Revealed: Alliance argues war memorial flag policy could make North Down and Ards 'less inclusive and welcoming'
The News Letter can reveal the detail of arguments made in a call-in motion to the Chief Executive of Ards and North Down council, which the body has controversially refused to disclose to the public.
Alliance councillors halted a policy to fly the Union Flag 365 days per year at war memorials, but the council has kept their names and the details of the motion secret. The council said elected members had “individual data rights protected by legislation, and this is not waived by their position as elected members of a local government body”.
However, the News Letter can now reveal the arguments presented by the unnamed councillors in the call-in motion the council has since kept under wraps.
They argue that flying the Union Flag every day at war memorials would have a “disproportionate adverse impact” on the community. They also believe that makes the council’s flag policy “much more expansive and extensive” – and crucially that it has the “real potential to make a less inclusive, welcoming and harmonious place to work, live or visit”.
The anonymous councillors contended that permanent flying of the national flag “risks having an adverse impact on residents, visitors and employees from a Roman Catholic and/or Nationalist and/or Republican community background”.
In a tribunal earlier this year, it was decided that Belfast City Council should release the details of a DUP call-in motion on Irish language signs, but the Bangor-based council doesn’t accept they should do likewise.
Jamie Bryson, who has launched legal proceedings to obtain the information, said the council “have flagrantly ignored the relevant case law of the Tribunal which was crystal clear in an analogous situation in Belfast City Council”. He said it is “a shame that so many public bodies get themselves so pathologically obsessed with never accepting they have fallen into error, and rather than accepting errors and taking the high road, instead they dig themselves further into a ditch”.
Ards and North Down council says any release of information will be guided by an ongoing review by the Information Commissioners Office. Alliance did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.