Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Gaelic Athletic Association with regard to increasing the £15 million intended to contribute towards the redevelopment of Casement Park in Belfast; and how much the overall project is currently estimated to cost.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Department for Communities in Northern Ireland is responsible for the procurement process for the redevelopment of Casement Park, including direct engagement with local partners on their funding contributions.

We are working closely with partners in Northern Ireland to make sure that EURO 2028 leaves a lasting legacy across the whole United Kingdom.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to release the Levelling Up Fund Round 3 allocation ring-fenced for Northern Ireland.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

Further announcements will be set out in the usual way.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Ministry of Defence has spent in each of the past five years on surveillance operations to protect the network of undersea cables serving the British Isles from sabotage by hostile actors; and what proportion the government of the Republic of Ireland has contributed towards the cost of those operations.

Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Government takes the security and resilience of our critical infrastructure very seriously and we focus on the full range of threats and risks. The responsibility for maintaining subsea cables is a commercial one for the owner-operators. However, the Department for Science Innovation and Technology and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero work closely with the operators, regulators and other stakeholders to assess risks and ensure that the appropriate mitigation measures, including the provision of specialist capabilities are in place to enable an effective response to actual or potentially disruptive incidents.

The Ministry of Defence constantly monitors activity within UK waters and its Exclusive Economic Zone to counter and deter detected threats. British warships frequently patrol throughout the UK marine area. We have invested in our under-water capabilities able to monitor and assure the seabed including the Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance (MROS) programme which we do not comment on in detail. These capabilities are used for a variety of purposes and roles meaning that we cannot provide a cost for surveillance.

Questions on critical national infrastructure are for individual nations to answer, therefore any questions on Irish subsea cables should be directed to the Irish Government.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Defence or the Minister for Armed Forces attended the meeting between the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Micheál Martin, the Republic of Ireland’s Minister for Defence, in London on 13 December 2023; and what defence-related matters were discussed.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Neither the Secretary of State for Defence nor the Minister for Armed Forces attended the meeting in question. The Foreign Secretary and the Tánaiste discussed a wide range of foreign policy, defence and security matters, including international development, peacekeeping, the Israel-Gaza conflict, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the shared threat we face from malign state actors.