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BELFAST-The Northern Ireland Office of the British Government has unveiled plans to convert Northern Ireland's most notorious prison, the Maze, into a euro 175-million (£225.4-million) sports and leisure complex. The site spans 360 acres outside Lisburn. A new masterplan envisages a 42,000-seat sports stadium, a multiplex cinema, an upmarket hotel, restaurants, indoor equestrian center and an ice rink. Also in the mix is what is being termed an "international center for conflict transformation."
Most of the jail's H-blocks, which housed IRA prisoners, will be bulldozed but the hospital block will be kept. The block marks the place where 10 IRA prisoners starved themselves in a bid to draw international recognition of their cause. The block has a preservation order.
The government-backed plans have already met opposition from the Belfast council, which argues that any new stadium should be built in the city rather than 10 miles away. The government counters that the Maze site is the only one large enough to attract all three major sports in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland office minister David Hanson, who unveiled the plans, says delivery depends on the support of the main political parties including Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists. "The opportunity exists to turn security and military assets, so long associated with conflict, into symbols and engines of economic and social regeneration, renewal and growth," he states. "This is the only site that can attract all three sports required to make a stadium operationally viable. It's time for Northern Ireland to get behind this project, a project for all of Northern Ireland."
The sports stadium is central to the project, and Hanson launched an architectural competition for its design yesterday. A new junction on the M1 motorway and a link road have been incorporated into the plans, as well as a park-and-ride scheme and a new railway station.
The proposed international center for conflict transformation will be based in H block one and the prison's hospital wing, both listed buildings. The center was crucial in ensuring that Sinn Féin supported the scheme. Its representative, Paul Butler, says: "Sinn Féin's primary concern has been to see the preservation of part of the Long Kesh site because of its historical importance to the wider community."
The long delay in unveiling the masterplan for the site has been interpreted in some quarters as evidence that the government is meeting resistance. If built in time, the stadium could host football matches as part of the 2012 London Olympics.
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