The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein this week clashed over controversial plans to build a national sports stadium on the site of the former Maze/Long Kesh prison.

In 2006 it was announced that Unionists and Nationalists had agreed a package of proposals for the former prison site where Bobby Sands and nine other Republicans died on Hunger Strike in 1981. The ambitious proposals included a conflict transformation center and a national sports stadium to include GAA sports, soccer and rugby.

However, despite Unionist parties initially pledging support for the project they have since attempted to distance themselves from the proposals.

Culture Minister Gregory Campbell, one of the most hardline DUP politicians opposed to sharing power with Sinn Fein, announced on Monday that he might scrap the Maze/Long Kesh project. Speculation that he could ditch the Maze/Long Kesh site and instead provide money for the refurbishment of existing sports stadiums has angered Republicans.

However, Campbell announced that after discussions with GAA, soccer and rugby chiefs, he is now prepared to announce his decision on the fate of the former prison.

"As a result of those discussions and other discussions I have had, I am now in the position where I am able to furnish my Executive colleagues with a paper which should end the uncertainty," he said.

"And then begin what I believe would be a fairly significant and substantial progress towards the establishment of ensuring that the needs of all those sports are met.

"Whether they are met in one way or another way - but they need to be met."

However, Sinn Fein Assembly member Paul Butler, who spent 15 years as an IRA prisoner and shared a cell with Sands, warned his party would resist any attempt to build a stadium away from the Maze/Long Kesh site.

"The reality is there will not be a stadium built with Executive approval unless it is built at the Maze/Long Kesh site," he said.

"The DUP and Gregory Campbell cannot dictate where the stadium will be located and Sinn Fein's ministers on the Executive will ensure they do not dictate the location."