GAA boss Jarlath Burns reveals organisation had last-minute ‘optimism’ on Casement Park ahead of funding decision

GAA President Jarlath Burns has said his organisation had started to get “optimistic” once again that the new Casement Park would be built in time for Euro 2028 after months of internal pessimism, shortly before the British government finally ruled out funding to make it happen.

The Armagh man spoke on BBC NI’s Sunday Politics show of his disappointment at last Friday’s announcement that London would not be funding the new stadium in west Belfast in order for it to host games at the tournament in four years’ time.

Mr Burns criticised the timing of Friday’s confirmation, saying that it was “not the way to do business”, but said it did not come as a surprise to GAA top brass, who had long been bracing for the news.

However, he said that hopes had began to climb once again ahead of recent talks between UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Simon Harris, but those were also cruelly dashed.

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“To be honest, we had known about this for some months,” he said of the funding decision.

“I had been pessimistic about it; I had made that very clear back in May.”

He said that coming into May, “we knew it was going to be very difficult to get this across the line” as the stadium would need to have been operating for at least a year to “road test” it for the Euros.

“We were just waiting for the bad news to come, and it eventually did,” he said.

However, before the final nail in the coffin of the Euro 2028 hopes was hammered on Friday, Mr Burns said there was recent anticipation of a positive outcome following Labour’s victory in the UK General Election.

“Right from the word go, (Northern Ireland Secretary) Hilary Benn was talking positively about the prospect of it being built and for a time our pessimism changed to optimism, and even last week at the Farmleigh talks with the Irish government, we were starting to get optimistic there was going to be a major announcement.”

He added of the new UK government: “They have come to the conclusion that there is very little money left and they have to make difficult decisions.”

Mr Burns said Casement Park would have been a “wonderful opportunity for all of Northern Ireland to come together on a major project”.

Meanwhile, the GAA boss questioned the latest estimated sum of £400m to see the new stadium built in Andersonstown.

“That certainly didn’t align with any of the figures that we have had from our management consultants, who are stadia experts,” he said.

He confirmed that the GAA’s priority was still to see the new Casement Park built.

“That’s really what we are going to put all our energy into,” he said.