Maze Prison to be replaced by national sports stadium

Northern Ireland’s new national sports stadium will be part of a £1bn (€1.42bn) development planned for the site of the old Maze Prison, it emerged today.

Apart from the 30,000 seat showpiece arena, an international exhibition centre for showjumping events and rock concerts is also in proposals.

One of the jail’s controversial H-Blocks, where 10 republican hunger strikers died in 1981, is to be retained as well.

The 360-acre site near Lisburn in the Co Antrim countryside is bigger than Belfast’s commercial centre.

Plans are due to be put before Stormont Minister Ian Pearson early next week.

With blue-chip companies also being lined up for a section of the vast estate, strategists believe the economic boost from a project that could take 20 years to complete will be enormous.

“There’s the potential for 5,000 jobs,” one said.

The proposals have been drawn up by a panel appointed to transform the notorious jail, where republican and loyalist terrorists were held since internment in the early 1970s until its closure in September 2000.

Key elements of their vision include:

:: a 40-acre sports zone, including a stadium to be used by football, rugby and Gaelic associations.

:: an international conflict transformation centre.

:: a rural excellence and equestrian zone, with showgrounds and exhibition facilities.

:: an office, hotel and leisure village.

:: an industrial estate to attract significant inward investment.

:: artwork and sculptures throughout the site.

Transport networks would also be overhauled under the scheme, with new routes and a motorway link built. Work on this section, at a cost in excess of £20m, could begin as soon as the plan is agreed.

Although British government money is expected to be used, it would recoup some of its investment by selling off land set aside for residential purposes.

Sources believe the whole project will cost £1bn (€1.42bn) over the next two decades.

The most ambitious part of the package is a new stadium to host major outdoor sporting events.

Panel members believe their plans are more attractive than rival schemes suggested for Belfast’s Lough shoreline and the city’s Titanic Quarter.

With London lobbying for the 2012 Olympics, the facilities could be fully built at least three years earlier to take advantage of a successful bid.

“It could form part of the training area for athletes coming over for the Games,” an insider said.

“There won’t be enough room around London so Northern Ireland will be in there if this is up in time.”

The six-member group, nominated by Northern Ireland’s four main political parties and chaired by Ulster Unionist David Campbell, has been working on their blueprint since their appointment in March 2003.

With Democratic Unionist Edwin Poots and former Sinn Féin councillor-turned newspaper executive Mairtin O’Muilleoir also on the board, much of the political wrangling centred on the future use of the prison building itself.

Republican demands for it to be entirely retained as a museum were resisted, while unionists have accepted partial retention of the controversial prison.

One of the eight H-Blocks where paramilitaries were kept at the height of the conflict would be retained under the proposals.

It will be used to hold the public inquiry into the jailhouse murder of loyalist terror chief Billy Wright.

Conservationists from the Environment and Heritage Service also urged the panel to keep part of the prison during 60 submissions studied by the group.

“They wanted it listed after looking at the architectural and historical significance,” one source disclosed.

The structures that escape demolition would be kept neutral to avoid turning them into a shrine, sources stressed.

They would be located close to a special conflict transformation centre studying peace processes both in Ulster and the Middle East.

Experts in the field from places like Harvard University in the United States could be brought in to develop the project.

With its tourism potential a key part of the plans, the panel have suggested new hotels and restaurants for an on-site leisure village.

They expect huge numbers of visitors to both the stadium and a rural excellence zone, which could hold international exhibitions and major concerts.

“This could be an alternative venue, perhaps even bigger than Belfast’s Odyssey Arena, if an alternative market can be identified.”

Mr Pearson, as the Direct Rule Minister responsible for the project, is expected to give his verdict before Christmas.