Colum Eastwood sat on the British Government backbenches in Westminster on Wednesday

Transcript

00:00It's great to see the House so full for Northern Ireland questions, and may I congratulate

00:05all colleagues recently elected in Northern Ireland. I met the First and Deputy First

00:10Ministers twice in my first four days, where we discussed a wide range of issues. This

00:15included the Government's commitment to repeal and replace the Legacy Act, and I plan

00:20to update the House shortly on how we will begin that process.

00:24Adam Joget

00:25Thank you, Mr Speaker, and can I say it's very good to see my friends from Foyle and

00:28South Belfast down on this side of the House.

00:31The GAA is overwhelmingly a force for good across Ireland, and I was pleased to see so

00:35many in Britain enjoying the magic of the hurling final via the BBC on Sunday. GAA fans

00:42in Northern Ireland, like Northern Ireland football fans awaiting some regional stadium

00:46funding, have been let down by a decade of storm and dither by sniping, like we've just

00:51seen, and by the last Government. Had they greenlit the project when they said they would,

00:55construction would have been well underway in time for the Euros. Can the Minister give

00:59an assurance that Casement will ultimately be built and that spectacles like we're going

01:03to see this Sunday for Armagh will, in time, be hosted in Belfast?

01:08Lord Bates

01:09Well, I think we all look forward to wishing well to Armagh in the all-Ireland final. The

01:17executives committed to the Casement Park project. It's been a commitment for, I think,

01:21over a decade now, but it hasn't progressed. Windsor Park got an upgrade, Ravenhill got

01:26an upgrade, and it's important that Casement Park is built, which is why I said on my recent

01:32visit that, one way or another, that project needs to be completed.