Letter on Maze controversy
03 March 2012
Letter as published in today's News Letter:
Dear Sirs,
In June 2007, on behalf of the DUP, Nigel Dodds MP rightly observed, “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.”
Now, however, we are facing the obscenity of a so called ‘Conflict Transformation Centre’ built around these same IRA citadel buildings where Sinn Fein boasts their terrorists will tell their stories. This is what former IRA prisoner, Raymond McCartney MLA, said this week: “The listed and retained buildings including an H block, the prison hospital, visitors and administration blocks, will be open to the public. There will be the opportunity for the many stories of the gaol to be told.” No one should doubt the script: the glorification of ‘the IRA struggle’.
Significantly, this week Peter Robinson – with Nigel Dodds beside him - also gave voice to the idea of victims telling their stories at the Maze. The Sinn Fein/DUP choreography is obvious. Parity of esteem for the victims and those who made them victims. Are we supposed to be grateful? What a travesty!
The DUP climb-down is but the latest example of what Sinn Fein wants, Sinn Fein gets.
If there is a case for a ‘Conflict Transformation Centre’, then why not build it elsewhere, rather than where it is guaranteed to be blighted and tainted by the toxic Maze buildings? The answer is obvious: Sinn Fein will not agree to it going anywhere else, so the DUP meekly concedes! This is how Sinn Fein/DUP rule works.
Yours faithfully,
Jim Allister MLA
TUV Leader
