Ulster Banner row: MP questions powers of Team NI organisers to change the flag of Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games
A unionist MP says he does not believe the organisers of Northern Ireland’s Commonwealth Games team have the power to change the country’s flag at the event.
Jim Allister has said he “sees nothing” in the Articles of Association of Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland Ltd (the official title of the organising body of Team NI) which permit it carry out its plan to ditch the long-standing reliance on the Ulster Banner as the flag of the country.
The DUP communities minister Gordon Lyons, responsible for sport, said in a letter to Team NI boss Conal Heatley on Monday that he was giving him “clear and unequivocal guidance” that the Ulster Banner should remain the emblem of the team.
Asked however if he has the power to enforce the use of the Ulster Banner at the games, Mr Lyons told BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show today that “I will explore that, but right now it seems that the power does lie with them to decide”.
Meanwhile Mr Heatley himself has hit back at Mr Allister, saying that his organisation is a private company, “and private companies manage their own affairs”.
A pre-planned meeting of the organisation’s board is planned to take place tonight, at which the matter was to be discussed. An update is expected tomorrow.
During the Commonwealth Games, the nations of the UK compete separately as Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England (unlike, say, the Olympics, where there is just Team UK).
Mr Heatley has been floating the idea of replacing the Ulster Banner as Northern Ireland’s flag at the tournament since November 2024.
He said at the time that “I think there's a considerable section of the community” which finds the flag “offensive”.
He had added that the flag has been “misappropriated by a small number of people,” and that “we've had newcomers, NHS staff, chased out of their homes by having the Ulster Banner put on their windows – that is not something we want to be associated with”.
Speaking on the Nolan Show on Monday this week he had said: “The fact of the matter is that the official flag, the only official flag for Northern Ireland is the Union Flag.
"That doesn't work at Commonwealth Games, simply because that flag is also shared by other nations and territories.
"So it doesn't uniquely represent Northern Ireland, so unfortunately, it can't be used.
“So looking at a flag – we don't have one. There is no flag with official status."
He declared that the issue has been raised with him for 15 years, and unless politicians “tell us what to do”, the plan is now to replace the Ulster Banner at the upcoming 2026 Glasgow games with something generic – possibly the logo of Team NI.
Mr Allister has since written to him, condemning this move as “deeply divisive and offensive” and asking “what is the source of the power you are purporting to exercise?”
Mr Allister went on: “Whereas your organisation certainly has the powers to select and manage NI’s athletes for the games, I see nothing in your Articles of Association which extends your powers to changing, without governmental approval or otherwise, the flag by which NI athletes will be represented.”
He said that Article 3 of the Articles of Association limits the organisation to sports matters alone, “none of which, I suggest, extend to a change of flag selection”.
Mr Allister has now submitted a number of questions to the Department for Communities, including asking the minister “whether he has sought legal advice, or will seek legal advice, on whether a chancery action [a type of civil lawsuit] could be brought to require Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland to operate within the limits of its Articles of Association”, and “whether public funding provided to Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland is conditional upon compliance with its Articles of Association, and what remedies are available to his department where such compliance is in doubt?”
Mr Heatley told the News Letter that “many people are saying many things with zero knowledge of who we are, or what we do”.
"For clarity, Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland is a private company, and private companies manage their own affairs,” he said.
"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!”