THERE is a view that the fatal breakdown in trust between the DUP and Sinn Féin can be pinpointed exactly to August 2013, when former DUP leader Peter Robinson penned a letter to party members from his villa in Florida, putting a freeze on the Executive's agreement to develop the Maze Long Kesh site.
What has been forgotten is that this letter was mainly an attack on the UUP and its then leader Mike Nesbitt, for criticising the proposed peace centre and the preservation of the surviving H-Block and prison hospital as "a terrorist shrine".
The peace centre and prison buildings plan was signed off by the UUP in the first place, Robinson noted, yet the 'moderate' unionist party was now criticising the DUP for being soft on terrorism.
Also forgotten is that Sinn Féin had staged an IRA commemoration parade in Castlederg in August 2013 in a blatant attempt to stir the pot.
This, plus the UUP attacks on the DUP, were major stories at the time and combined with the brewing welfare reform crisis to tip Robinson over the edge.
But even in his rambling, petulant letter, complete with a paragraph in shouty capitals, Robinson did not reject the plan.
He merely announced the DUP would veto it until consensus had been re-established, in the party's view, on the plan as it stood.
That plan involved preserving the H-Block and prison hospital in isolation with no associated Troubles exhibits, then building a stand-alone peace centre at a pointed distance away, all to avoid the impression of the prison buildings being at the centre of a 'shrine'.
It is clear from the letter that Robinson was only engaging in his trademark tactic of buying time with an arcane manoeuvre, until the disputes of that summer had blown over.
Given the perception this ultimately blew Stormont over, there is obvious significance to moves around the Maze over the past few weeks.
Sinn Féin was permitted to inspect the prison buildings, although such access is supposedly impossible and officials will not explain how it was granted.
Nesbitt, still a UUP assembly member, has told Radio Ulster there is "merit" in opening the prison buildings to the public, angering unionist victims groups and no doubt causing Robinson to hit the metaphorical Caps Lock key again.
Most notably the Maze Long Kesh Development Corporation, the quango set up by Sinn Féin and the DUP to deliver the executive's plan, says it has "set aside" the peace centre to "focus on a much broader strategy" for regenerating the site.
Nobody can explain where the authority for this came from either.
It is fair to suggest moves are afoot to defuse the Maze issue before it menaces a resurrected Stormont.
Anything Sinn Féin and the DUP can now agree as a way forward would be a fitting and revealing start to a new political relationship.
Robinson's letter might not be the worst place to start. It should be re-evaluated as a stalling tactic that went wrong, rather than a withdrawal of DUP consent for the original proposals.
Perhaps the larger problem is that those proposals are bland and piecemeal - a compromise designed by a committee.
Returning to them six years after the heat of the controversy, they look like an expensive box-ticking exercise.
We should aim for better. As renewed controversy is certain, a more inspiring vision may be essential to make the project's case.
The very concept of the peace centre needs to be questioned. It is meant to be a place for the study of conflict resolution, attracting international scholars.
Why would any student or academic pursue this at a glorified visitor's centre rather than at Northern Ireland's universities, both of which have dedicated peace and conflict departments?
What records would be kept there, when there is a purpose-built new public records office at Titanic Quarter?
The DUP did not want anything that looked like a Troubles museum anywhere at the Maze site, let alone near the prison buildings.
Yet the best way to contextualise the prison - that is, to 'de-shrine' it - might be to incorporate it into a Troubles museum.
Belfast has indicated it does not want such an amenity, despite the huge visitor interest it would attract. The City Council is pursuing a conventional history museum instead.
The lack of a Troubles museum in Northern Ireland is glaring, indicating a society still far from at peace with itself.
Ironically, it would make a much better peace centre than the proposal now 'set aside'.
newton@irishnews.com
