Hard to see Casement Park uniting two communities

I was listening to Micheál Martin on Morning Ireland the other day and I found it hard to contain my incredulity. He was on about his Shared Island project which has a lot to recommend it. If there is ever to be a united Ireland there has to be a prior meeting of minds and we are nowhere near achieving that happy circumstance. Our Northern/Unionist/Loyalist brethren are not yet up for any rapprochement that might be seen as a step towards unity. The Northern Assembly may be up and running but don’t read too much into that. Even a tolerant Irish rugby playing Ulster Scot such as Andrew Trimble has to be convinced.

The Irish government announcement of an €800 million investment in infrastructure that will provide benefits for people north and south of the border makes sense. The investment in Rail transport is probably long overdue, while it would seem that reconstruction of the A5 from Monaghan through Tyrone and Derry to connect with Donegal is something to be welcomed by all irrespective of political or religious persuasion. Though, I often wonder why every road in the country has to end up in Dublin. What would be wrong with a motorway from Derry to Tuam and on to Limerick and Waterford? Quite a bit of it already exists at the southern end.

But to get back to Micheál. It seems to me that the announcement of this investment is a bit premature (or as we say around here – a bit previous!). Clearly there have been discussions with the UK Government on the need to increase investment in Northern Ireland. That lack of investment by the UK has been manifest for many years and while Unionists might think they enjoy the favour of their friends across the water, the evidence does not stack up. Of course the Unionists did not help their cause by being such a recalcitrant and difficult partner for the UK government over the past number of years.

One would have thought that it might make sense to have brought the UK government along and see what additional moneys they might make available and what views or demands the Northern Assembly might have to make. But it does seem that our esteemed government was simply anxious to plough ahead. Perhaps the fact that local government elections are due in a few months was a factor. Announcing major investment is a good way to get people thinking positively and stealing a march on Sinn Féin is always something a government has to keep in mind.

The announcement was not exactly greeted with a ringing endorsement by Unionist politicians who had to walk a delicate tightrope between a stilted welcome and a caution that the Irish government did not have and could not have responsibility to provide financial support for public services and infrastructure in Northern Ireland. The DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson, while not exactly looking a gift horse in the mouth, made it quite clear that the responsibility for such investment lay with the UK government.

Jeffrey would be regarded as one of the more willing and accommodating Unionists and one with whom business could be done in terms of a future Shared Island, but he is also a committed Unionist dedicated to preserving for eternity his British identity and that of his Unionist brethren. There will be no border poll on his watch.

Rather ominously, in my view, he was quick to latch on to Micheál Martin’s commitment of €50 million towards the redevelopment of Casement Park as part of the joint government bid to attract the Euro 28 football finals to the UK/Ireland. He more or less rubbished the project and his colleague Jim Shannon in a Westminster Scrutiny Committee further poured cold water on any question of funding being provided to complete a project that is akin to the National Children’s Hospital in terms of escalating costs.

There is no way that a €50 million contribution as part of the Shared Island concept will bring a redeveloped Casement Park to fruition. Both the UK and Irish governments, the NI Executive and the GAA are committed to providing funding and it may well be the case that sufficient capital could become available. There might even be a fairy godfather/mother out there with some spare cash. Another JP McManus? (Poor JP, having seen the begrudgery that surrounded his generous gift of €32 million to the GAA clubs across the country may well keep his head down on this one).

But there is another obstacle to the development of Casement Park and it may well be more challenging to overcome that the simple matter of money. Casement Park and the GAA, perhaps to a lesser degree in more recent years, are anathema to a section of society in Northern Ireland. It is not all that long ago when GAA members were regarded as “legitimate” targets within members of the loyalist community and indeed were targeted by the so-called forces of law and order.

Admittedly it was a different time and there were circumstances where it was excusable in a tit-for-tat kind of way. Casement Park has lain derelict and decrepit in West Belfast for the past thirty years. Nobody took offence. The locals would of course have liked to see some development and community benefit while people elsewhere in the city could not be bothered and the GAA did not have the resources.

But if Casement Park is resurrected, it will give rise to fury, resentment, jealousy, antagonism and opposition. You may rest assured there will be unrest in the Stormont Assembly and the peace that has broken out between the First and Second (Equal!) Ministers will be tested to the limits.

Micheál Martin claims to be a man steeped in the traditions of the GAA. He should know that Casement Park is not just another sporting facility, a venue that will enhance an area of West Belfast badly in need of improvement. The ambition to build a venue that will prove vital to the success of the Euro 28 bid is laudable but it is also fraught with danger. Casement and his Park will be, in certain quarters, as a red rag to a bull.

The GAA will have to tread a very fine line if they are to keep this particular Belfast ship on an even keel. There can be no showboating. No gloating, just heads down and get on with the job of bringing all sides of the community along with them. No easy task.

It will be easy for the DUP and other Unionists to raise hares and pile up doubts about the wisdom of proceeding with a project that has no final costings and will not have final costings until the job is done. That’s the nature of construction. But at all times the hope would be that questions would be serious and reservations expressed in a moderate way.

Otherwise, this project could prove explosive. Perhaps I’m just incurably cynical but if I was the contractor on this project I’d be sure to have a good insurance policy against malicious damage.