DUP MP Jim Shannon has backed the idea of giving Northern Ireland's Olympians the full-scale open bus treatment.

The Strangford MP was speaking ahead of a gathering on Friday in Newtownards to welcome some of Northern Ireland's athletes home from Paris - including two medallists with ties to the area.

Ards native Rhys won gold on the pommel horse in the games - one of seven medals won by six competitors from Northern Ireland: three representing the UK, three representing the Republic.

Joining him at the reception will be fellow gold medallist Jack McMillan of Belfast, who trained with Bangor Swimming Club in the borough, as well as athletics competitor Rachel McCann and hockey player Michael Robson.

placeholder image — Rhys McClenaghan of Team Ireland performs his routine during the Artistic Gymnastics Men's Pommel Apparatus Final on day eight of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 03, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

The event will be held at Conway Square in Newtownards, featuring free "activities with a sporting theme" from 4pm.

The athletes are expected to start arriving from 6.30pm to 7pm.

A total of 10 athletes from Ards and North Down competed at this year's Olympic Games in Paris, and Ards and North Down Borough Council said it is "proud to have had the most Olympians of any borough in Northern Ireland at this year's summer Olympics".

There is going to be some kind of event for all of Northern Ireland's competitors, arranged by the Department for Communities, at Stormont.

However it looks like this will be weeks away, and it is not clear what it will involve or if it will be open to the public.

As such, former Irish rugby international Trevor Ringland has urged the powers that be at Stormont to arrange an opened-topped bus tour for all of the Province's Olympians now.

This would bring all of them together as one, instead of having a series of piecemeal events in each athlete's local area.

Mr Shannon - who will be attending Friday's event in Ards – said Rhys' performance at the Olympics had left him "a wee bit in awe", and that it was right they were holding an event in his hometown because "he's one of ours".

But he also endorsed Mr Ringland's idea too, saying: "Whether they won their medal for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or whether they won the medal for Ireland, it doesn't really matter.

"As far as I'm concerned they're stars from Northern Ireland. So it's up to us from Northern Ireland as elected representatives, in the Assembly in particular, to organise an event that'd showcase their medal-winning capabilities.

"I think for us, the obvious venue probably has to be Belfast, I'd have thought - and obviously probably the Lord Mayor of Belfast as well…

"It has to be an open-topped bus to give everyone a chance to see their athletes in person (even if it's not up close, but at a distance).

"The main thing is it's a chance for the ordinary people [to see] the people they cheered on TV, probably very enthusiastically – whether they be a rower, an athlete, or a gymnast. Our people did extremely well."