Every imported question, contribution and motion, with its classification. Unflagged, uncertain and not-yet-analysed records are all included so the analysis can be checked independently.
There is no consideration of areas where flags are traditionally flown and have always been. I said last week that location is the key matter, and the police will tell you that. What is considered a problem in one area will not be considered offensive or a problem in another area, so location is key, but there is no…
FlaggedDecided on a second assessment.Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policyCriteria met: Cultural grievance politics.
The Member will remember the example that I gave last week of an area of the greenway in east Belfast. That greenway goes literally right at the back of a loyalist area and has houses either side of it that are part of the loyalist working-class area around the Newtownards Road. That is pretty well known as a loyalist…
FlaggedDecided on a second assessment.Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorialsCriteria met: Identity framing, Cultural grievance politics.
Yes, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I certainly agree that the Bill is written in a way that would make it very hard to fly any flags, including our Union flag, anywhere. You can go to any country, such as America, France or elsewhere in the UK, and, at times, people want to be proud of their national flag and fly…
I thank the Member for giving way. The previous Member to speak would not allow an intervention. Does he agree that, while the whole thrust of the Alliance argument seems to be that the Bill gives people a voice, it gives a voice only to those who want to object? There is no consideration in the Bill of someone who…
I rise as a DUP representative to speak on the Member's Bill from the Alliance Party, the Display of Flags and Emblems Bill. I want to make my position clear at the outset: this is a very poor Bill. When you read the detail of it, you see that it is ridiculous and totally unworkable. I have to conclude that the Bill…
I understand the idea of having a voice. What would happen if the residents wanted something taken down, the Department was of the opinion that it should come down, but the PSNI would not support them in taking it down, as it considered it too dangerous to take down? What, practically, would happen then?
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I will start again. Let the record show that residents on the street mentioned are overwhelmingly against the flags that have been erected there for the first time since 2022. Dialogue was sought with those who put them up. None live in the immediate area, and people were…
Mr Brooks, you will remember the initial meeting that we had on the Sandown Road with the people who had put up the flags. I was engaged in conversations with them throughout the next number of months, and the situation was repeated the following year and the year after that. The residents do not know who those…
The Member spoke about the street in Ballyhackamore, as I did during the previous iteration of this discussion. Is that an example of what he wants the system to be used for: to take those flags down? In those circumstances, that street hosts probably the biggest parade of the year in east Belfast — the Somme…
I thank the Member for his point. That is why I am such an advocate of the Bill: it would create a system where people would feel heard and would give them a voice.
I thank the Member for giving way. Particularly for the last number of years that I have been in the Assembly but, indeed, for most of my elected life as a councillor, I have had requests from residents about flags that they do not want in their streets and areas, and there is no proper mechanism available to formally…
I welcome the opportunity to continue the Second Stage debate on the Flags and Emblems Bill. I thank the Bill's sponsor for bringing it forward, and for her tireless work in that area over the last decade. Last week's debate was largely useful in that we all agreed that flags that promote proscribed organisations…
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I thank Members across the House for their contributions to what has been a short debate but an important conversation. I make it clear that the motion is not anti-AI or anti-investment. Artificial intelligence has enormous potential. Stewart Dickson outlined, and other…
I support the motion and welcome it, particularly its call for a moratorium on large-scale data centres. Nine such centres are reportedly now operating in the North, and I have asked the Minister for the Economy about them. Each one apparently has a power capacity of between 1 MW and 5 MW, but a hyperscale data centre…
I appreciate the Member giving way. I am confused about your position regarding the large-scale stuff. There is one data centre planned in Derry, and your council team supported it. If you want to pause that, will you talk us through your position?