In yet another example of the Executive’s dysfunctional nature, a report from the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition has sat untouched and gathering dust on a Stormont shelf for the past three years.
Originally launched in 2016 and given renewed life in 2020 with the New Decade, New Approach initiative, the Commission’s 169-page report - compiled at a cost of £800,000 and finally published at the end of 2021 - looked at a range of areas, including identity, flags, bonfires, murals and memorials in public spaces. It concluded that there was “widespread agreement” on the elements of a possible “code of practice”, such as keeping flags away from interfaces.
Now the Alliance MLA, Paula Bradshaw, is trying to blow that dust away by introducing a private member’s bill in the Assembly. The bill proposes a regulatory framework to enable the display of emblems on street furniture, such as lampposts, poles and safety barriers, within an agreed code of conduct. It does not extend to private property.
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It is a poor reflection on our political leaders that such proposed legislation has not come from the Executive, but from an individual MLA. The Executive’s failure to act on this issue suggests that it considers the matter neither urgent nor important.
Ms Bradshaw points out that her intention is to build on the recommendations of the 2021 report, which is what the Executive should be doing. Her Display of Flags and Emblems bill has now gone out for a 12-week public consultation.
It can only be assumed that Sinn Féin and the DUP, the Executive’s two main parties, are relatively happy with the current unregulated miscellany of flags, emblems, posters and bonfires in public places.
Are they perhaps concerned that regulation might cost both of them electoral support?
Of particular concern is the erection of flags near new housing developments, which is effectively a way of staking a claim for new territory by one sectarian side or the other. It is hardly representative of the type of society which the Good Friday Agreement set out to create.
It can only be assumed that Sinn Féin and the DUP are relatively happy with the current unregulated miscellany of flags, emblems, posters and bonfires in public places
While regulating the display of flags and emblems will not necessarily reduce the level of sectarian division, it would at least provide a framework for mutual respect and understanding.
One of the most dispiriting sights in our society is flags, often reduced to mere rags, flapping on lampposts. They signify distrust and disrespect. As long as they are not subject to any form of regulation, they will not just symbolise division, they will perpetuate it.
For that reason, a mature society might reasonably be expected to offer widespread public support for Ms Bradshaw’s proposed new legislation. That support should be spearheaded by unanimous approval from the Stormont Executive.
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