By james art The Northern Ireland minister made the comments after the GAA expressed hope that a lower specification redevelopment project could be delivered without unduly draining the public purse.
GAA president Jarlath Burns said the organization was still planning for a venue with a capacity of more than 30,000, but he said the equipment would be more “modest and basic” than what was envisaged when the stadium was designated as the venue for the Euro 2028 football tournament.
Of course, the GAA has now reverted to the plan it had for Casement before it was chosen as a Euro venue.
Mr Burns led a GAA delegation to a meeting with Stormont Communities Minister Gordon Lyons in Belfast to discuss the stalled project on Thursday.
In September, the UK government dashed hopes that the now derelict west Belfast venue would host Euro 2028 matches when it announced it would not overcome a funding shortfall to carry out the redevelopment in time.
It said the risk to the public purse of missing the tournament deadline was too great.
The government has also raised concerns about how the cost of the project has potentially ballooned to over £400m.
Stormont’s chief executive committed to redeveloping Casement Park in 2011 as part of a stadium strategy that saw Windsor Park football and Ravenhill rugby ground redeveloped.
While the other two Belfast-based projects went ahead, Casement’s redevelopment was then delayed by legal challenges from local residents.
The Stormont executive then committed £62.5 million to the Casement project.
The GAA has pledged to contribute £15 million.
The Irish government has offered approximately £42 million for the project and said that funding remains in place even without the stadium being built for the Euros.
After the UK government ruled out Casement as a Euros venue, Mr Lyons insisted the executive still remained committed to redeveloping the ground for the needs of the GAA.
On Thursday, Mr Benn was pressed on whether the Government was still prepared to top up Casement Park even though it would no longer be a venue for the Euros.
During a visit to Wrightbus in Ballymena, the Northern Ireland Secretary told reporters he was unable to confirm whether there would be additional funding from the Treasury.
“I welcome the fact that Jarlath Burns is reported to have said there will be a revised proposal for Casement Park,” he said.
“The Prime Minister said some time ago that we should see an alternative proposal and I look forward to hearing from the Executive after these discussions a little bit more about that proposal, including what the cost is, because I am not in a position to give a commitment today.”
“We don’t know what the price is. We don’t know what the difference is.
“But it has been a long-standing executive commitment to ensure that Casement Park is built.
“But we have to take it one step at a time and I look forward to hearing more about what this redesigned stadium looks like.”
Mr Benn added: “I would like to know what the cost of this revised proposal is and I look forward to hearing from the chief executive and the GAA exactly what it is.
“But right now it looks like it’s a very, very big gap.”
After Thursday’s meeting, Mr Burns said he was confident the project was a “priority” for Mr Lyons.
However, the GAA president said there was still no timetable for the delivery of the new stadium.
He said Mr Lyons would have to present the GAA’s plan to the wider Stormont executive for consideration.
“We looked at the type of stadium that would be built based on the fact that we would no longer be getting the Euros,” Mr Burns said.
“He (Mr Lyons) took it all on board.
“It’s a significantly lower cost because we’ve taken away a lot of the equipment to try and make it as low cost to the public purse as possible because we’re aware that there’s a lot of demand on the public purse at the moment and we’re responsible people and we want to make sure that when Casement Park is built, it will be built properly to safety standards, but not to a standard of too much luxury that will take money away from other important projects.”
He added: “We’re still expecting a capacity of over 30,000, we can still do that with more basic and modest equipment because we think it’s very important, even though we’re getting our stadium, which is obviously part of the stadium strategy and the infrastructure strategy and the Agenda for Government Priorities that we are doing it in a responsible way.
“We’ve managed to keep the number of people that will fit in it while keeping it lower spec.”
Mr Burns said he did not want to make public the final cost figure for the redevelopment as it was commercially sensitive ahead of the tender process.
He also said he wanted to discuss the plan face-to-face with the Northern Ireland Secretary to determine the government’s position on funding.
“I remain confident in Hilary Benn and what he can produce for us,” Mr Burns added.
The GAA president also indicated that his organization would not commit any additional funds on top of the £15m it had already pledged.
Asked when he thought Casement could eventually be delivered, Mr Burns said: “We don’t have a time frame, frankly, that’s in the hands of others as we wait for the funding gap to be filled.
“Hopefully that can happen soon.
“It’s really in the hands of the executive now and obviously in the hands of the British government and the Treasury to see what they come up with to fill that funding shortfall.”