Northern Ireland Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon has announced she is recommending the approval of a plan to redevelop Casement Park GAA stadium in Belfast.

Over 11 years ago, Ulster GAA first unveiled its intentions to build a major new provincial stadium and they later confirmed Casement Park in west Belfast was the preferred venue.

Planning approval for a 38,000-capacity stadium was given in 2013 but a year later that approval was quashed in a High Court legal challenge brought by some residents.

Further setbacks came in 2015 when a safety expert claimed the planned stadium could not be evacuated safely in certain emergencies and a report found "broken" relationships behind the scenes.

In 2017, Ulster GAA submitted new plans, including reducing the stadium capacity from 38,000 to 34,000. 

"This has been a complex application and it has been a very, very long time under consideration," Mallon said.

"I have carefully considered all of the representations and I believe this will be a landmark stadium, it will be transformative for gaelic games, it will be transformative in terms of the economy of west Belfast and Belfast more generally and I believe it will be truly transformational in sporting terms, in social terms, in economic terms for the whole of Ulster." 

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill tweeted: "More than ten years since the Casement Park project was announced and more than seven years since Antrim Gaels had a home. We finally have a planning decision over the line. Great result."