With the UK economy in recession, some might expect those with plant machinery to sell will not receive many orders soon. But in Belfast, one high-profile project should keep the construction sector busy.
The scheme to redevelop Casement Park is a crucial project to enable Northern Ireland to host matches in football’s Euro 2028 tournament, although the venue in largely nationalist west Belfast will continue to host GAA sports most of the time.
Following the restoration of power-sharing at Stormont, the Republic’s government has announced €800m (£685m) funding for cross-border projects. Casement Park will get €50m, while the biggest item will be the €600m sum for upgrading the A5.
While the road project is bigger and may have a more lasting economic impact, the Casement Park scheme may be of greater cultural and cross-community significance as football moves to a venue hitherto exclusively associated with Gaelic sport, Northern Ireland’s home games having previously always taken place at nearby Windsor Park.
The UK government has not yet clarified its position on funding for Casement Park, but Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insisted the two governments have worked together on Euro 2028, which will also see games played in England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic.
He remarked: "It would be a shame if no games were played in Northern Ireland. Both governments are committed.”
While the diggers will be getting poised to move in on the A5 and Casement Park, far less work is planned on a sporting venue in the grounds of Stormont itself, even though it is due to make history later this year.
The Civil Service Cricket Ground is set to become a Test match venue in August when Ireland play Zimbabwe.
Until now, Ireland have played all but one of their Tests away, having staged their inaugural match against Pakistan in 2018 at Malahide near Dublin, an event that proved very costly due to the expense of using temporary stands.
