Debate contribution: Display of Flags and Emblems Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Jonathan Buckley on 7 September 2026.

MLA

Mr Jonathan Buckley

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 5670695

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Deputy Speaker for his ruling, albeit I find it bizarre, and I respect the position of the Chair. Perhaps he will ask the Speaker's Office to clarify those points. I do not feel that I have been personal at any point during this debate. I do not feel that I have not stayed within the remit of the Bill at any point. Many Members who bring legislation to this place fail to grasp its weight and its potential impact on communities. Mr Deputy Speaker, I will respect your ruling, and I will direct all my remarks through you as the Chair. However, the sponsor of the Bill could not get away from the fact that she could not differentiate between a Linfield flag and a UVF flag. That was not lost on anybody on these Benches or many people in our community. In fact, it reinforced the point that we already knew, which is that legislation on flags and emblems is an extremely difficult subject. The very situation that was displayed on the Alliance Party's social media account is going to be placed at DFI's door. DFI staff and officers are going to be put right on the front line of cultural division. That is what is at stake, Mr Deputy Speaker, and that is what I seek to address in my comments.

I will give way on that point.

The Member makes a very valid point. That leads me on to a point that I would like to address and that he, in part, raised earlier. When it is just, as we have mentioned, the clear-cut examples, we can find a united political community response and, indeed, a united response from our communities at large in Northern Ireland. The grey areas are those in which DFI will constantly find itself embroiled. Those grey areas will become areas of demarcation. They will result in heightened tensions. I argue that we could see a proliferation of flags as a result of the Bill. That is not something that I want to see. It is not something that any Member on these Benches wants to see. The Member for East Belfast raised another very important point. It was not directly discussed in the opening contribution from the Bill's sponsor, and it concerns historical flags, such as the historical flag of the UVF from 1912. My great-great-grandfather fought in the Battle of the Somme as part of the 36th (Ulster) Division, the Ulster Volunteer Force. He gave his life and is buried at the Somme, where he fought alongside those of the 16th (Irish) Division. That was a battle of its time. Every year, I know of specific historical flags that honour and commemorate that regiment that are legally put up across our community to reflect its historic contribution. There is no mention of the difference between such a flag and other flags. There is an easy ability for an online portal to misrepresent what the nature of that particular flag is. That is but one example, but I am sure that there are many, many others. Every time that we look at the Bill, we need to remember that such distinction matters. I will defend, without apology, the dignified display of the flag of my country and the legitimate expression of British culture and identity. At the same time — I do not want to be misrepresented by anybody in the Alliance Party — I will never make excuses for the display of anything that is associated with paramilitary organisations or anything that glorifies terrorism, full stop. I argue that, if we were to look at our current legislation in great detail and explore how it is being enforced, we could find mutual ground as an Assembly.

I will in a moment. Rather than that, the Member is intent on progressing a Bill that will manufacture grievance. I will give way to the Member for South Belfast.

658 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Uncertain: close call Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials

Jev’s structured answers

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.

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