Aisling Reilly has been given leave to make a statement on the United Kingdom Government's announcement on Casement Park, which fulfils the criteria set out in Standing Order 24. If other Members wish to be called, they should indicate that by rising in their place and continuing to do so. All Members who are called will have up to three minutes to speak on the subject. I remind Members that interventions are not permitted, and I will not take points of order on this or any other matter until the item of business is concluded.

Hosting the UEFA Euro 2028 games at Casement Park would have been an epic opportunity to showcase the very best of our island on a world stage. Unfortunately, the British Government, with their announcement late on Friday night, have now spurned the opportunity to host the Euros. The announcement was hugely disappointing to those of us who recognise the massive long-term and transformational benefits that the Casement Park project will bring. It is also hugely disappointing to anyone who believed that the new British Government might have adopted a different approach from the austerity and cuts of their Tory predecessors. The Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, said clearly that Casement Park will be built. I urge him and his Government to honour the commitments that they have made.

We will continue to work with the GAA, the local Executive and the Irish and British Governments to push the project forward, build state-of-the-art facilities and deliver a first-class stadium for Gaelic games. We might have missed the Euros, but, clearly, the rewards are still massive when it comes to creating jobs, increasing tourism and having a sporting facility that represents a vote of confidence in this generation and future generations.

I pass Casement every day on my way home in Andytown. As someone who had the honour of playing in Casement and who now has the honour of representing the people of West Belfast, I know that it will have a hugely positive sporting and cultural legacy for generations to come. I certainly will not give up on that. We will not give up on that. Yes, we have been delayed, but I assure everyone inside and outside the Chamber that we will not be denied and that Casement will be built.

I welcome the news that His Majesty's Government have finally called time on the much-sought-after fairy tale that is building Casement in time for the Euros. This is a project that was ill-conceived from day 1, with huge Opposition from local residents, which resulted in years of delay. The project lost the run of itself, and, in recent years, the estimated cost of the build also lost the run of itself at £400 million, which would have dwarfed the money awarded to other sports. This would have then led to a festering within the unionist community that it had been taken by the hand. We constantly hear from the Executive and Westminster that pressures exist on the public finances. It would have been madness to have committed £400 million to fund the cash cow of the GAA. Having repeatedly refused to put more than a mere £15 million towards the project, the GAA, in many ways, has only itself to blame.

There are others who have not covered themselves in glory either in this saga. Chief among them are the top brass in the IFA, who refused to listen to fans and instead backed the Casement project, even when the chants of opposition were echoing around Windsor Park. Then, of course, we have the DUP, which just last week sought to tell us that the Programme for Government, which committed it to make progress on Casement, was wonderful. I say this to Minister Lyons: it is time to find reverse gear on this issue and listen to the unionist people who entrusted you with their votes and their transfers. Yes, the GAA deserves its fair share. I am not disputing that, but the fair share must be measured against the money that has gone to other sports such as football and rugby. Unless and until the GAA cleans up its act regarding the naming of cups and grounds after terrorists — I think of Thomas McElwee as an example — it should not be taken by the hand and treated as having priority for public funds. Now it is not the time to double down on planning and building Casement but the time to reassess it. I certainly would not want to be known as the unionist Minister who built Casement for the GAA.

One clear consequence of the announcement on Friday is that we can now separate the two issues of the legacy for football from the 2028 Euros and the rebuilding of Casement Park, following the 2011 agreement for the three stadia for football, rugby and Gaelic games. Both matters need their own focused attention. On the 2028 Euros, it is important that there is a renewed focus on what will be the involvement and benefit for football in Northern Ireland. If we are not to host tournament games, can we host national teams during part or all of the tournament? Can we host teams for pre-tournament training camps, including friendly games? What facilities do we need to have in place? Can the national training centre be completed in time? What are the plans for the future development and expansion of Windsor Park? In particular, what plans exist for the replacement or updating of the north stand? What will be the legacy for football in Northern Ireland from the UK and Ireland hosting this prestigious tournament?

