Casement Park: Uefa delegation says visit to GAA site 'productive'

Uefa has said it had a "productive" visit to Casement Park, adding that "discussions were held to better understand the redevelopment plans".

A delegation including organisers of the Euro 2028 football tournament visited the site on Wednesday.

The venue in west Belfast is earmarked to host games at the tournament in four years.

The stadium has yet to be redeveloped with a deadline to complete the construction by mid-2027.

At this stage, there is not sufficient funding to pay for the redevelopment, which could cost more than £200m.

Euro 2028 is organised by Uefa, the governing body of European football.

Following the Casement Park visit, the organisation said it looks forward "to the continued collaboration with the relevant stakeholders in the coming months".

Casement Park is one of 10 venues in the UK and Ireland due to host games at the tournament.

It will have a capacity of more than 30,000 - and although it will be primarily a stadium for Gaelic games, it can be adapted for use by other sports.

The Uefa delegation, including at least one engineer, are in Belfast for a number of days and will look at technical aspects of the tournament preparations.

They were shown around Casement Park by leading members of the Irish Football Association (IFA) and the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) including Tom Daly who chairs the stadium development project board.

The delegation is expected to be in contact with officials from some Stormont departments, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council.

In spite of the doubts over funding, work began last week to prepare the site in west Belfast for construction.

Intensive work has taken place in the background involving all aspects of the planned stadium, in the hope that the money will be secured soon.

The Irish government has allocated €50m (£42.8m) for the redevelopment of the stadium.

The Stormont Executive has promised £62.5m, while the GAA has pledged £15m.

On Monday, new GAA president Jarlath Burns said he does not support the GAA investing more money into the redevelopment of Casement Park.