BY JAMES SAVILE-SODYM, OUR BRITISH GOVERNMENT BRIGHT IDEAS CORRESPONDENT

THE OLD H-BLOCKS, scene of so many dramas during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, may have a new lease of life if a British Government proposal to reopen the prison to house sex offenders comes to fruition.

The prison, long closed, is situated on an old airbase at Long Kesh. It was opened as an internment camp in the early 1970s, and then turned into what was continually described as the most secure prison in Europe, that is until 38 IRA men escaped in 1983.

The plan for a sex offenders prison would see some of the H-Blocks reopened with the rest of the site turned into a music event stadium for bands like the Wolf Tones. Prisoners would be known only by a number to keep their anonymity. And they would wear a green, white and orange prison uniform.

Previous plans for the site have come to nothing over the years, so it’s not clear whether this new initiative will gain traction or join its predecessors in the graveyard of ideas that has been much of Westminster’s policy in Northern Ireland over the decades.