Plans for a 35,000-seater sports stadium at the site of the former Maze prison in County Antrim are finally to be unveiled at Stormont.

The GAA, IFA and Ulster Rugby have all confirmed they would play at the stadium and have signed a document estimating minimum numbers of supporters they would hope to attract annually.

The proposed stadium designed by HOK Sport, the company which also designed Wembley, will be shown to members of the Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee, and questions will be posed to the NI Assembly Sports Minister, Edwin Poots.

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The stadium business case should have been ready for the autumn but the deadline passed, now the business cases for the stadium and the entire Maze site should be with Finance Minister Peter Robinson by the end of this week.

Senior civil servants have recommended the Maze plan goes ahead, but, unless the plan gets the backing of the DUP's Assembly party, Mr Robinson will find it virtually impossible to proceed.

Plans - supported by Sinn Fein - to retain an original H-Block cell wing and the former internment camp's prison hospital as a 'Conflict Transformation Centre' have led to a luke-warm response from the DUP on the overall project.

See: Maze decision time for Sports Minister

(GK)