The Five Demands

Maze decontamination cost £8.5m (Belfast Telegraph)
Stormont chiefs should get expert advice before taking ownership of further military bases after the cost of decontaminating the Maze prison site soared to over £8.5 million, a critical report has said.
The Northern Ireland Audit Office probe said £20.8 million has been spent on redeveloping the site, though major work is still needed before it can be put to new use.
The slow progress in redeveloping six former security force sites that were handed to the Stormont Executive eight years ago was rapped in the report.
But the document highlighted the impact on the Stormont purse of decontaminating former military bases where the presence of fuel spills, lead, asbestos or harmful chemicals has been found.
The audit report raised concerns over the extent of soil tests carried out on the adjacent Maze Prison and Long Kesh army base before the site was transferred to the ownership of Northern Ireland ministers.
“Our review of documentation offered little detail regarding the extent to which OFMDFM (Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister) carried out due diligence checks on the sites to establish the extent of remediation work that would be required following their transfer,” the report said. “This is surprising given a condition of transfer was that `the Executive must bear the cost of making the sites ready for use as and when they are released’.”