SOUTH Belfast Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw has launched a public consultation on her proposed Private Member's Bill seeking to set out a legal framework for the display of flags and emblems.
The consultation seeks the public's view on the display of emblems as an important part of any society to express identity and culture.
However, the unregulated display of emblems – typically in the form of flags, bunting, banners and posters – displayed on street lights across the North can be both contentious and divisive.
Ms Bradshaw's Private Member's Bill proposes a regulatory framework to enable the display of emblems on street furniture such as lampposts, telegraph poles and safety barriers within a code of conduct. It does not concern private property.
"At heart, this is fundamentally about ensuring that Northern Ireland is a society in which the freedom to express identity is respected and promoted, but so is the right to live free from intimidation and discrimination in any form," explained Ms Bradshaw.
"This is an issue which is frequently raised with my office in South Belfast, and my proposed legislation seeks to deliver the right balance recognising the right to express identity and culture while ensuring that symbols displayed for the purpose of intimidation or exclusion are swiftly removed.
"The display of intentionally exclusive flags in new housing estates and the erection of posters expressing racial hatred over the past few months only reinforce the need to act on this issue. The report of the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition offers a clear road map upon which my proposed legislation seeks to build.
"I would urge anyone, regardless of their views, to respond to the consultation so that we can build a piece of law which will address the issue comprehensively while respecting the necessarily varying interests of a diverse society."
