Loyalist and republican prisoners should be segregated, a review of safety at Northern Ireland's main prison has concluded.

The report, by former head of the Ulster prison service Sir John Steele, follows violent clashes between the two groups at the Maghaberry prison in Country Antrim.

However, ministers have insisted that the recommendations will not lead to a return to the system of segregation as previously used at the Maze prison.

Now closed, the jail came under fire as inmates virtually wielded control over their respective sections.

"No-one wants a return to the conditions that existed at the Maze where prisoners could intimidate and attack other prisoners and staff," said Northern Ireland security minister, Jane Kennedy.

"The government, prison management and prison officers remain firmly of the view that integration is the safest regime for prisoners and staff when prisoners conform and cooperate.

"But a small minority of prisoners have now refused that cooperation. They have set themselves against the regime in a way that compromises the safety of both staff and prisoners."

However, political parties from the province welcomed the report.

"The argument really is around the safety of prisoners within the prison and whether or not it's sensible to integrate prisoners who are politically and diametrically opposed to one another," said Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness.

"Outside, there is certainly a consensus among the public and among the political parties that the separation or segregation of prisoners is the sensible route to go."

William Smyth, prisoners spokesman for the Progressive Unionist Party, argued that separation would be seen as a logical step.

"I don't the prisoners will see it as a victory for themselves," he said.

"I think they'll see it as a victory for commonsense. It is sensible that prisoners who are diametrically opposed on the outside shouldn't be held together on the inside."