready to go".

The executive committed £36m to the development of local football stadiums in Northern Ireland in 2015.

However the minister reiterated that the programme could not progress without executive sign-off.

The executive collapsed earlier in February when Paul Givan resigned as first minister.

Individual ministers remain in place but can only make decisions that are not deemed "significant or controversial".

"I am ready to bring proposals forward before the end of this mandate," Ms Hargey told BBC News NI.

"The budget is there and I do think that it's incumbent on those other parties, particularly the DUP who walked away, to look at that because this is the impact of their decision," she told William Crawley on Talkback.

On Monday the communities minister said she had aimed to bring the final programme to the executive before the end of the current mandate but that "because some walked away, this can not now be done".

The Sinn Féin minister, who took up the post in January 2020, rejected the suggestion that her department had not worked quickly enough to put the programme into action given it was allocated the funding some six years ago.

Irish FA chief executive Patrick Nelson said the IFA had "expressed concern" to senior department officials on the lack of engagement from the minister on reviewing the outputs of a structured focus group of which they were part.

"When I looked at the original programme that was dated nearly 10 years previous to that I felt we needed to do a refresh and re-engagement exercise in terms of looking at that programme because the consultation that was done back in 2016 was already four years out of date," said Ms Hargey on Tuesday.

"We have worked at speed and don't forget that we had a pandemic in the midst of that, where my focus was also making sure that those clubs could stay alive throughout the pandemic.

"There were calls from many soccer clubs and indeed other sports that they were going to go to the wall, and I made sure that I stood up urgent funding that those clubs needed and indeed stabilised them over that period.

"I had always said that my commitment was to bring this programme forward before the end of this mandate, that's what I was completely committed to and I was moving at pace to do that.

"I'm still here as a minister, I'm willing to work out around that executive table. I want to see this money released."

'This impacts all of our communities'

Of the sub-regional funding, Belfast club Glentoran was set to receive an investment of £10m.

Glens chairman Stephen Henderson echoed the comments of NI Football League chief executive Gerard Lawlor who said he was "not surprised in the slightest" by Monday's development.

"If felt huge disappointment but not shock," Henderson reflected.

"In the intervening years Glentoran have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds literally trying to keep the stadium up to date from a health and safety perspective. Other funding streams did become available but we were told by parties across the political spectrum not to apply for that.

"Not to be greedy, but to be patient. That if our business case justified it it we would be able to access the funding via the sub-regional programme.

"This isn't just about Glentoran. Yesterday's announcement impacts all of our communities; from Derry to Warrenpoint, from Ballinamallard to Belfast, all of our clubs are cross-community, cross-society clubs.

"All of our clubs provide hundreds of thousands of hours of community engagement that provide boys and girls, able-bodied and disable children access to physical activity, mental health well-being and cross-community interaction. They do so in antiquated facilities that are just not fit for our kids."

IFA 'fully supportive' of Casement Park funding

The Department of Finance confirmed to the BBC on Monday that there would be no impact on the redevelopment of GAA stadium Casement Park if the sub-regional stadiums funding did not receive final approval.

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

On Tuesday the IFA stated its full support to the redevelopment of Casement and reiterated its commitment to supporting "all efforts in making this happen".

"It is a project the GAA community has waited too long for and that it fully deserves. We note with interest the finance minister's comments and, given that both sub regional and Casement Park are part of the same executive commitment, we expect that his confirmation of funding extends to the sub regional programme too," said IFA chief executive Patrick Nelson.

"Given the 11 year delay on fulfilling these commitments, we expect that any additional resourcing requirements needed will be made available for both projects."