Northern Ireland has a growing track record of and reputation for hosting major sports tournaments, including, in football, the men's under-19 Euros this summer and, previously, the under-19 women's tournament and the Super Cup final. As a member of the Communities Committee, I am keen to engage with the IFA, the various levels of government, football fans, football clubs and all other relevant bodies to ensure that there is tangible benefit for the sport of football in our sharing of the hosting of this prestigious tournament.

It is the start of Good Relations Week, and this is a massive missed opportunity on which we will look back with regret. I have heard Members here talk about the missed opportunity of the Maze/Long Kesh site, and that stadium should have been built. The same people were saying back then that we cannot have that either.

In 2028, it will be the 30th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. The 25th anniversary was embarrassing enough, when the President of the United States of America came here to try to bring an economic boost to Northern Ireland. At the time, the Assembly was being prevented from doing its job and was not sitting. We did not have the president here for long, only for a morning.

When we come to the 30th anniversary, the world's cameras will be on the UK and Ireland, and — guess what? — we will not be there then either. It is absolutely pathetic. I listened to the Member behind me speak. His vision for the future has been mooted in various quarters. It is Groundhog Day. We already know what that vision for the future is: it is the past that we have already lived through. It is neither pretty nor inspiring, and there is absolutely no future in it. It is the past.

Here was an opportunity here to break down divisions. I started by saying that it is Good Relations Week. Alliance will always stand up for reconciliation, for a shared society and for moving forward together. Here was an opportunity to bring the community together and to do more than any Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC) programme or any other community programme could ever do to put sport, which is leading the way in all of this, right at its heart and bring people into west Belfast. People from west Belfast accepting Northern Ireland fans into west Belfast would do more for community relations and for breaking down barriers than anything that we could ever legislate for.

Sport is leading the way. I have just left the launch of the Ulster Rugby Foundation, which I was hosting. Sport brings together the community and people from every background, including people with special needs and those involved in female sport. It is leading the way, while we are falling behind.

If the vision and direction in the Chamber is to celebrate not getting something, that is just mind-blowing. For our economy, it is an embarrassment on the world stage. People who were hoping to invest here will have just seen that we are not that interested. We cannot be that interested in trying to convince people to open up here if we cannot even do it for ourselves. I just do not know.

To release a statement on a Friday at 7.10 pm is disgraceful. I also put it on the record, however, that the IFA and Ulster GAA —

The Member's time is up.

— should be congratulated.

I thank the Member for raising the matter. I have heard very few people say that Casement Park should not be redeveloped. I am not saying that. What I am saying is that it should be developed on the basis that it was to be developed, but let me be blunt and fair: there is no endless pot of money to redevelop it on the basis that was being suggested.

A number of figures have been mooted, but I do not know about their accuracy. The cost could be over £400 million or under £400 million, but, whatever it is, the figure is substantial. I am significantly concerned about the reliance that there was on hosting the Euros at Casement Park. I have to put on the record my concern about why we did not try to improve Windsor Park to a level at which it could have hosted the Euros, instead of relying on the development of Casement Park, which was always running behind.

I do not believe that people here are shouting that it is a great decision not to put in the money. Rather, they are saying that it is a good decision not to target the money at that particular project when there are other projects that are more in need. Yes, Casement Park needs to be redeveloped, and I accept that. I do not hear many others saying that it should not be, but there are priorities in this country that we need to target money at more than we do at building a state-of-the-art Casement Park that, outside of the Euros, will be used solely for the benefit of the GAA. Whether that is for GAA matches, concerts or other events, the GAA will get the revenue from it. We therefore have to be realistic about how we take forward the issue.

There are opportunities to develop Casement Park in line with what the GAA and, hopefully, local residents want, because those residents have not been overly impressed up to now with the plans for the multipurpose stadium. I would be more sympathetic to a better project if the GAA were to tidy up its act.

