Anti peace centre petition

A joint statement, issued by MLAs Mike Nesbitt, Tom Elliott, Jim Allister and David McNarry, said: “We call upon Sinn Fein and the DUP to put an immediate halt to the project which sites a ‘Conflict Transformation Centre’ at the Maze. We also call upon Sinn Fein and the DUP to de-list and demolish the prison buildings.

“Over the course of a number of months we met and listened to innocent victims groups right across Northern Ireland. It is clear that there is significant opposition within these groups, the RUC George Cross Association, the Prison Officers Association and other organisations to the ‘Conflict Transformation Centre’ being built at the Maze and the retention of the hospital and H-Blocks. It is time for the DUP and Sinn Fein to start listening to the innocent victims of terrorism. The Maze site is the wrong location for a ‘Peace Centre’ where the whole focus will be on the prison and what happened within its walls. The DUP and Sinn Fein should move the Centre to another site so that the Maze redevelopment can go ahead unhindered by the toxic legacy of our past. OFMDFM will not publish the business case, although they admit it could cost the taxpayer £2 million in the first three years. OFMDFM will not publish their research, commissioned through Colliers and there is no openness or transparency regarding the level of public support for this venue. If they won`t listen to us, then the DUP and Sinn Fein should listen to the innocent victims.”

Lagan Valley TUV representative Samuel Morrison commented: “I know that there is widespread unease about the plans for the Maze site across Northern Ireland but this is magnified many times in Lagan Valley. The idea that terror tourists will be arriving in droves to see where Bobby Sands died. Mr Donaldson’s claims on the issue are sounding increasingly bazaar. Does anyone really believe that references to the Hunger Strikers will be banned? In fact, it has emerged in recent days that republican ex-prisoners already organise tours of the Maze site. This can only take place with the prior knowledge and agreement of Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness’s office.

“The fact of the matter is that the DUP deputy leader has warned that: ‘However it is dressed up, whatever spin is deployed, the preservation of a section of the H-Blocks - including the hospital wing - would become a shrine to the terrorists who committed suicide in the Maze in the 1980s’. That would be obnoxious to the vast majority of people and is something unionist people cannot accept. It is obvious that Lagan Valley DUP is engaged in the very spin the deputy leader of their party warned us against.

“This site has the potential to become a jewel in the crown for our economy, but sadly the true regeneration potential can never be realised whilst the retained buildings remain to blight on the landscape.

“The simple fact is that the potential inward investment to the site, with its unrivalled access to the motorway infrastructure make it a prime location, however, no investors will view this as home with a Mecca to republican violence on their doorstep. This could have been resolved should successive DUP DoE Ministers – including Mr Poots - heeded calls to de-list the H-Blocks. I have no doubt that this petition will receive widespread support in Lagan Valley. In the comings days and weeks Lagan Valley TUV will be collecting signatures and organizing a public meeting on this issue.”

The parties will be holding public meetings about the petition, which can also be signed online at http://tuv.org.uk/files/PETITION.pdf