Stormont’s £800,000 flags report ‘still on shelf’ three years later

An £800,000 Stormont report aimed at resolving disputes over flags and bonfires has not been implemented almost three years after it was published.

Report of the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition (FICT) was released in December 2021.

A task force created to analyze his proposals has not met for more than two years.

The Executive Office said the FICT report will be considered as part of a review of its community relations strategy.

Professor Dominic Bryan, co-chair of the commission, said he was “disappointed that it did not move sooner”.

“There are certain areas where we have had agreement across all political parties, such as bonfires, where progress could really be made,” he said.

The professor at Queen’s University Belfast said he hoped the report would not be left “on a shelf”.

“We put a lot of resources into it, people put a lot of time and effort into it,” he said.

“Having reached a cross-party agreement, I really think it’s worth keeping and continuing.”

Stormont’s executive office set up the FICT in 2016 in an effort to address disagreements over a range of identity and cultural issues such as flags and bonfires.

When the report was released, the Executive Office said a working group – involving junior ministers, advisers and officials – would “continue to meet” to review it.

The task force met once in January 2022 before the Northern Ireland power-sharing government collapsed later that year.

It has not been reconvened since the Northern Ireland Executive restored in February after a two-year hiatus.

Alliance Party assembly member Paula Bradshaw, chair of the Executive Office’s scrutiny committee, expressed concern at the lack of progress.

She has introduced a bill that seeks to implement some of FICT’s proposals on flags.

“While absolute consensus was not reached on every issue during the FICT process, there was absolute consensus that the status quo was unacceptable,” she added.

The commission was formed under Agreement for a new beginning.

Its 15-member panel, which involved political and non-political appointees, consulted with many stakeholders and community groups.

It was due to report in December 2017 – 18 months after its establishment.

But its business was hit by the collapse of devolution in January 2017.

Its findings were finally presented to the Stormont executive in July 2020, but were not published until December 2021.

The papers are 168 pages long and contain 17 chapters that look at a range of areas including identity, flags, bonfires, murals, memorials in public spaces.

Regarding flags, the commission said it had not reached an agreement on amending the legislation regarding the placement of flags on lampposts and other street furniture.

But he said there was “widespread agreement” on elements of a possible “code of practice”, such as keeping flags away from interfaces.

At campfires, the commission recommended that only wood be burned, and that the gathering of materials be limited to the six weeks before the pyre is lit.

In the absence of consensus at Stormont, flag regulation appears to be taking place elsewhere.

Property lawyer Philip Armstrong said flags are banned from new housing developments by what are known as “restrictive covenants”.

These legal rules contained in property deeds can cover a wide range of areas.

But Mr Armstrong said they were now being used “routinely” in connection with flags.

“I would say that in most new construction properties, we see restrictive covenants that prohibit the display or display of flags, banners or emblems,” he said.

“I think this is a sign that developers are particularly realizing that for the future attractiveness of development and properties for sale, the absence of those political emblems can be a real advantage.”

Stormont’s Executive Office is the joint department of First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly.

In a statement, a spokeswoman said: “The recommendations of the FICT report are being considered as part of the ongoing review of the T:BUC (Together: Building a United Community) strategy.

“This will ensure that the cross-cutting and far-reaching impacts of the issues covered by FICT will inform wider thinking on good relations.”