TUV: 'Unlock the potential of the Maze Long Kesh site by bulldozing the problem - the prison buildings'
The full economic potential of the almost 350 acre Maze prison site should be unlocked immediately - by bulldozing the contentious remaining prison buildings, it is claimed.
The debate on the future of the site came after a photographer's failed attempts to access the Maze Long Kesh site.
The prison was used to hold loyalist and republican terrorists during the Troubles and was the location for IRA hunger strikes, in which 10 prisoners died.
The prison closed in 2000 and while most of its buildings have been demolished, some were classed as listed buildings and retained.
In 2013 the DUP blocked a plan to build a so-called ‘peace centre’ at the site after terror victims objected that it would become “a shrine” to IRA terrorists who died on hunger strike.
Some of the 347-acre site is used by the Balmoral Show, the Air Ambulance charity and the Ulster Aviation Society, however a large part remains derelict.
The site falls under the remit of the Maze Long Kesh Development Corporation, established in 2011.
Rebecca Brownlie, a photographer who chronicles derelict buildings, sought permission several times to visit but said her requests were “ignored”.
“It's frustrating because I'm going through the right channels,” she told the BBC.
A spokesman from the Executive Office (TEO) said: “Applications for access to and use of the site which fall outside the terms of existing leases/licence agreements are considered on a case-by-case basis.”
Lagan Valley Alliance MLA David Honeyford called for the full site to be opened immediately.
“It's an absolute disgrace and a wasted opportunity that the site remains unused – just as wasteland – and that people are having to come and ask for permission to go there. That needs to end,” he told the BBC.
“The Sinn Fein-DUP vetoes need to stop, and we need to get on with delivering the site and the benefits of it for Lagan Valley and for the wider Northern Ireland.”
North Antrim TUV MLA Timothy Gaston responded that the full potential of the site should be unlocked – by bulldozing the remaining prison buildings.
He added: “Yes, let’s unlock the potential of the Maze site but let’s do so by bulldozing the problem – the prison buildings.”
He said a speech by his party leader in 2007 was a “timely reminder of just what the issues are in this case and why innocent victims could never accept the opening of the prison buildings”.
In his speech, Jim Allister said that the process of listing the prison buildings had “bizarrely” not been equality proofed.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, he found the buildings had failed the usual criteria of architectural interest but were listed on historical grounds instead.
H-Block 6 was involved in "the dirty protest" and also saw 38 inmates escape in 1983 – an incident in which a prison officer was shot in the head.
A report also stated that the prison hospital “has historical significance due to its role in the hunger strike protest where numerous prisoners died”.
Mr Allister added: “Little wonder that the original request for listing came from Sinn Fein/IRA’s Paul Butler – a man who served time in the Maze for killing an RUC officer!”
A TEO spokesperson said the site is not routinely open to the public.
"Applications for access to and use of the site which fall outside the terms of existing leases/licence agreements are considered on a case by case basis,” it added.
Sinn Fein was also invited to comment.