Proposed legislation on the placing of flags and emblems on public property aims to “deliver the right balance” between expressing identity and protection from intimidation, an MLA has said.
South Belfast representative Paula Bradshaw was speaking as a 12-week public consultation was launched on her Display of Flags and Emblems private member’s bill.
The bill proposes a regulatory framework to enable the display of emblems on street furniture, such as lamp posts, telegraph poles and safety barriers, within an agreed code of conduct.
It does not concern private property.
Private member’s bills are introduced by individual MLAs but are scrutinised in the same manner as other proposed legislation and must receive the support of the assembly if they are to become law.
Ms Bradshaw said the display of flags and emblems on street furniture was an issue “frequently raised” with her constituency office.
She said the display of “intentionally exclusive flags” near new housing estates and the recent erection of posters expressing racial hatred reinforced the need to act on this issue.
The Alliance MLA said Stormont’s 2021 report by the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition offered a “clear road map upon which my proposed legislation seeks to build”.
“My proposed legislation seeks to deliver the right balance – recognising the right to express identity and culture while ensuring symbols displayed for the purpose of intimidation or exclusion are swiftly removed,” Ms Bradshaw said.
“At heart, this is fundamentally about ensuring Northern Ireland is a society in which the freedom to express identity is respected and promoted, but so is the right to live free from intimidation and discrimination in any form.”
Ms Bradshaw urged “anyone, regardless of their views” to respond to the consultation.
A Stormont report aimed at addressing disputes over flags and bonfires has not been implemented almost three years since it was published.
Chaired by Queen’s University Belfast acadamic Dominic Bryan, the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition’s report was released after a two-year delay.
It cost £800,000 but none of its recommendations has been implemented.
