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
- 22 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Display of Flags and Emblems Bill: Second Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5740147
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for giving way. Deputy Speaker, in addressing the point that has just been made, you will be glad to know that I will not get into a discussion about the geography of east Belfast, but I did recognise that the church is there and that it belongs to a neighbouring community in the Short Strand. I might not have said "Short Strand", but I talked about the neighbouring community. The point that I was making, to make it relevant to the debate, is that that is one instance that I am familiar with in east Belfast. There will be numerous instances across the country of areas that are divided and where one community lives right beside another. I speak for loyalist working-class communities but also for republican working-class communities in this regard: that does not mean that those communities should not be allowed to express their identity. It is about how we do that in a respectful way but without whitewashing it. The problem is that, if you try to impose this on working-class communities, you will end up bringing one flag down only to see it replaced with three, four or five flags. It is a case of rinse and repeat. How will the Department or any enforcement body that is set up deal with that when it happens again and again and again? It is pie in the sky. I understand that people wish to do something, but just because we have something in front of us does not mean that it is the right answer. Thank you for allowing the intervention.
268 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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