Doubts set in over North's Maze stadium plan

A national sports stadium for the North on the site of the old Maze prison today looked to be dead and buried – at least for the foreseeable future.

Two successive DUP Sports ministers have failed to press ahead with the plan first mooted under direct rule.

Now current minister Gregory Campbell is refusing to deny a report he is poised to pump million of pounds into renovating Windsor Park, the Belfast home of the Northern Ireland soccer team.

Providing millions for Windsor Park – the Irish Football Association has a scheme involving an initial £10m to upgrade the dilapidated ground to the international standards being demanded by FIFA – would put a national stadium way down the line if not scuppered completely.

Certainly there would be no stadium in place to enable Northern Ireland to play a part in the 2012 Olympics as initially planned by Westminster ministers.

Many soccer fans had been unhappy with the idea of a trek out to the Maze for internationals at state-of-the-art facilities which would be shared with rugby and Gaelic games.

Despite growing demands for an answer, Mr Campbell is refusing to show his hand before the Assembly returns from its long summer holiday.

A spokeswoman for him said: “The minister plans to make a statement to the Assembly in early Autumn and will not be commenting on speculation prior to that.”

The money for Windsor is said to be part of a deal with Sinn Féin which would see the DUP agreeing to a conflict resolution centre at the Maze while the stadium was again reviewed.

In theory this would clear the way for the construction of homes, retail and leisure facilities on the site also planned for the 360 acre site.

Whether developers lined up to lead the construction would be interested without a stadium is a moot point.

Ulster Unionist MLA Basil McCrea branded the move as “a squalid example of shabby double dealing”.

The Lagan Valley representative said: “The DUP has sold sport down the river. They have destroyed the national stadium dream at the same time effectively backing a shrine to terrorism.”

This comes as the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) is expected to hand its special report on the status of the IRA Army Council to the British and Irish governments tomorrow.

The document will be passed to the main political parties and then published by mid week.

Around this time talks are also expected to get under way between the leaderships of the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin.

Discussions between party officials are understood to have settled on talks being held on Thursday – though today it was signalled that may be brought forward.

Sinn Féin and the DUP are divided over a series of issues, including the future of the Maze prison site and education reform, but the most pressing dispute is their split on plans to devolve policing and justice powers to Stormont.

Republicans have warned they will pull their ministers out of the power-sharing government if progress is not made soon.

Under the terms of the St Andrew’s agreement that paved the way for devolved government in Northern Ireland it was envisaged that justice powers would be transferred from London to Stormont in May of this year.

The DUP blocked the move and has insisted it will only agree to establishing a new justice ministry when their is sufficient confidence within the unionist community.

Earlier in the summer the parties revealed they had made progress on the issue and the IMC was tasked to compile a special report on the IRA’s Army Council.

The Provisional IRA decommissioned its weapons in 2005 and its members have since been ordered to pursue their political goals through purely peaceful means.

But on Friday DUP leader Peter Robinson said the continued existence of the IRA’s command structure represented a threat and a barrier to political progress.

The political atmosphere has soured since the summer announcement that Sinn Féin and the DUP had made progress and that they had agreed on having a single justice minister, as opposed to a joint office.

Since then the Alliance party has said it will not play the role of an agreed third party to hold the new ministry.

Sinn Féin’s threat last week to withdraw from government also sparked retaliation from Mr Robinson who said if the continuing deadlock prevented a cabinet meeting planned for September 18, there would be serious consequences.

The September 18 Executive meeting also coincides with the counting of votes in a by-election on Fermanagh District Council where the DUP’s Economy Minister Arlene Foster is fighting to hold on to a DUP seat.