Immense potential of former Maze site needs to be unlocked – O’Neill

By Jonathan McCambridge, PA

The “immense” potential of the site of the former Maze prison needs to be unlocked, Michelle O’Neill has said.

The First Minister was speaking during a visit to the Balmoral Show, which takes place at Balmoral Park near Lisburn, which occupies the site of the former prison.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly stressed that the site could only be developed when political consensus is reached.

Plans to develop the grounds in Co Antrim, which held scores of paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles, have not progressed in several years.

While some of the site has been utilised for the annual agriculture show and by the Air Ambulance charity and the Ulster Aviation Society, a large part of the grounds – including where the former prison buildings stand – remains derelict.

The DUP blocked plans to build a peace centre at the Maze in 2013 over claims it would become a “shrine to terrorism”.

The former prison only comprises part of the 347-acre site that falls under the remit of the Maze Long Kesh Development Corporation, established in 2011.

Ms O’Neill said the “social, economic and reconciliation potential of the site is immense”.

She said: “You only have to look at this event. It brings people from all quarters who come together to celebrate something fabulous about our society.

“I think the potential of this site is something that we need to unlock.

“Obviously that is only going to happen with a political agreement.

“I hope we can get to that point. Certainly, I am determined to try and get us to that point.”

Ms Little-Pengelly said: “Ultimately the site will move forward with consensus.

“That consensus will have to be obtained before it can move forward.

“But we have got some great organisations here on the site.

“We are right beside the Air Ambulance, they have set up here and been here for a number of years.

“We are working with them looking at the possibility of a permanent presence here.

“The Ulster Aviation Society, absolutely fantastic, I have worked quite closely with them, a really great collection attracting many, many thousands of visitors every year.

“And of course the show and other activities that happen here as well at the Eikon Centre.

“There is a lot of really good things that are happening, sometimes people do talk that down too much, but I am here to really be a champion for them.”

More than 100,000 people are expected to visit the site over the next four days of the Balmoral Show.