The GAA does a lot of good work in the sporting fraternity, but there are cultural, constitutional and political elements to it. That is accepted by senior people in the GAA. If you read some of Brian McAvoy's statements, you will see that he accepts that it is not just about the sporting element. The rules dictate that, if you are a unionist, you cannot be a member of the GAA, because it is strictly an all-Ireland-based organisation. Read the rules: they speak for themselves.

The Member's time is up.

This is a sad, sad day for Gaels across the island. The developments over the weekend have compounded 13 years of frustration for those of us who believe in the potential for the redevelopment of Casement Park to be a huge win for Gaelic games, for those of us who treasure the power of sport and for the community in west Belfast. There was a huge opportunity to host a global sporting event in the heart of west Belfast with a spin-off economic, cultural, community and sporting multiplier effect that would have happened as a consequence.

The last match played at the park was over a decade ago, in 2013. Frankly, there should be an apology to the generation of footballers, camogie players and hurlers who have missed their chance to step on to the hallowed turf of Casement Park and play for their club, their county, their country, their community and their friends and family. It is a desperately disappointing and sad state of affairs.

I welcome the participation of all parties, particularly Executive parties, in the discussions today and would welcome answers to the serious questions that Gaels now have. It is not just about broken promises; it is much deeper than that. It is about more than the GAA or the Euros; it is about equality and fairness. The GAA runs through people like the letters through a stick of rock. It is core to almost 50% of us in this place and to who we are. When did Executive Ministers first know of the announcement? When did they know that it was coming, and what representations did they make to the British Government? What commitments had they sought? Why were the tender documents not issued in March when they were ready to go? What commitments have Ministers sought and secured on the financial commitment to Casement Park and the timeline for delivery?

I find it startling — startling — that a junior Minister has been sent out on the issue. Who has been leading on this in the Executive? Is it an Executive project? Is DFC or the Executive responsible, or has the issue been farmed out by the Executive and the First Ministers? The First Minister has been definitive that Casement Park will be built: can Executive parties outline what will be built and when? What will the Executive do to build the broken relationships between Gaels across the island and this Government? Trust is in tatters. With respect to the junior Minister who tabled the Matter of the Day, why are Ministers not here to answer questions? There are plenty of questions to be asked, but no one is here to answer them. Why?

This is a failure of government at virtually every level. Casement Park was never a UEFA project: it has been an Executive commitment for more than a decade. The collapse of government on two occasions for more than five years has had a catastrophic impact on delivering this showcase project. We must provide hope to Gaels in Antrim. We must provide hope to Gaels in Ireland and to the people of west Belfast.

The Member's time is up.

Casement Park must be built.

There are two clear issues before the House this afternoon: the fact that Northern Ireland will not host any of the games in the 2028 tournament and the redevelopment of Casement Park. They are distinct and separate issues, and I will deal with both.

First, for a proud supporter of our national football team, it should have been the stuff of dreams for the Northern Ireland national team to play games in the European Championships in Belfast. As I made clear at the time publicly and privately to the IFA, the way to achieve that was to deliver a football tournament at a football stadium. Instead, the IFA decided to embark on the process that it did, and we have ended up in a situation where not a single game — not a single game — across these islands will be played in Belfast. There are serious questions for the IFA as to why there was no plan B. There are serious questions for the IFA as to why we will, hopefully, cheer on the Northern Ireland football team in Dublin, Edinburgh, Wales and in a final in London but not in Belfast.

My party has been clear on Casement Park. It was a DUP Minister who announced a funding package in 2011 that fairly and equitably treated all three sporting codes in Northern Ireland. We stand over the commitment that we made then. We do not renege on that, and we do not expect others to renege on that and try to promote or lift one sporting organisation above another. In this place, we move forward together when everyone is treated fairly and equitably.

I will point out the reason that Casement Park has not been built. The fault does not lie on these Benches. It was not a DUP Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister who was forced before the then Committee for trying to bury a report that related to safety concerns. It was not the DUP branch on the Andersonstown Road that brought the issue to the High Court. Some of those shouting loudest about why Casement Park has not been built would do better to look at their own backyard.

