North's sports minister denies stadium conflict

The North's Minister for Sport Edwin Poots has denied that he is at odds with his party the DUP in the row over whether a proposed sports stadium should be built on the site of the old Maze jail.

Mr Poots was on holiday during reports that senior DUP figures are opposing the proposal, which he had earlier endorsed as a member of the panel that recommended the Maze.

Mr Poots, whose constituency includes the Maze site, reached agreement with the other parties over the stadium proposals.

The proposals include a centre for conflict transformation on the site of the prison hospital where the 10 hunger strikers died in 1981.

Although the building is listed, the DUP wants that status repealed and MP Nigel Dodds has claimed it would be turned into an IRA shrine.

Mr Poots denies his party is putting pressure on him to oppose the Maze site saying he will make up his mind objectively.

The sporting world is badly split on whether it should be sited there or in Belfast.