3 July 2026

SDLP Opposition Leader Matthew O'Toole MLA has said Executive Ministers must urgently clarify the status of the Casement Park project after reports emerged of further scaling back on the stadium.

South Belfast MLA Matthew O'Toole said:

"First Minister Michelle O'Neill said very clearly Casement Park would be built on her watch but those words increasingly ring hollow. GAA fans in Ulster reading about plans for a scaled down stadium will look at the last decade and a half of delay and ask what it was all for.

"The SDLP will continue to strongly support the GAA in getting a stadium delivered but it appears clear that it will not be the stadium people were promised.

"As sports fans watch the joy and drama of the World Cup they will look forward to the European Championships in just two years which could have come to Belfast but now will not, they will increasingly lament the failure of our politics to deliver hopeful, tangible progress for this region and rightly imagine an entirely different future."

SDLP Newry & Armagh MLA Justin McNulty said:

"Despite 13 years of dither and delay waiting for Casement Park's reconstruction, Ulster Gaels are getting the short end of the stick because of Executive failures. This demonstrates a lack of vision, ambition, and delivery by the First Ministers and the Executive."