'Frustration' as more than half of Maze prison site requests blocked

Rebecca Brownlie said she has sought permission several times to visit the former prison

The first and deputy first ministers have approved fewer than half of requests to visit the former Maze prison site since Stormont was restored.

The site near Lisburn has been in limbo for 12 years due to a political stand-off that stalled a £300m regeneration plan.

Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) must both give permission for visits to the site.

Their Stormont office said requests are considered on a "case-by-case basis", but the Alliance Party said the stalemate was "letting the whole community down".

A total of 20 requests to visit or use the site were submitted to the Executive Office (TEO) since Stormont's devolved government returned in 2024, according to a Freedom of Information response, with eight of those approved.

It comes as a Stormont body - Maze Long Kesh Development Corporation (MLKDC) - set up to develop the site has questioned the "purpose of it continuing to exist".

Rebecca Brownlie, an author and photographer who chronicles derelict buildings, said she has sought permission several times to visit the prison.

But she said her requests over the years were "ignored".

"It's frustrating because I'm going through the right channels," she said.

"And for them just not even to give a response as to why - it's just like hitting a wall."

The former Maze prison near Lisburn closed in 2000

What happened to the Maze prison?

The 350-acre site is one of Northern Ireland's largest development sites in public ownership.

It held paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles and was the scene of republican hunger strikes in 1981 when 10 inmates starved themselves to death.

The high-security jail closed in 2000 and while most of its buildings have been demolished, some were retained.

In August 2013, Stormont's then first minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson blocked a plan to build a peace centre.

It followed pressure from unionists who claimed the site would become a "shrine to terrorism".

Republican IRA and INLA inmates died during a hunger strike in the prison in 1981

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, then deputy first minister, said no further development would take place until the dispute was resolved.

Some parts of the site are being used, with the Air Ambulance and Ulster Aviation Society based there and the Balmoral Show agricultural event held annually.

But plans for wider regeneration have remained in limbo.

Its development body has previously said the site could bring £800m of investment and up to 14,000 jobs.

Maze closure 'a shame'

The approved requests included tractor and running events.

However, 12 did not receive permission. These were mostly filming requests from media organisations, as well as from an academic research programme and a running event.

Ms Brownlie, from Moira, County Down, said it was "such a shame" that the prison remained closed to the public.

"It should be opened up as a museum for people like myself or anyone interested in the history to go and visit," she said.

A security review was carried out at the former prison some years ago after young people broke inside to record TikTok videos.

Ms Brownlie said "that makes it more frustrating" when her requests through the formal processes have been "stonewalled".

Alliance Party assembly member David Honeyford said the "huge" economic potential of the site had become a "wasted opportunity"

Alliance Party assembly member David Honeyford said the "huge" economic potential of the site had become a "wasted opportunity".

He said Sinn Féin and the DUP had "failed to show political leadership, refusing to face difficult issues head-on and unlock the site's potential".

"This political stalemate is letting the whole community down," he added.

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."

Stormont body questions existence

Meanwhile, a Stormont body set up to redevelop the site has questioned the "purpose of it continuing to exist".

The Maze Long Kesh Development Corporation (MLKDC) was established in 2012 but its work has been hampered by the continuing political stalemate.

In March its chief executive told a Stormont committee its role had been "essentially limited to health and safety".

Recently published minutes of its board meetings show further concerns behind the scenes.

At their meeting in September last year, the board said MLKDC was "not being allowed to operate in the manner and for the purposes it was set up".

They said this "calls into question the purpose of it continuing to exist" as a non-departmental public body.

First and deputy first ministers Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly

A new six-member board was appointed in November 2023 for a five-year term.

But two members have since stepped down, and there has been no permanent chairperson for more than a year.

Minutes of a meeting in April recorded that members said this "did not represent good governance" and was "not what they had signed up for".

At an earlier meeting, the chief executive of MLKDC said TEO was "failing to fulfil its statutory obligations".

A TEO spokesman said the Stormont department "recognises the valuable work of the MLKDC and the huge potential of the site".

"Options for the way forward with the site, including further appointments to the board, are under consideration," he added.