Northern Ireland

MLAs back call to publish flags report

Flags and bunting around Stoneyford Village NO BYLINE.
Flags and bunting around Stoneyford Village NO BYLINE. Flags and bunting around Stoneyford Village NO BYLINE.

ASSEMBLY members have backed a call for the Executive Office to publish a report by the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition.

The commission, set up in 2016, submitted its findings to the first and deputy first ministers last July but they have yet to be made public.

MLAs yesterday supported an Alliance motion calling for the report to be published, as well an SDLP amendment for the executive to "honour their commitments" in the New Decade, New Approach deal.

It committed parties to establishing an Office of Identity and Cultural Expression.

Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw said the report "appears to have disappeared into the Executive Office".

Sinn Féin junior minister Declan Kearney said a working group set up by the executive to make progress on issues raised by the report had met for the first time on Thursday.