Communities Minister Cancels £40m Football Stadium Funding Plan For Northern Ireland

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has announced she is unable to progress the sub-regional stadia funding plan in the absence of a first and deputy first minister, citing the need for approval and sign-off for funding from the Executive before it could progress.

The Sinn Fein minister said she was committed to delivering the programme before the end of the mandate, stating “It is not my fault people walked out of the Executive. I had aimed this was to be done before the end of the mandate, but because some walked away, this can not now be done.”

First raised in 2011, the sub-regional stadia programme was intended to provide £36.2million of funding for football in Northern Ireland. Glentoran's Oval stadium redevelopment was due to receive around £10m, with a further £17m available to other Irish Premiership clubs with a 5,000 capacity.

IFA Championship clubs were due to receive £3m, with up to £500,000 available to clubs who applied. Another £3m was to provide “a single high quality facility” for intermediate and junior football, with a further £3m for a national training centre, with the intention to “support current talent and nurture future generations”.

The DUP said the scheme had been with the minister for two years and should have been progressed before now, with DUP MLA Peter Weir questioning why the money would need signed off by the Executive when it had already been allocated. He said the minister had the means to progress the project.

Alliance Party MLA Chris Lyttle said it was “devastating” the money could not be moved before the end of the mandate, saying “I’ve played, coached and been inspired by football all my life. I will not play politics with football. DUP and SF Ministers have both had the authority to release the £40m Football Stadia Fund. It will empower people across our community and must be allocated without delay.”

He continued: “We have been waiting over 11 years... and still clubs are waiting for that vital funding.

“Clubs could do so much good work and we could really need a way through this impasse.”

He said he had asked the minister to do all she can to approve the funding, adding: “It begs the question did the DUP think through that resignation now we have a block on vital funding for football clubs and communities across Northern Ireland.”

Stephen Dunne from the DUP said the move was “very disappointing” and said the minister had the authority to progress, adding that clubs: “… have been kept in limbo because of the minister’s dithering and delay.

“Even by her own admission there has been plenty of time for her to bring proposals to the Executive. This is a failure entirely of her own making.”