Maze favoured for new NI sports stadium

The notorious Maze jail site has been identified as the only suitable location for Northern Ireland’s new national sports stadium, the British government said tonight.

Consultants assessing land where the Long Kesh prison once stood declared the grounds had scored better than two shortlisted Belfast areas: the Titanic Quarter and North Foreshore.

The North's Reinvestment and Reform Minister Ian Pearson said the others were considered too expensive for the planned 30,000-seater arena.

The stadium is the showpiece feature of a blueprint for transforming a grim and controversial legacy of the Troubles.

One of the infamous H-Blocks, scene of era-defining IRA hunger strikes, would be retained as part of the report prepared by the Maze Consultation Panel.