£100m plan for Maze prision site

An estimated £100m (€117m) is to be invested in the redevelopment of a site including a prison which once held IRA hunger strikers.

The man in charge insisted today the massive construction project near Lisburn in the North was about more than just the controversial history of the Maze/Long Kesh.

Some unionists have called for the H block cells and hospital where republican hunger strikers like Bobby Sands died to be flattened over fears the buildings could become a shrine to their memory.

Chairman of the corporation behind the development Terence Brannigan said: “There are people out there writing their own script, everybody seems to have a version of what is happening.

“There is not a script at this moment in time written, most people are misinformed.”

He said proposals were still being considered by the North’s First and Deputy First Ministers.

Organisers of the development hope for £100 million (€117m) investment in the site by 2016. The first sod is due to be cut this autumn for a new conflict reconciliation centre, with work due to be complete two years later.

The £100 million (€117m) is a mixture of private and public sector money and includes spending on the development of the road network, the establishment of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Show, money from Europe for the reconciliation centre and potential Heritage Lottery funds.