Work started today to demolish the infamous Co Antrim Maze Prison. Old Nissen huts where hundreds of men were once detained without trial 35 years ago were flattened this morning in the first stage of a process which will take more than a year to complete.
The 365-acre site near Lisburn, Co Antrim, which was first known as Long Kesh, is being cleared for a proposed new £55 million Stg sports stadium as well as an international centre for conflict transformation which will include one of the old H-Blocks and the former prison hospital where 10 republican prisoners died on hunger strike in 1981.
David Hanson, the Northern Ireland Office minister in charge of the vacant complex, looked on today as workmen began clearing the dilapidated former internment compound which was used to imprison hundreds of men detained in police and Army raids on nationalist areas of the North in August 1971.
The jail, which was closed down following the early release of prisoners as part of the 1998 Belfast Agreement, had, he said, long been associated with conflict. But he added: "Clearing the site will be part of the mission to transform it into a symbol of economic and social regeneration, renewal and growth."
Apart from the sports stadium where major soccer, rugby and Gaelic Athletic Association matches will be played, there are also plans to develop an industrial zone as well as arts and equestrian centres.
The demolition will take more than a year to complete and the British government intends pushing ahead with the new sports stadium despite fierce opposition from Northern Ireland soccer fans and Belfast City Council who would prefer it to be built in Belfast.
Stage two of the demolition process will begin early next year and will involve clearing away the prison's cellular section, which will include all but one of the H-Blocks. Concrete will be crushed and recycled in the new construction.