LAST UPDATE | 11 hrs ago

LEADERS ON BOTH sides of the border have urged all partners to “find a way” to complete Casement Park in Belfast.

The Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the opportunity to build the stadium should “be seized”, while the Tánaiste Simon Harris warned against looking back to see that the moment was “squandered”.

The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and other Cabinet members travelled to Co Armagh today to attend the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC), where economic issues are set to dominate the agenda.

They met with Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly for the council’s 29th plenary meeting.

It is the first meeting between the Cabinet and the new Executive since the Government was formed in January.

The meeting saw O’Neill outline a view that it is now time for all those involved to sit around the table and find a way to start and complete the stadium project.

Earlier this month, a UK Government pledge of £50 million for the development of the west Belfast GAA stadium was included in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spending review.

However, that pledge still leaves the project far from its funding target under current plans.

Plans for a 34,000-capacity stadium at the site have been mired in uncertainty because of a major funding gap.

Stormont ministers committed £62.5 million to Casement in 2011, as part of a strategy to revamp it along with football’s Windsor Park and the rugby ground at Ravenhill.

While the two other Belfast-based projects went ahead, the redevelopment of Casement was delayed for several years because of legal challenges by local residents.

The estimated cost spiralled in the interim.

Speaking at the meeting in Armagh, O’Neill said it is time for all partners to “find a way to complete” Casement Park.

“We all have a role in making sure we get to that point,” O’Neill said.

Asked if the GAA should reconsider the plans for the west Belfast stadium development based on existing commitments for funding, O’Neill said the stadium is now more expensive than if it had been built “a long time ago”.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said it is “now over to the GAA” to set out their expectations on their own contribution to the west Belfast stadium and any potential revisions to the development.

But she said there was a “significant amount of need” in other sporting areas across the region with other facilities also needing to be upgraded. This mean that any

She added: “We need to do so with fairness and equity.

“They are sitting on, I think, approximately £161 or £162 million worth of public spending.

“It’s now over to the GAA to decide can they cut their coat according to their cloth, or what their expectations are in relation to their own contribution.”

She added that the GAA can “do a huge amount” with existing funding commitments for Casement Park, and that the GAA should indicate what its contribution increase should be.

International trade shocks were also high on the agenda, with both governments discussing the potential impact of US tariffs on their respective economies during the summit.

With reporting from PA