Long-delayed report on flags and culture to be published

A long-delayed report on flags and culture in Northern Ireland is set to be published on Wednesday by Stormont’s Executive Office.
By Jonathan McCambridge
Published 1st Dec 2021, 10:53 BST
Two people walk past a Sinn Fein mural painted on International Wall in Belfast showing a depiction of irish republican Bobby Sands with the message, Unity In Our Time. Picture date: Tuesday November 30 2021.Two people walk past a Sinn Fein mural painted on International Wall in Belfast showing a depiction of irish republican Bobby Sands with the message, Unity In Our Time. Picture date: Tuesday November 30 2021.
Two people walk past a Sinn Fein mural painted on International Wall in Belfast showing a depiction of irish republican Bobby Sands with the message, Unity In Our Time. Picture date: Tuesday November 30 2021.

However the report, which has cost approximately £800,000, has already been criticised because it will not be accompanied by a plan for implementing its 44 recommendations.

The Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition (FICT) was originally set up in 2016 in a bid to find consensus on a number of contentious issues, but devolution collapsed before it could deliver its report.

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Its findings were finally submitted to the First and deputy First Ministers last July, but have not been made public.

A woman walks past a banner in support of Ulster loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) east Belfast Battalion. Picture date: Tuesday November 30 2021.A woman walks past a banner in support of Ulster loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) east Belfast Battalion. Picture date: Tuesday November 30 2021.
A woman walks past a banner in support of Ulster loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) east Belfast Battalion. Picture date: Tuesday November 30 2021.

Sinn Fein’s National Chairperson Declan Kearney said he believed that publishing the report without an implementation plan was a “mistake”.

He added: “I would much rather see scaffolding established in order to ensure an orderly implementation of those proposals within the report that I believe are deliverable.

“There are then clearly challenges which remain, but if we had had a framework of next steps then we could tackle those.

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“It is for the parties who oppose the good sense of an implementation plan to speak and answer for themselves.”

Tattered Northern Ireland Centenary flag and St George’s flags with bunting flies between homes in the loyalist area of The Village in south Belfast. Picture date: Tuesday November 30 2021.Tattered Northern Ireland Centenary flag and St George’s flags with bunting flies between homes in the loyalist area of The Village in south Belfast. Picture date: Tuesday November 30 2021.
Tattered Northern Ireland Centenary flag and St George’s flags with bunting flies between homes in the loyalist area of The Village in south Belfast. Picture date: Tuesday November 30 2021.

SDLP MLA Sinead McLaughlin said: “The First Ministers have had the FICT report for more than 16 months, it has been eight months since the Assembly voted to compel them to publish the document.

“And now we learn that in that time they have produced not a single idea on how to implement any of the recommendations. It’s a farce.

“The Commission was designed to address the longstanding issues of culture and identity that have divided Stormont politicians for far too long.

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“Now, having received their recommendations, Michelle O’Neill and Paul Givan can’t seem to agree on what to do with them.

“These issues go to the heart of divisions in our society and the failure to reconcile our people. It is far too important a challenge to allow this document to become an £800,000 ornament at Stormont Castle.”