FLAG SUMMER: What lessons can be learned from Northern Ireland?

When I worked in local government, a neighbouring council’s traffic warden put a parking ticket on a hearse outside a church. It kicked off.

The story, quickly turned from local row to national story which didn’t play well for the council. The general tone was ‘What kind of jumped-up little Hitler would do something like that?’

At my next meeting with parking services, I flagged this up as a banana skin to avoid. Their response stunned me. But, Dan, the car was breaking parking regulations of course it should be ticketed, to a man and woman they said.

Here’s what I learned. There is a right way according to the rule book. This may not be the best approach. Parking services care bout traffic regulations not community cohesion.

So, we come to the flags issue in England. In recent weeks, a semi-organised campaign has seen street lamps decorated with England flags and Union Jacks. Even mini traffic islands are having red paint daubed on them to make them look like circular Crosses of St George.

To some, this is an outpouring of patriotism. It’s England. Why shouldn’t we raise the English flag? To others, this is the far right on the move trying marking territory and intimidating rivals. Hope Not Hate have identified Britain First as playing a role in ‘Operation Raise The Colours.’

It’s also a quandary to local government and police in how to deal with it. Take them down by following the rule book and it may antagonise some of the population. Leave them up and they may antagonise others.

Last week, I blogged what this all meant for local government communicators.

In this post, I’d like to look at what lessons can be taken from 50 years of flags in Northern Ireland. 

Lessons from Northern Ireland

Flags in Northern Ireland have been a charged issue for decades. Streets in some communities which are Republican and Catholic often fly the Irish tricolour of green white and orange. Some Unionist and protestant communities fly Union Jacks and can also paint kerbstones in their own colours of red, white and blue.

So, how is this dealt with?

The Housing Executive in Northern Ireland is one of a number of public bodies that has had to grapple with the issue. It has five decades of experience since the early 1970s  communicators in England can learn from.

I’d suggest anyone with half an interest in this look at ‘A Good Practice Guide to Flags, Emblems and Sectional Signals: A Community Perspective.’ This download has been drawn up by The Regional Strategic Housing Authority for Northern Ireland with the Housing Community Network.

 This is a well developed, mature, responsible bottom-up approach. 

Here’s what I take from that approach:

1. Flags can be flash-points

There are many instances in Northern Ireland where the flying of flags has led to civil disorder. In 2012, moves to limit the number of days the Union Jack was flown from Belfast City Hall led to rioting and months of protest. This is not to predict similar would happen in England if flags in Weoley Castle in Birmingham were taken down. Rather, it just points out that they can escalate.

It’s also important to note that Paramilitary flags are a different thing. That’s a police matter.

2. In Northern Ireland, they don’t do anything without talking to the community

Workers from the Housing Executive are charged with building a relationship with each community to understand what makes them tick and build dialogue. No action is taken without talking to the community. Why? Because things can escalate really quickly.

The flag document clearly states a number of key points:

1. The pace of change will be determined by the local community. 

2. The process is dependent on local circumstances

Vision: 

People have the right to live in a tolerant, diverse society where differences are recognised and respected. 

Aim: 

To create an environment where people feel safe to celebrate and respect culture within and between communities. 

Objectives: 

1. To facilitate communities to create a stable environment free from aggressive cultural displays. 

2. Promote community empowerment in the management of flags. 

3. Raise awareness and mutual acceptance of cultural diversity. 

4. Encourage the removal of tattered and torn flags, emblems and sectional symbols.

 5. To explore alternative expressions of culture. 

Principles: 

1. The safety of residents, staff and property is paramount. 

2. All matters discussed re flags, emblems and sectional symbols will be treated in a confidential manner.

As part of the Northern Ireland approach there is a process for gathering information, data and opinion from the community before action is taken. Questionnaires can gather information and insight. I’m guessing this is slow but thorough.

My worry is that in England, many community workers who may have networks across the community have long since been lost since 2007 in cuts. In the mind of English local government, the next default setting would be elected members. However, this introduces a political element which may not de-escalate the problem.

3. This argument  is a strong one: ‘We think the flag should be honoured… do you think a tatty and dirty flag does that?

As a piece of rhetoric I’m paraphrasing, but I find this utterly compelling. This takes the flag seriously and goes to the core of the argument. It does not draw on traffic regulations or health and safety. Instead, it draws on the well of patriotism that prompted the flag to be put up on a lamppost in the first place. This is something that crosses the Irish Sea and would work in Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham or Dudley.

The flag should be respected. Does daubing a red X on a white traffic island so cars run over it honour the flag?

British military history is filled with stories of the Regimental Colours being protected at all costs. It is a slight on the Regiment’s reputation if the colours touch the ground. To be dragged through the mud is a slight. 

At the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, 15 men died defending the 2nd Somersetshire’s Regimental Colours. At the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 two lieutenants drowned saving the Colours in a defeat at the hands of Zulus. At Dunkirk in 1940, the Royal Welch’s colours were hidden to stop them from falling into enemy hands and rediscovered 40 years later.

So, using this argument, a mini roundabout with tyre tracks and a red cross on looks pretty pathetic.

Communicators in England would be well served not just to look closely at this argument but to play it back to the decision makers. It is powerful but it needs to be made real. Perhaps, this is through installing flagpoles in the community to tap into sentiment but fly the flag properly.

In Dudley, Cllr Adam Anston in the past donated a flagpole for by the war memorial in Upper Gornal. This feels like a step to take.

The Northern Ireland approach sees an action plan drawn-up with the community itself. A joint clean-up to remove tattered flags for example, the download says, should build confidence within the community.

4. Communication involves the community

The Northern Ireland approach is clear on expecting community input on how any changes are commuunicated. This is striking for an English audience. I’m guessing that this may be as the result of trust being built and maintained across a community. 

5. The approach has had tangible results

In Portadown, there were 350 flags. These have been reduced by 90 per cent with an agreement with the community to fly them eight weeks a year instead of 52. 

In Strabane, political murals have been removed with a rotating and updated mural instead offering a place where voices can be heard.

In Belfast, the city hall flag issue was resolved after a long period of violent protest.

Conclusion

Northern Ireland is not England and while there is some shared history and culture they are different places. Flags there can be incendiary. But it should not be downplayed that the English Cross of St George and the Union Jack also bring baggage with them. Not everyone approves of them. In England, they are often seen as being more closely connected to the far right than they are to the rest of society. Yet, should that be so? When the Lionesses retained the Euros it was England flags that greeted them.

Labour leaned in to the Union Jack in their political messaging before their successful General Election campaign in 2024 but not everyone was thrilled by this.

However, head to Facebook and the flag issue and there is an at times hostile discussion between two sides. One side are ‘flag shaggers’ while the other are seen as ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘happy to let ‘illegal immigrants in.’

It’s in these arguments that the real issues the flag debate in England provoke come to the surface. Online, they can be a places where people feel as though they can freely voice their opinions on immigration. 

From observation, Facebook posts on flags can be rallying points for both Reform and protests against hotels being used to house asylum seekers. These protests have sometimes turned violent.

In England, community cohesion is the issue at stake. There are some hard-won lessons in Northern Ireland that communicators and policy makers would be well served at looking at.

I deliver training to help you make sense of the changing landscape ESSENTIAL AI FOR PUBLIC SECTOR COMMS, ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER, ESSENTIAL MEDIA RELATIONS and ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED.

Picture credit: istock.