Architect is confident that peace centre will go ahead

“I’m certainly not new to projects which have a content which could be considered controversial to people. Bringing peace is not an easy thing,” said Mr Libeskind.

“I’ve seen that pause button in every project.

“But in every one of those instances, the building was able to forge a path towards the future,” he added.

Mr Libeskind came to international prominence when he designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin - a twisted zig zag building described by some critics as iconic.

In 2003 he won a competition to oversee the Master Plan for the buildings and memorials to be erected on New York’s Ground Zero - his Memory Foundations plan sought to achieve a balance between honouring those who died in the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 and symbolising new hope for the city.

In 2011 he agreed to help select designers to work on the redevelopment of the former Andersonstown police station in west Belfast and in 2009 he received an honorary degree from the University of Ulster, when he expressed his admiration for Belfast’s transformation, calling the city an incredible place.