Opinion

Solutions urgently needed over provocative flags

It is entirely appropriate that deputy first minister Martin McGuinness should become the latest senior nationalist representative to visit the sites of two major World War One conflicts where enormous numbers of soldiers from all parts of Ireland fought and died together.

Mr McGuinness has accepted an invitation to go to the Somme in France, where almost 4,000 members of the 36th (Ulster) and 16th (Irish) divisions were killed in the historic engagement which began almost exactly a century ago on July 1, 1916.

During his programme next week, he will also travel to Flanders in Belgium, where the Battle of Messines took place with further appalling casualty levels the following year.

The involvement of Mr McGuinness, as the senior Sinn Fein figure at Stormont, is an important part of the reconciliation process which has already been supported by the other main nationalist parties on both sides of the Irish border as well as their unionist counterparts.

It is essential that all the key events in this year of centenaries are commemorated in an equally dignified and measured way by the main traditions here in Ireland.

The proposal that loyalist paramilitary emblems would be replaced this summer by a flag linked to the Somme had potential but there was always a prospect that it would be exploited by some elements.

As we reported earlier this week, what was supposed to be a new protocol organised by a body called the Loyalist Communities Council descended within a matter of days into a dispute between rival factions.

Instead of an agreement over the Somme design, large number of flags promoting the illegal UDA and UVF began to appear in loyalist districts across Belfast and elsewhere.

There were claims of a lack of consultation as well as enduring anger over the 2012 decision by a clear majority of Belfast councillors to restrict the flying of the Union flag at the City Hall to designated days.

Regardless of the background, it is not acceptable for symbols promoting either loyalist or republican paramilitary groups to be imposed on any section of our society.

Ordinary citizens are regularly appalled by what is happening in their neighbourhoods but are too frightened to speak out.

Reaching a consensus on clearly defined legislation which requires police officers to intervene decisively whenever flags are used to provocatively mark out territory will be an extremely difficult task.

However, as voluntary initiatives apparently cannot be effectively implemented, the evidence is that either our politicians or the courts will ultimately need to provide solutions.