The only thing that Northern Ireland can agree on is that we all find it difficult to agree on anything.
It’s not a new concept. One look through the history books will only too clearly demonstrate to those who look from the outside the differences of the past, and the differences that remain today.
Managing those differences and bringing them together to foster a community where all can share, respect and simply tolerate at a distance the views of a different perspective has been difficult to master.
If ever there was a location aptly named, it’s the Maze. A location Northern Ireland has been lost in for decades. It’s time a way out was found.
What we have had for the last 25 years is a catalogue of ideas put forward, some more appropriate than others, as to what should be done at the site of the former prison.
It would not sit comfortably with too many people were the site to be transformed into a peace centre – for it was a place which housed those who wanted anything but peace.
Turning the site into a museum is also deemed a non-starter. The crimes of those incarcerated within the walls are not something many wish to commemorate, let alone celebrate in such a fashion. It would be a wrong tone for a Northern Ireland which we all hope is looking to the future, not back on a past too many would rather forget. In 2006 demolition work began ahead of the proposed construction of a peace and reconciliation centre. Political rows saw that fall away too.
The site stands as a symbol of all that is wrong with Northern Ireland — an inability to make sensible, progressive decisions, to move on from a past that still makes its presence felt.
It remains a remembrance of the wasteland Northern Ireland was when the prison was filled to capacity. And a symbol of the political maze we have still to find our way out of.
A multi-sport stadium, and an office, hotel and leisure village, were among other suggestions.
The proposal for a sports stadium, signed off by the main sporting bodies, fell apart early. Too far out of Belfast, issues with infrastructure all brought forward. Had that gone ahead Northern Ireland would have a stadium, but at a fraction of the cost talked about for Casement Park — and that debate would never have caused the rows and frustrations it has.
Deciding on the future of the Maze is a difficult task, as the last 25 years have shown.
For now it stands as a reminder of the past – and of more recent missed opportunities as well.