A penny for Stormont’s gaol security costs…
Almost three decades since it closed (for prisoners, that is), Belfast’s Crumlin Road Gaol is still racking up costs for Stormont.
Large parts of the former prison are in use for history tours and live music events. It can even be used as a wedding venue, if that’s your cup of tea. Recently, part of Crumlin Road Gaol was transformed into a whiskey distillery.
That said, two former prison wings, B and D, as well as what were once warders’ cottages and the prison healthcare buildings, remain vacant.
Stormont is responsible for the overall protection, restoration and maintenance of the site, as well as for bringing the vacant parts back into active use.
Ironically, figures have shown the biggest expenditure relating to the site in recent years — some £744k — went towards security.
Who’d have thought keeping people out of a prison that is now closed could cost so much?
Councillor Gary McKeown on the Lower Ormeau Road
Lamps loss sparks lightbulb moment
Last month, the Belfast diary noted how one city councillor, the SDLP’s Gary McKeown, had taken umbrage with a decision to remove some ornate street lamps on the lower Ormeau Road.
This was because it was apparently “too expensive to keep them” and that they were to be replaced with “unpainted, galvanised columns”.
Now, it seems saner heads have prevailed and the Department for Infrastructure has made a U-turn after having a (street) lightbulb moment.
“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to get the ornate street lamps on the Ormeau Road saved,” said Mr McKeown. “It’s ridiculous that work had started to rip them out in the first place, so this is a victory for common sense.”
Belfast’s Glider service
Storm stalls statement
It appears that Storm Eowyn caused more than power outages and fallen trees when it hit Northern Ireland last month.
The storm also managed to impact Belfast’s long-awaited Glider route from the north to the south of the city, which was first announced back in July 2021.
Former Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd was due to make a statement on the project on January 28, but this was “postponed due to the severity of Storm Eowyn and its consequential impact on citizens in the North”, Mr O’Dowd’s successor, Liz Kimmins, said in recent days.
“A revised date for announcement will be agreed in the near future,” she added, “and I would not wish to pre-empt the contents of this statement.”
It is unclear why a written statement on the Department for Infrastructure’s website, or on social media, would not have sufficed.