Member's statement: Commonwealth Games: Northern Ireland Flag

Member's statement by Mr Brian Kingston on 13 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Brian Kingston

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

13 January 2026

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Commonwealth Games: Northern Ireland Flag

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5315832

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The proposal by Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland (CGNI) to stop using the Northern Ireland flag is deeply political and totally unacceptable to the DUP. To remove the flag of our country from such a high-profile squad representing Northern Ireland would not be a neutral act and would damage community relations. The Northern Ireland flag, known as the "Ulster banner" and, to many, as the "Ulster flag", has been used for many decades by Northern Ireland teams at the Commonwealth Games, as well as in many individual sports, including football, golf, darts, snooker and netball. In all those sports, we see people from all religious and community backgrounds ready to compete under the Ulster banner when representing Northern Ireland. Any proposed change is overtly political and should be left to elected politicians. In this political institution — the Assembly — it is a fundamental principle that cross-community consent is required to make any change on controversial matters, such as those in the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition (FICT) report. In the absence of consensus on alternative arrangements, the current arrangements should continue. I know that certain people in Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland have been pushing the issue for some time, but there is no political mandate for CGNI to impose its own change on national representation. CGNI operates under funding from Sport NI, which is accountable to the Department for Communities. The Minister for Communities, Gordon Lyons, has written to the chief executive of CGNI, stating:

"For the avoidance of doubt, and to reiterate on the guidance which you have sought, the Ulster Banner should be used as the flag for Northern Ireland athletes at the Commonwealth Games, including the upcoming Glasgow 2026 event and all future competitions."

To those who question the official status of the Ulster banner, I say this: it is indisputably established by custom and practice as the flag of Northern Ireland. We refute the suggestion that it is a controversial flag. Against the red cross, which has represented Ulster, the flag includes the red hand of Ulster, a six-pointed star for the six counties and a crown signifying our place in the United Kingdom. Given that the British monarch is the head of the Commonwealth, it can hardly be deemed controversial for the Commonwealth Games. Northern Ireland takes part only because it is part of a Commonwealth nation: the United Kingdom. We will continue to speak against and oppose the proposal. Keep the Ulster banner for teams representing Northern Ireland, as it always has done.

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

Assessment

Qualifying Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials

Second assessment

Jev’s answers did not settle this record, so a second model, claude-opus-5-5, read the same text (without the MLA’s name or party) and gave its reasons on 21 October 2026. How the second assessment works

Verdict

Qualifying

Public interest or divisiveness

Mixed

Against the published rubric

The central point is a symbolic dispute: the statement objects to a sports body ceasing to use the Ulster banner, calling the proposal "deeply political and totally unacceptable" and saying "certain people" are "pushing" to "impose" change. It asserts a contested flag is not controversial ("we refute the suggestion"), and stresses the crown "signifying our place in the United Kingdom", which treats a shared team's emblem through one tradition's identity. Points about mandate, cross-community consent and Sport NI accountability are made, but they serve the main purpose of keeping the symbol. This fits the rubric's cultural grievance on a recognised flags flashpoint.

Public interest or divisiveness

There is some substance in asking who should decide how a publicly funded body represents Northern Ireland, and the statement notes that athletes from all backgrounds compete under the banner. However, it mainly puts one side of a long-running flag argument on the record. It denies that the flag is contested and casts those seeking change as acting without a mandate, which continues the identity row rather than resolving it. A statement demanding the flag's removal for identity reasons would be judged the same way.

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:12 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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