Debate contribution: Display of Flags and Emblems Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mr David Brooks on .
- MLA
- Mr David Brooks
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 7 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Display of Flags and Emblems Bill: Second Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5670429
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for giving way. Given what she said, I will draw on two examples from my constituency. Your East Belfast colleague on your Benches will be familiar with an example from Ballyhackamore. I will not labour the point, but there is a street where Union Jacks go up around the time of the parade that passes through it on 1 July. It is fair to say that, if there is an accommodation at all, it is an uneasy one. The flags go up, but many of the residents are not happy with that, while some of them are: you have that tension. Given that situation, I am slightly uneasy that the Department will have to make a judgement. I am not clear about how the judgement will be made, and, in that example, it is only Union Jacks and has been for a relatively short period. The other issue, which comes more into resource, is that, on the greenway in East Belfast, which people will be familiar with, Belfast City Council — idiotically, in my view — took down a number of flags, primarily Union flags, that were supported by the local community. As you can imagine, the reaction to that was anger, and that led to many more flags being put up than were there in the first place. That raised the hackles of some community organisations in the area that were trying to do other work. It was not that they objected to the flying of flags, but they felt that there were now too many. That was the reaction.
I fear that we will get into a situation where there are instances — I will come to that when I speak later — when flags should be brought down, but there are other instances where things like that can spark a cycle. How much resource are we willing to put into playing cat and mouse, not just in Belfast but across the country, if we end up in a situation where every flag that is taken down is replaced by three, four or five more? That has been, and will be, the reaction in many communities that feel that their flag has been brought down unfairly.
Will the Member give way briefly on that?
Will the Member give way? Just for me to give context to that.
393 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.31 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- Criteria met: Cultural grievance politics (0.69).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.75).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.47).
- Subject area: Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials.
- The overall probability was low and the text did not adopt any identity-based framing.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.23 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.06 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.69 | Yes |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.17 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.31 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.75 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.31 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.47 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.46 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.01 |
| Adopts it | 0.06 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.98 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.02 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 16:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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