Decision to keep Ulster Banner as flag of Northern Ireland at Commonwealth Games hailed - but MP says body has been 'evasive' on powers

As the News Letter had reported, Jim Allister had combed through the Articles of Association (basically the founding charter) of Team NI’s organising committee, Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland Ltd (CGNI), and concluded that its remit is restricted to sporting matters only and does not extend as far as changing the national flag.

Meanwhile DUP communities minister Gordon Lyons (responsible for sports in the Province) has said in a statement this morning that he believes athletes are “proud” to compete under the Ulster Banner.

The saga dates back to at least 2020, when CGNI says it first started raising concerns with politicians that the Ulster Banner was not an appropriate flag to represent its athletes.

CGNI chief executive Conal Heatley then raised the matter publicly in 2024, saying that the flag is not “inclusive” and linking it to recent attacks against ethnic minorities – sparking a furore.

Then on BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show this week, he indicated that unless politicians order him to do otherwise, he plans to replace the flag with something more generic at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer.

After Mr Lyons issued “clear and unequivocal guidance” this week that the Ulster Banner should still be used, the CGNI has backed down and says it will continue to employ the flag.

Mr Lyons said this morning: “I do not support any change to the use of the Ulster Banner for athletes from Northern Ireland competing at the Commonwealth Games.

"I have written to CGNI to make this position clear.

"As witnessed at the Olympic Games in Paris, our athletes were proud to represent Northern Ireland and I believe they are proud to represent Northern Ireland on the Commonwealth stage too.

"Our focus should be on providing athletes with the support they need to be successful, rather than seeking to change the long-standing and widely-accepted status quo.”

Mr Allister said the news “brings to an end an unnecessary and deeply divisive episode which should never have arisen”.

He added: “Over the last few days, I have engaged in correspondence with the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council around a simple and unavoidable question: where was the legal authority for abandoning the Ulster Banner?

“That question was never answered.

“Rather than pointing to any provision in its Articles of Association, or to any rule of the Commonwealth Games Federation permitting such a change, CGNI relied on a claim that, as a private company, it could act as its Board saw fit.

"That was never a lawful or adequate justification.

"Organisations may only exercise the powers actually conferred upon them.

"“The correspondence now in the public domain demonstrates that CGNI ventured into constitutional and political territory without mandate, consent or authority.

"When challenged directly on that point, it chose evasion over explanation.

“It is therefore no coincidence that, following public scrutiny and media attention, the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council have found reverse gear.”

He concluded: “This episode should serve as a reminder that unelected bodies must remain within their lawful remit and must not seek to smuggle political change through administrative decisions.”

Prior to the decision to keep the Ulster Banner, taken at a board meeting on Tuesday night, Mr Heatley had told the News Letter: “Many people are saying many things with zero knowledge of who we are, or what we do.

"For clarity, CGNI is a private company, and private companies manage their own affairs. No-one is trying to make constitutional change!

"Strangely, we’ve never been inundated with emails from Mr Allister to enquire how he could potentially help the team or our athletes!”