THE union flag will fly every day at seven Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council buildings despite half the local authority's staff believing the move will have a negative impact.
A Sinn Féin councillor has described support for the policy change, which followed a DUP motion, as "regrettable".
The decision to fly the union flag, which was previously only flown permanently on the council's Cloonavin headquarters and Coleraine Town Hall, was first proposed a year ago when it was supported by a majority of councillors. The decision was ratified earlier this week after a delay in implementation to enable an equality impact assessment to be carried out.
The flag will now fly every day at Ballymoney Town Hall, Riada House in Ballymoney, Portrush Town Hall, Limavady's council offices and Roe Valley Arts Centre.
A public consultation and staff survey found there was a "strong division of opinion on the issue".
Of the 562 people who responded to the consultation, 51 per cent supported flying the union flag for 365 days on all council buildings, while 11.6 per cent of those surveyed said it should fly on designated days only, in line with British government policy.
The equality impact assessment concluded that the "division of opinion by community background was stark".
"While 83.3 per cent of Protestants who responded maintained that the union flag should fly permanently (365 days) on council buildings, only 10.4 per cent of those declaring themselves Roman Catholic felt likewise," it said.
It said that among staff, around one-third (32.8 per cent) believed the flag should fly all year round on council buildings, while about a quarter of respondents (26 per cent) felt it should never fly.
The report said "it was also evident that there is a degree of disquiet among staff as to how both the current and proposed policy may impact on the promotion of a good and harmonious working environment within the council".
Of the 177 staff surveyed, 49.4 per cent felt the 365-days-a-year policy would have a negative impact.
An amendment to maintain the council's original policy proposed by the council's deputy mayor Kathleen McGurk was defeated.
The Sinn Féin councillor said the move was a divisive issue which focused attention in the wrong area.
Ms McGurk said it was "regrettable that the DUP brought this motion to council several months ago".
"At a time when people are facing a cost-of-living crisis, which has been worsened by the DUP refusing to go in to the Executive to mitigate against the worst effects - its clear where the DUP's priorities are," she said.
"Unfortunately, flags will not put food on the table and electric in peoples meters."
Margaret Anne McKillop, SDLP group leader on the council, said it was "disheartening" that some parties focused on flags at the time of a cost of living crisis.
“We support everyone’s right to celebrate their traditions and culture, but as the public consultation, staff survey and equality impact assessment into this proposal detailed, there is a significant group of people in this area who do not support this and it runs contrary to good community relations and working together in the spirit of tolerance and respect," she said.
