Flags celebrating Northern Ireland’s centenary will be welcome in place of paramilitary ones

There are two key reasons why it is a good idea to replace loyalist paramilitary flags with ones marking the centenary of Northern Ireland.

The obvious one is the Province is defiled by flags which commemorate groups involved in terrorism or criminality.

Such flags are an attempt to mark territory in a menacing way, that typically lead to retaliatory displays.

The proliferation of flags that are despised by one section of the community or another make the Balkanisation of Northern Ireland more likely than it might otherwise be.

The second reason why centenary flags are a good thing is that supporters of Northern Ireland and its place within the United Kingdom should be trying to get as many people as posible to rejoice in NI’s 100th anniversary year.

It is a much loved and successful small nation within the UK – distinct but part of the whole, just as it was on its foundation in 1921, not long after the catastrophe of the Great War.

Those who hate Northern Ireland and want to dismantle it try to depict it as a failed entity with a terrible history. But only a small minority of people truly believe this.

The growing use of the Northern Irish identity shows that many people embrace NI as a fine place in which to live and with which to be associated.

The use of flags in 2016 to commemorate the 1916 Battle of the Somme centenary in place of paramilitary flags was a successful precedent for this latest plan by the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC).

The LCC, chaired admirably by David Campbell CBE, have taken various constructive positions in recent months, including expressing clear opposition to violence and trying to remind people that the principle of consent is at the heart of the 1998 Belfast Agreement, a deal often-cited by nationalists.

In recent years republican efforts to romanticise past IRA terror have stepped up a gear. Any loyalist efforts to defuse the tensions that flow from such provocation are welcome.

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor