Executive failure to meet until September will hurt local sport

2.15.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 23rd Jul 2008

Alliance Culture, Arts and Leisure spokesperson Kieran McCarthy MLA

Alliance Culture, Arts and Leisure spokesperson Kieran McCarthy MLA has said that the Executive's failure to meet between mid-June and September will be very damaging for local sport with no further progress on a multi-sports stadium. His comments come after yet another Executive meeting was cancelled yesterday.

Opposition MLA Kieran McCarthy stated: "This situation is a total disgrace. Northern Irish sport will suffer because we need a multi-sports stadium to make top level sport financially viable. It is alarming that the Executive will not have met between mid-June and September.

"The Executive are letting local people down and are causing big problems for local sport because they have done nothing to make progress on building a multi-sports stadium.

"The Northern Ireland football team needs a decision taken quickly to ensure they have a larger and more modern stadium for them to play in after the World Cup qualifying campaign.

"We also saw a clear sign of the need for a shared multi-sports stadium for Northern Ireland on Sunday when Fermanagh played Armagh in the Ulster Senior Football Final in Clones. We need a stadium with the capacity and facilities to hold such a big event here, and we need it urgently.

"If the Stormont Executive does not maximise the potential of the Maze site, then how can the public believe in the parties involved to deliver the jobs and investment Northern Ireland needs to boost our economy. The Executive is failing on many issues, and the fact that it will not meet to discuss the Maze shows that its cares little about the future of sport here."

ENDS