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Hundreds of thousands spent on preserving buildings at the site of the former Maze Prison has been criticised, when compared to the “neglect” of the home of ex-prime minister Sir James Craig.

TUV MLA Timothy Gaston lamented a “tale of two listed buildings”, describing Craigavon House as a “beautiful building central to the history of Northern Ireland and its founding”.

He told MLAs during Members Statements at the Assembly on Tuesday that in contrast the Maze is “an ugly group of buildings judged to have no architectural merit”.

Craigavon House in east Belfast, which dates back to 1880, was home to Sir James, Northern Ireland’s first prime minister in 1921.

It also hosted anti-home rule rallies as well as meetings of the first provisional government of Northern Ireland before going on to become a hospital for the Ulster Volunteers returning from the First World War and later being used as a nursing home.

It is currently owned by the charity the Somme Association which has been working to secure funding to restore the building.

Mr Gaston hailed the history of Craigavon House, adding that the Ulster Covenant was first read from the steps of the property.

“In spite of the promises contained in the New Decade New Approach agreement it had been sadly left to wreck and ruin,” he said.

Meanwhile, he told MLAs that the Historic Buildings Council judged the surviving buildings at the Maze Prison, including an H block and the former hospital where republican hunger strikers died in 1981, to have “no architectural merit”.

While some development has taken place on the wider 347-acre site near Lisburn, including the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society becoming an anchor tenant and moving the annual Balmoral Show to the venue, there has been no agreement at Stormont on a full regeneration plan.

There has been strong disagreement over the former prison buildings.

Mr Gaston told MLAs that £324,000 has been spent on upkeep.

“Why? To keep an IRA shrine up to standard,” he said.

“Keeping those obnoxious buildings offers nothing for future generations, keeping these buildings is blocking regeneration of this site, keeping these buildings is stopping inward investment and job creation.

“A Stormont which preserves one listed building associated with those who want to destroy Northern Ireland, while leaving the other associated with the founders of Northern Ireland is indeed not one delivering for unionism.

“I want to see inward investment, I want to see development at the Maze, but that cannot happen while the hospital wing and the associated buildings connected with that shrine are left in place.”