The UK government cannot confirm whether it will provide funding for the Casement Park redevelopment until it knows the costs and sees revised proposals for the stadium, Hilary Benn said.

The Northern Ireland Secretary made the comments after the GAA expressed hope that a lower specification redevelopment project can be delivered without an excessive drain on the public budget.

GAA president Jarlath Burns said the organization was still planning for a venue with a capacity of more than 30,000, but said the set-up would be more “modest and basic” than what was envisaged when the stadium was designated as the host venue for Euro 2028 football tournament.

It is understood the GAA has now reverted to the plan it had in place for the Casement before it was selected as a Euro venue.

Mr Burns led a GAA delegation to a meeting with Stormont’s Communities Minister Gordon Lyons in Belfast to discuss the stalled project on Thursday.

In September, the UK government torpedoed hopes that the now derelict west Belfast venue would host games at Euro 2028 when it announced it would not cover the funding gap to carry out the redevelopment in time.

He said the risk to public money 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 more than £400 million.

The Stormont Executive committed to redeveloping Casement Park in 2011 as part of the stadium strategy which saw refurbishments for Windsor Football Park and Ravenhill Rugby Ground.

While the other two projects in Belfast continued, the Casement redevelopment was delayed due to 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 provided around £42 million to the project and said that funding remains in place even without the stadium being built for the Euros.

After the UK Government withdrew Casement as a Euro venue, Mr Lyons insisted the Executive 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 fill the funding pot for Casement Park, even though it would no longer be a Euro venue.

In a visit to Wrightbus in Ballymena, the Northern Ireland Secretary told reporters he was unable to confirm whether additional funding would be received from the Treasury.

“I welcome the fact that, according to reports, Jarlath Burns has said there will be a revised proposal for Casement Park,” he said.

“The Prime Minister said some time ago that we need to see an alternative proposal and I look forward to hearing from the Executive following those discussions 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 cost is. We don’t know what the gap is.

“But this has been a long-standing commitment by the Executive to ensure that Casement Park is built.

“But we have to take it one stage at a time and I look forward to hearing more about what this revised 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 Executive and the GAA about exactly what it is.

“But right now, it seems like 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 chairman said there was still no timetable for the delivery of the new stadium.

He said Mr Lyons would need to bring the GAA plan to the wider Stormont Executive for consideration.

“We have had a review of the type of stadium that will be built based on the fact that we are no longer receiving Euros,” Mr Burns said.

“He (Mr Lyons) took all that on board.

“It’s a significantly lower cost because we’ve taken a lot of the fit out to try and make it as low cost to the public money as we know there’s a lot of demand for the public. purse at the moment and we are 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 such a high standard of luxury that it will take money. from other important projects.”

He added: “We’re still looking at a capacity of over 30,000, we can do that with a simpler, more modest set-up because we think it’s very important that although we get our stadium, which is obviously part of the strategy stadium and infrastructure strategy and the Program for Government Priorities, let’s do this in a responsible way.

“We’ve managed to keep the number of people that will fit in it while still having a lower specification.”

Mr Burns said he did not want to release the latest cost figure for the rebuild because it was commercially sensitive ahead of a 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 she can deliver for us,” Mr Burns added.

The GAA chairman also indicated that his organization would not commit any further funds beyond the £15m it has already pledged.

Asked when he felt Casement could finally be delivered, Mr Burns said: “We don’t have a time frame to be honest, that’s in other people’s hands as we wait for the funding gap to be closed.

“Hopefully this can happen soon.

“That’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 reduce the funding gap.”