The failure to build Casement Park in time for the European Championships is a vast and indefensible failure of the people of west Belfast and of everyone in this city and region and the entire island of Ireland. It would have been, by any margin, the most globally significant sporting event ever to take place in this region. There are multiple levels of failure. Number one is the UK Government's failure to properly deliver on promises made. Their preposterous rushing out of the press release on a Friday night is indefensible. Number two is the years of contradictory statements and lack of clear prioritisation from Executive Ministers. Yes, as my colleague said, collapsing the institutions for five years — half of the past decade — meant that decisions could not properly be made. I acknowledge that two SDLP Ministers progressed the project, including Nichola Mallon, who gave it planning permission in 2021

[Interruption.]

That is true: she did.

I also want to reflect on some of the, frankly, tragic statements from the unionist Benches today. I was one of the first people in the Chamber to talk about the possibility of bringing the Euros to Belfast. I wanted to see the economic impact on the west of Belfast and the whole city; it really would have been transformational. I know that Gaels in Ulster want to see Casement Park built, but let us be clear: the massive multiplier of having the European Championships would have been incomparable in terms of economic output. However, unionism today has stood up and repeatedly said, effectively, that it did not want to see the European Championships hosted

[Interruption]

at Casement Park. I have heard multiple Members say that they did not want to see Casement Park host the European Championships. That is the upshot. The truth is that there was no way to get Windsor Park up to spec in time for the European Championships. I am more than happy for the Member to explain to me at some point in the Chamber or elsewhere the realistic way to get Windsor Park up to spec, but I have heard no serious proposals. The only way to bring the European Championships here, to get that transformational football tournament here, was to build Casement Park.

Like Mr Honeyford, I wanted to see the transformational community impact of having Northern Ireland fans walk or get the train to Casement Park in the year of the 30th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. That, as well as the economic impact, would have been symbolic and hugely important. It is a tragedy that it will not happen. It is a profound, multi-level failure, but, what we need to understand now from the British Government, Executive Ministers and all interested parties is when Casement Park will be built, even if, sadly, we will not have the European Championships. We cannot have siren voices from certain Benches stop the project happening now. It needs to be built, but Executive Ministers and the British Government need to tell us when and how.

There are many reasons why Casement Park has not been redeveloped, many of which have been outlined in the House today, but there are two parts to it. Like Lord Elliott, I am not against the redevelopment of Casement Park in line with adequate and fair funding, as was announced in 2011 for all the sporting codes. That landmark decision could have transformed sports in Northern Ireland.

I will raise two points.

The first is the cost. A £400 million price tag has been put on the decision as to whether Casement Park should be redeveloped. I see Mr Honeyford shaking his head, but I honestly think that sometimes the House loses the run of itself and Members do not understand the priorities of people today. You may think that £400 million for the redevelopment of a sports stadium would be a great thing for Northern Ireland and would deliver tangible outcomes as a concert venue and sporting facility, but people's funding priorities are, to just name a few, waiting lists, childcare, special educational needs provision and pensioners' fuel payments. Mr Honeyford, I heard your passionate plea about the visions and priorities of the Alliance Party. Your Minister in the Department of Justice recently signed off spend of £13·3 million on a canteen at Magilligan prison, so do not come to the House and wax lyrical about where and how money should be spent appropriately. Look in your own backyard.

I will also not allow the narrative that the GAA is the poor man's cousin to be perpetuated in the Chamber. The GAA has a yearly income revenue of over £100 million. I am not against the redevelopment of Casement Park. I am not against a fair and equitable settlement from this place, as was committed to, but it must be done on a fair and equitable basis.

The Member who made the statement, Miss Reilly, mentioned building a state-of-the-art facility for Gaelic games. That, indeed, is the point. The Euros will have a legacy for football, which I would like to be redevelopment and an energy in our grassroots football fraternity in Northern Ireland for all communities.

The Member's time is up.

They should be adequately provided for.