THE co-chairman of Stormont's new flags and identity commission has said any ostensible unionist bias in its make-up will not be reflected in the group's recommendations.
Queen's University academic Dominic Bryan was responding to claims that the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition personnel were unrepresentative.
Of the 15 appointments made by the Executive Office only one is a woman, while two of the eight 'non political appointments' have strong links to the Orange Order and DUP.
Mr Bryan, who chairs the panel alongside Neville Armstrong, conceded that the gender imbalance was "glaring", however, he rejected the notion that an apparent unionist bias would influence the commission's output.
Established under the terms of 2014's Stormont House Agreement and the subsequent Fresh Start, the commission aims to create a framework for regulating public expressions of culture and identity.
Mr Bryan said there was a "broad range of voices" but that the group was "not meant to be a democratic" and would not be voting on the matters under consideration. He also stressed that unlike the Parades Commission, the group would not be making any determinations and would only produce recommendations that others would implement.
"The objective of the commission as I see it is to go out and get opinion from all sections of the community and we won't be achieving a great deal if we come out at the end with something that doesn't get a broad range of support," he said.
"It's not going to be in anybody's interests to come up with stuff that large sections of the population reject. It would be a waste of time."
The academic said it was unfair to suggest unionists were over-represented on the commission.
"I'm not going to accept that because our society has a complex make-up of people engaged in practices and just putting it down to a simple green-orange balance is to underestimate the diversity we have in our society," he said.
"I think in the appointment process they tried to get range of voices rather than a 50-50 balance and I think that should come across in the commission – there's a number of us on the panel that can't be tied down to a unionist or nationalist position."
In regards to the gender imbalance, Mr Bryan said when he first saw the panel appointees he felt the lack of female representation was "glaring".
"The only way we can address that is that in the work we do look at issues of gender," he said.
"It's also worth noting that we've got no children or young people on the commission but they are key to the future so I can't see us going forward without looking at that group."
The commission co-chairman said he hoped the group would meet before the end of the month and produce its first report in six-to-nine months.
Asked whether he envisaged a series of protocols or legislation, Mr Bryan said: "I tend to favour changing things without legislation."
