Sinn Fein MLA accused of 'promoting the illegal use of flares at football games' after Irish Cup final social media post

The photographs showed a child holding a lit flare in the stands at Windsor Park, beside Mr Baker. The images with the flares – or smoke bombs – have since been removed.

Sinn Fein has not responded to questions from the News Letter on the matter – including whether the party believed it is acceptable for an MLA to promote the use of flares at football matches.

Former senior PSNI officer Jon Burrows – who has policed major football matches in England and NI – told this newspaper that possession of flares or similar items at games is a criminal offence.

“The laws around football such as this were enacted to prevent hooliganism and promote both public safety and a family friendly atmosphere.

“When flares are deployed they not only change the atmosphere, but they prevent police, security and medics from being able to see what is going on in the stands. They also present a risk to those holding them, I was shocked to see Danny Baker’s social media post. These laws are supposed to be strictly enforced”, Mr Burrows said.

He added: “There needs to be a review of the event by the IFA to see if lessons can be learned such as the search regime for entry to big games and also a thorough investigation by the PSNI into any offences before, during and after the match”.

DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley raised the matter in the Assembly on Tuesday, accusing the West Belfast MLA of having a “brass neck” after criticising an Apprentice Boys’ parade in Lisburn on Easter Monday.

Sinn Fein had said that the “tunes of ‘No Pope of Rome’ and ‘Up to our knees in fenian blood’” could be heard in social media footage as a band passed MLAs Edwin Poots, Paul Givan, and Jonathan Buckley.

Addressing the Assembly on Mr Baker’s social media post, Mr Buckley criticised the Sinn Fein MLA’s absence from the chamber and accused him of a failure to condemn comments by the controversial rap group Kneecap. He also criticised his attendance at an event for IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands in Twinbrook, West Belfast.

“At the weekend he attended an event, smiling next to a memorial to Bobby Sands, a man who planned the bombing of Balmoral Furniture Company. It is ludicrous: the Member wants to gaslight Members across these Benches, yet his sectarian actions are laid bare for all to see” the DUP MLA said.

He continued: “We saw Danny Baker promoting the illegal use of flares at football games, yet that Member saw fit to deflect from that and try to target a parade in Lisburn that was attended by thousands of people and at which Lisburn Apprentice Boys put on a fantastic display”, Mr Buckley told MLAs.

Mr Buckley’s comments were later questioned by SF MLA Sinéad Ennis, who asked the Speaker to rule on whether they were “in violation” of Assembly rules “which states that they cannot: ‘be used to impugn or to attack another member’”. The DUP MLA responded “Bring it on”.