H Block museum: Victims group seeks 'unambiguous commitment' from parties on Maze redevelopment
Victims group SEFF has thrown down the gauntlet to Northern Ireland’s political parties on the Maze prison – asking for “a clear and unambiguous commitment” that they won’t back an H-Block museum as part of any redevelopment of the site.
Kenny Donaldson, the director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), said politicians shouldn’t “even try to sell the same product re-branded”.
It comes after renewed speculation that a deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein may be on the horizon, after National Museums NI (NMNI) confirmed a “draft partnership agreement” with the body in charge of the development.
However, the DUP say their position has not changed.
In a statement to the News Letter, a party spokesperson said: “We are not aware of any new proposals for the Maze.
“We have long since acknowledged the economic potential of the site but unlocking that has been blocked because of a longstanding and principled disagreement about the listed buildings and their use.
“Those issues remain and our position remains unchanged”.
NMNI have said the discussions it has had with the Maze development board include “the interpretation of and access to the heritage buildings, including the Second World War hangars and the prison buildings”.
Any proposals for redeveloping the site would need approval from the First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly.
In 2013, then-DUP leader Peter Robinson withdrew his party’s support for redevelopment proposals after a groundswell of unionist opinion against it.
On Thursday, DUP minister Paul Givan said that there isn’t a shrine at the Crumlin Road Gaol, which is open to the public, and “there won’t be a shrine at the Maze either”.
Kenny Donaldson has warned against a “political u-turn”.
He told the News Letter: “We have noted the recent public discourse around a call for new impetus to develop the former Maze Prison site.
“We alike others want to see the economic and social regeneration of that space, providing new jobs and prosperity - that is without question.
“But we are clear that this cannot and must not include any political u-turn on a ‘Peace/Conflict Transformation Centre,’ which would also include the listed hospital buildings of the former prison.
"And no amount of re-branding of that concept will be acceptable no matter what oversight organisation or institution is involved.
"This is about location, location, location.
“The former Maze Prison and connected hospital buildings is Northern Ireland’s Spandau Prison, it is a site which will never command support from victims/survivors for such a project to advance.
“We are not against the concept of a Northern Ireland Troubles museum, and there are any number of other appropriate sites for such an initiative to be located eg Titanic quarter with the inbuilt transport infrastructure systems”.
Mr Donaldson added: “The innocent victims/survivors of terrorism have been consistently opposed to such a development and it is they who are the core stakeholder to be taken into account.
“We want to hear a clear and unambiguous commitment from each of our democratic political parties that they will not betray innocent victims/survivors of terrorism”
A TUV spokesman said the party “is very happy to commit” to the pledge.
He added: “We will fight any proposal which results in the buildings at the Maze being opened to the public.
"As highlighted by Jim today in the statement he reissued from 2007 the origin and rational for the listing of the retained buildings at the Maze makes clear that they are totally unsuitable for a museum and will inevitably become a shrine to terrorists.
"As Nigel Dodds memorably put it some years ago: ‘However it is dressed up, whatever spin is deployed, the preservation 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’.
“This has not changed”.
An agreement on how the former prison buildings are dealt with could open up the possibility of a full-scale redevelopment of the site, which has been on ice after widespread unionist opposition to the preservation of the H Blocks over 10 years ago.
The News Letter asked all of the main political parties for a response to Kenny Donaldson’s comments. Only the DUP and TUV responded.