In the exclusive Malone area of south Belfast, GAA flags appeared at the weekend.

In leafy Helen's Bay, on the north Down coast, loyalist flags have emerged .

A concerned resident of the Malone Road told the News Letter: "This is a neutral area and people very much appreciate that.

"These flags are as unwelcome as loyalist flags would be."

The resident - who asked not to be named - highlighted the possible negative effect on property values in the area, and added: "Residents of both persuasions are disgusted."

The flags had allegedly been erected on lampposts on a one-mile stretch of Malone Road by Antrim supporters in the run-up to Sunday's Ulster Senior Football final against Tyrone.

By yesterday, the News Letter could only find two, on the junction of Malone Road and Balmoral Avenue.

The concerned resident, who lives on Windsor Avenue, said: "There is no GAA ground for miles."

He added: "It's just unacceptable that people can come from outside the area and fly these flags."

South Belfast DUP MLA Jimmy Spratt appealed for balance in the debate over contentious flags.

"People certainly complain around Windsor when Union Jacks are put up," he said.

"I hope those who have been shouting about intimidatory flags over the past while - including the SDLP - will condemn these GAA flags in the same way that they have condemned the erection of Union Jacks.

"Everybody needs to be sensitive as to where flags are put up."

South Belfast SDLP MLA Carmel Hanna said that no illegal flags should be erected in public areas without official permission.

She said: "I can understand that some people don't want to have any flags up, and particularly since the Antrim match is over they should be coming down."

She said people should not come into an area and put flags up as "it may offend some people", and added: "They can do that in their own garden if they so choose, but not on a public thoroughfare."

Meanwhile, Union flags and Ulster banners have appeared in the picturesque village of Helen's Bay.

One resident told BBC Radio that the area was mixed, and such flags had neither been flown in the past, nor were wanted now.

North Down Alliance mayor Tony Hill said: "It's important to get across that people are not objecting to the flying of the Union Jack in people's own areas, but it's about loyalist groupings going around putting these flags up in areas where they wouldn't normally be flown."

A North Down spokeswoman said the council understood that "it would be usual to gain permission from the Department for Regional Development (DRD) to erect flags, posters, banners on lampposts".

Commenting about the rows in south Belfast and Helen's Bay, a spokesman for the DRD said: "Roads Service are aware of flags flying in these areas and will look into the matter."