You can download the Key Points Summary and the Full Report at the links below. Download The Case against Casement Park Key Points Summary PDF Download The Case against Casement Park Full Report PDF Casement Park is a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) sports ground located in Andersonstown, West Belfast. The ground opened in June 1953 but has not been used for sporting purposes since June 2013. It currently lies derelict. The Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (UCGAA) is proposing the construction of a new 34,500 capacity stadium on the existing Casement Park GAA ground. The proposed redevelopment is currently stalled due to insufficient funds. Nonetheless, the GAA’s proposed redevelopment of Casement Park has been thrown a financial lifeline following its inclusion as one of the venues in the UK and Ireland bid to host the 2028 Euro finals. The Secretary of State’s commitment to ‘find the money’ in the event of a successful bid is tantamount to handing the GAA a blank cheque. That is not a sustainable position. Handing the GAA a blank cheque could also result in a waste of public funds. That is because there are a range of risks around having the Casement Park stadium completed and fully prepared to serve as a venue for the 2028 tournament. In the first instance, Casement Park was granted planning permission for a stadium with a seating capacity of 26,011 and capacity for a further 8,175 in a standing terrace. But UEFA requires a minimum 30,000 seated capacity, with all seating permanent. It would therefore be necessary for UCGAA to commission a stadium re-design to bring the seating capacity to a level that is over the mandatory 30,000 all-seated capacity threshold for use of a stadium in the Euros. A re-design may well require a variation to the planning consent, which would take time. The planning consent also includes a total of 46 conditions. Some of those conditions need to be met before development works can begin. Other conditions relate to the management of risks that may materialise during construction. It is entirely possible that such risks may occur, for example, since asbestos is present on the site. All of the above factors heighten the risk of delays to the anticipated timescale for construction of the stadium, with knock-on implications regarding preparedness for the Euro 28 finals. Nonetheless, the fundamental problem with the Casement Park location is the constrained site location. That poses a number of risks to the successful staging of Euro 2028 matches at the venue, as follows: Safety certification. It is entirely possible that the ground will not have received a safety certificate for a full capacity event in advance of the Euro 2028 finals. And any such certification would be open to legal challenge. Consequently, Casement Park represents a high-risk venue for the UEFA finals in respect of crowd capacity and safety. Traffic and access. UCGAA’s traffic management planning has, to date, been focused entirely on spectators travelling to GAA matches from locations dispersed across Ulster, such as Tyrone, Derry, etc. There is no plan yet for enabling travel and access to Casement Park for an event such as the Euro finals. The Casement Park site comes nowhere near meeting UEFA’s requirement that the stadium must be well connected to public transport hubs, such as trains, metros, trams and buses. It is served by one bus route. The nearest train station is a small commuter halt located over two kilometres away from the ground, with the route involving pedestrian travel through a very busy motorway underpass. In addition, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to meet the UEFA requirement that “crossovers between routes taken by the various target groups (VIPs, sponsors, media and fans) should be minimised at all times”. Infrastructure. UEFA has stringent and extensive infrastructure requirements. The Casement Park site itself could not meet UEFA’s infrastructure requirements. The site is surrounded on three sides by the horseshoe of Mooreland and Owenvarragh and fronts onto a busy arterial road. The only possibility would be to disperse the infrastructure components, such as the hospitality village, across the local area. But even if appropriate sites could be sourced, which is not a given, that would surely require statutory permissions and would encounter strong local opposition.