The Strategic Investment Board and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure have been pitching the Maze Stadium proposal to football fans this week at meetings around Northern Ireland which included a presentation made by Mr Tony Whitehead of the SIB followed by a Q&A session.

Among the facts seeping out was the revelation that DCAL would not allow the SIB to consider 3 separate venues (although there was no indication that they asked to), for example by upgrading existing facilities. The whole aim of the project was to facilitate integration through a "shared space," signifying clearly that this, primarily, is a political and not a sporting project.

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Another issue that arose was that the 3 sports signing up as tenants to the stadium will make financial commitments for 20 years, based on how much use they are likely to make of the stadium. The GAA are anchoring the stadium with the biggest annual contribution, followed by the Irish FA with £500,000/year. The IRFU will be paying a smaller fee as they are expected to make minimal use of the stadium. One football fan expressed concern that after the 20 years in the contracts were up, other parties would be free to move back to their own grounds. This probably wouldn't be an option for the IFA, as without their contribution to maintenance, it's unlikely Linfield could afford to stay there and may move to a smaller ground in another location. So what happens if the major tenant, the GAA , decides it no longer wants to contribute a large sum of money to a stadium owned by the British government when they have potential alternatives that they own (its not entirely unreasonable given the mutterings that the GAA are reluctant partners in the first place). Without the main anchor tennant, the stadium would no longer be self-financing and either the government sells it off or the taxpayer foots the bill.

It also emerged that 50 acres of usable land was available at the North Foreshore of Belfast Lough and further land could have been decontaminated at a cost of £10-20m. According to the speakers at the meeting, the GAA would only accept a stadium at the Maze on "safety" grounds, so the fact that the other 2 sports both specified a preference for a stadium in Belfast didn't matter.