Unionists vote down proposal to penalise flag burning on bonfires

​A notice of notion submitted by Alliance Councillor Rachel Ashe stated: “The council notes the success of the inclusion of effigies and emblems to the penalties for “in-programme” bonfires (and) tasks officers to engage with groups to add flags to the list of penalties for in-programme bonfires.”

On a vote, eight elected members from the DUP, UUP, and two Independent Unionists voted against the proposal, four supported it from Alliance, and there were two abstentions, one from the Greens.

Councillor Ashe said at the committee meeting: “I want to commend officers for the excellent work they have done on the in-programme bonfires, regarding the inclusion of effigies and emblems, and the environmental side as well. It is well-adhered to, which is no mean feat and officers deserve full credit.”

She said: “In emails back and forth between myself and officers they stated they would be engaging with groups in the coming weeks and months to establish if they could include the possibility of including flags to penalties for in-programme bonfires.

“This motion seeks to establish a timeline for the update and to show officers have the support of members in these meetings.

She added: “There is a bit of a sensitive irony around flags on the bonfires. We celebrate, and are happy to post on social media when our residents win Olympic gold medals, or championship medals won by athletes under a flag. But then we don’t stop that flag being burnt on bonfires.

“We are asking our residents and businesses to pay rates, but when that money is used to fund in-programme bonfires, we don’t offer rebates to people who may be offended by the burning of flags on bonfires.”

She said many residents in the borough see flag burning as “abhorrent and justifiably a hate incident.”

DUP Councillor Libby Douglas said: “We recognise the huge step forward in relation to management of bonfires in the borough. This follows on from an approach adopted by the Good Relations Officer Jim Murdoch, who worked wonders in the Ards Borough in terms of reducing the amount of paramilitary flags and murals, and of course introducing and implementing our bonfires programme.

“The great success of the bonfire programme was due to the lack of political involvement. We delegated the process and progress to our officers. We were rewarded with tidier sites, more environmentally friendly bonfires, more willow burners and significantly fewer paramilitary flags and murals around the borough.”

She said: “Our officers worked with community groups and bonfire builders to achieve this, an approach praised unanimously by all parties in the old Ards Borough Council.

“We compare this with the approach taken by the old North Down Council, where there was political involvement, and approach by officers that was seen as dictating what should or should not be done. It was an absolute disaster.

“Unfortunately this motion is repeating the mistakes of the old North Down Council, and risks those same consequences. The motion itself is utterly unnecessary, other than to serve as some election campaign for the Alliance Party.

“We have a process already present, whereby our Good Relations Officers have built up good will and trust among groups, because they are seen to have a large degree of autonomy in this process. Political interference isn’t wanted and risks backfiring.

“We must always remember this is a voluntary arrangement. The groups could just back away, like they did in 2015, and I am grateful to our officers for taking so many back into the programme.”

She added: “We will get there with flags, but this motion is not the way to achieve it, for two reasons. The first is it smacks of political interference, and the second because of who is delivering this message.”

Alliance Alderman Martin McRandal said: “What is the purpose of burning flags on bonfires, it is simply to insult the other side, it is to poke people in the eye. It is not cultural expression, it is simply to insult.

“The irony is Good Relations funding (is supporting it). What good relations are there in burning someone else’s flag? Burning of flags is a red line, it is unacceptable.

“What would the unionist councillors think if someone in Ards and North Down burned a union flag? They would be apoplectic, and quite rightly so.”

UUP Alderman Mark Brooks said: “The groups, if compelled, would be more likely to demonstrate their grievances, and just create an even bigger problem for the borough, so on reflection I probably can’t support the motion. I probably can sympathise with its end goal.”