The early release of convicted terrorists has been a dominant theme of the campaign.

Des Browne, Labour MP for Kilmarnock and Loudon, recently visited the Maze

STANDING in my wig and gown in the High Court in Glasgow last April, I would never have imagined that barely a year later I would be debating politics with convicted IRA terrorists in Block H7 of the Maze.

Yet that was precisely what I was doing at 11am on April 28. I was drinking coffee with Patrick Wilson, the OiC of the Provisional IRA in the Maze, and his second-in-command, Harry Mc- Guire.

The last time I saw Harry McGuire it was on television. He was wielding a starting handle on top of a car containing two British soldiers who had accidentally turned into an IRA funeral procession. As I watched the screen in horror, the soldiers were dragged away and murdered. Now here was I, engaged in conversation, with one of their murderers.

My late career change from advocate to MP has opened up many doors for me. One of the most remarkable was this visit to the Maze as a member of the Northern Ireland Select Committee. Given the important role played by the paramilitary prisoners and their associated political parties in the Good Friday agreement there could scarcely have been a better time to make this trip.

The first thing that I noticed about the prison was the strong smell of antiseptic that hits you as soon as you enter. The second was a poster forbidding the carrying of all weapons. A number of the prison officers carry legal weapons for their own security. Despite the dangerous nature of their job in the prison, none of them is armed at work. Their guns are left in the armoury at the main gate. This poster serves as a powerful reminder that prison officers in Northern Ireland put their lives at risk every day.

Throughout a tour of the Maze one cannot escape this fact. The men who operate the electronically-managed doors controlling entry to and from the individual H-blocks, work in rooms made of steel, entirely sealed off from the rest of the block. Even the windows of the rooms are covered with sheets of reinforced metal. Such conditions are necessary. The steel was put in place because in the past prisoners have set fire to the control rooms during riots.

However, to a visitor, the initial atmosphere in each wing is surprisingly tranquil. Whether we were in the loyalist or republican blocks the prisoners welcomed the opportunity to talk to British politicians. The atmosphere of welcome was but one of the stark contrasts between the Maze and other prisons that I have visited.

As I passed from the loyalist to the republican wings I was struck by the fact that, consciously or unconsciously, the two factions had adopted very different styles of dress code. While the republican prisoners dress mostly in casual wear, the unionists opt for a slightly more formal look. The republican wings were spotlessly clean but with a somewhat untidy, more lived in look. The loyalist wings were regimented in their appearance. The floor of the UVF wing of Block H2 was so highly polished that I felt a sense of guilt in case my shoes scuffed the surface.

The majority of the republican prisoners were studying for degrees; at least three of them were researching for PhDs. The loyalists, on the other hand, were comparatively less committed to education but almost all of them made full use of the gym facilities.

Terrorism is armed propaganda. After the reintroduction of internment in the 1970s, the paramilitaries used the prisons as schools for propaganda. The wings of the H-blocks are marked with small-scale copies of the artwork that adorns the gable ends of the houses in Belfast. Their reading material is all highly politicised.

That prisoners dress as they choose, decorate their cells as they wish and educate themselves are all part of a carefully negotiated arrangement with the authorities.

That arrangement also allows the prisoners to deploy their own military style command structure. Within each wing there is a hierarchy of power and those at the top are in complete control.

The absolute nature of the command was sharply reinforced when Patrick Wilson arrived to speak to some of the members of the Committee. As soon as he appeared all the other younger prisoners, without any prompting, instantly disappeared. Their reluctance to answer our questions was replaced by Wilson's assured and confident replies.

Popular opinion within the UK may be against such a regime but without it the prison would be unmanageable.

The Good Friday Agreement was only possible because the democratic constitutional parties reached an agreement in the interests of all the people of Northern Ireland.

However, no proper appreciation of the sea change in Ulster politics can be arrived at without recognising the crucial role played by the paramilitary prisoners. They have come a long way in embracing constitutional politics. Many of the dramatic changes that have swept Northern Ireland politics are due to the debates and discussions of the terrorists inside the wings of the Maze.

''Thirty years of violence have delivered nothing for anyone. Power sharing, cross border bodies, the fairness agenda and a respect for others culture are all crucial to peace. My movement and my people are all for it.''

This was the parting shot of convicted UDA prisoner, Bobby Philpotts, as I left block H2 of the Maze.