‘I have no money for Brandywell until 2015 at earliest’ Sports Minister

She claims to have written to Derry City Council explaining this.

Furthermore, she says that although a process has been put in place to take forward sub-regional stadium development should funding become available in future, this is being developed by the Irish Football Assocation (IFA) with the help of SportNI.

Derry City FC, the Brandywell’s landmark tenant, significantly play under a different association, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).

Londonderry MLA Colum Eastwood asked the Minister what progress has been made on the business case for Brandywell Stadium.

She replied that she was aware of a Business Case to examine options for the development of the Brandywell Stadium, Brandywell Showgrounds and the Daisyfield.

But she added: “I have written to Derry City Council to explain that Government funding is not currently available to support stadium development at sub regional level.

“By way of background, a process has been put in place to take forward sub-regional stadium development should funding become available at that time.

“The IFA, with the help of SportNI, are developing a draft Strategic Outline Case (SOC) outlining the areas where sub-regional funding might be

required.

“This will provide initial statements of strategic aims, business needs and project objectives. Once completed the SOC will be considered by the Department and DFP who assess if the proposals merit the production of Outline Business Cases (OBC) for the various projects within the sub-regional development programme.”

She said these OBC’s will be used to inform possible bids for funding in the next Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) period.

That means there will be no funding from her Department for the Brandywell until after the current CSR period in April 2015 at the earliest.

However, she suggested dialogue between the local authority and DCAL officials concerning some of the proposed development.

“Nevertheless, I have suggested that Derry City Council meet with DCAL Sports Branch officials and SportNI representatives to discuss the Showgrounds and Daisyfield aspects of the planned development which have specific socio-economic and equality implications beyond sub regional stadium considerations,” she stated.