Patrick Nelson has lent his voice to calls for the release of the long-awaited sub-regional funding programme to football in Northern Ireland.
The Irish FA chief executive has also disputed Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey’s assertion that the fall of the power-sharing Executive at Stormont means the package has to be shelved.
Rather, Nelson claims a further delay or cancellation of the monies can only be agreed with the Executive’s approval, meaning the funding can - and should - be proceeded upon.
He also says the association had previously aired its concern to senior officials in the Communities department at the “lack of engagement” from the Minister.
In an official statement issued on the Irish FA website, Nelson reiterated the view that “football in Northern Ireland needs investment”.
He noted that the original package of £36m - now thought to be well short of football’s requirements in 2022 - was originally mooted more than a decade ago.
And he pointed out that recent research has shown that the Northern Ireland economy benefits to the tune of approximately half a billion pounds because of football.
“Football is a game that unites communities,” said Nelson. “It raises aspirations, improves people’s physical and mental health, not to mention generating employment and income crucial to people’s lives.
“We see this every day through the different programmes of work we deliver and our Social Return on Investment (SROI) results, released last year with UEFA, confirmed that we add around a half a billion pounds to the Northern Ireland economy.
“The Sub-Regional funding was a commitment by the NI Executive made 11 years ago.
“It was then reaffirmed in the ‘New Decade, New Approach’ document in 2020, where the NI Executive stated it would advance with plans to complete both the Regional and Sub-Regional stadia programmes including Casement Park.”
On Minister Hargey’s claim that the fall of the Executive had effectively detonated the £36m, Nelson said: “Whilst we note the Minister for Communities comments, it is only the Executive that can unwind on this commitment and cancel this funding unilaterally.
“We have been part of a structured group including officials from the Department for Communities, the Strategic Investment Board, Sport NI, the Chief Leisure Officers Association (CLOA) and NIFL for two years.
“This group was geared to progressing the implementation of the sub-regional investment programme and the group met as late as last week.
“We have previously expressed our concern to senior department officials on the lack of engagement from the Minister on reviewing the outputs from this group.”
While funding for Casement Park in West Belfast is unaffected by the absence of a functioning Executive, Nelson says he has no issues with the GAA project proceeding.
But he insists the sub Regional programme should also proceed given it was “part of the same Executive commitment” as part of the ‘New Decade New Approach’ deal in 2020.
Nelson said: “We are fully supportive of the Casement Park project and will support all efforts in making this happen.
“It is a project the GAA community has waited too long for and that it fully deserves.
“We note with interest the Finance Minister’s comments and, given that both sub regional and Casement Park are part of the same Executive commitment, we expect that his confirmation of funding extends to the sub regional programme too.”
On the original £36m pot now being insufficient for football’s needs more than a decade later, he added: “Given the 11 year delay on fulfilling these commitments, we expect that any additional resourcing requirements needed will be made available for both projects.”
Earlier today, NIFL chief executive Gerard Lawlor branded the shelving of funding as a "slap in the face" for football in Northern Ireland.
He also claimed NIFL would consider all possible avenues to source essential finance for stadia improvements and redevelopment, including taking their case to the British and Irish governments.
Of the £36m allocated to local football in the sub-regional programme, £10m is earmarked for the redevelopment of Glentoran's Oval stadium.
A second strand of £17m was allocated for other Irish Premiership clubs who could host fixtures with a 5,000 capacity, while Championship clubs were set to receive a total of £3m.
A further £3m was to be put towards "a single high quality facility" for intermediate and junior football, with a similar value set aside for a national training centre.
