THE DUP chairman of a Stormont committee has described Casement Park's redevelopment project as "shambolic and dysfunctional".
Nelson McCausland, chairman of the Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee, said the 60 million project to redevelop the west Belfast GAA stadium "has the potential to fall apart".
The committee is holding an inquiry into safety concerns surrounding the proposed new stadium.
Mr McCausland said concerns had been raised more than two years ago that a 38,000-capacity crowd will not be able to leave safely in the event of an emergency.
"For that reason a new stadium might be able to hold 38,000 people and yet it might only get a safety certificate for 18,000," he said.
"This issue was flagged up more than two years ago and yet after two years of project development work the designers and architects have still failed to find a resolution."
He added: "Could it be that it is impossible to construct a stadium of this size and ensure adequate emergency exiting if all the exits are on one side of the site?"
Mr McCausland questioned claims from culture minister Carl N Chuiln and senior departmental officials that they had only recently become aware of the seriousness of the emergency exiting issue.
"Were they oblivious to all the warnings that were put before them, did they not understand the issues or were they under anaesthetic?" he said.
Today's session of the inquiry will hear from Sir Nigel Hamilton of the Irish Rugby Football Union and Jim Shaw from the Irish Football Association.
Mr McCausland was criticised by a separate Stormont committee this year over his handling of a key contract in his former role as social development minister.
The social development committee concluded that the North Belfast MLA was "politically motivated" when he sought to extend maintenance firm Red Sky's multi-million pound contract with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
Mr McCausland branded the inquiry a "witch-hunt".
