To ask the Minister for Infrastructure for her assurance that illegally erected flags and emblems will no longer be displayed from departmental property.

Ms Mallon (The Minister for Infrastructure)

I thank the Member for the question. I am aware of the problem of the erection of illegal flags and emblems on street furniture. It is a persistent problem and one that needs to be dealt with in a comprehensive manner. The flying of flags and the attachment of emblems to departmental street lighting columns is an offence under the Roads Order 1993, and my Department has the power to remove them from its property. One of my Department’s primary considerations is the safety of the public, and where unauthorised flags or attachments pose a hazard to road users, my Department will always seek to remove that danger. While recognising my Department's responsibility, the reality is that if we as a society are to find a sustainable and lasting solution to the problem of illegal flags and emblems, we must all step up, as Ministers, as a united Executive, as leaders and members of all parties in the Assembly, with councils, landowners and agencies, including the Housing Executive and PSNI, and, importantly, with and in support of communities. I understand this is an area being explored — with a view to finding consensus — by the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition, set up as part of the Fresh Start Agreement, with a report due to the First Minister and deputy First Minister. I also note the commitments to accommodating and respecting identities and cultures in the New Decade, New Approach agreement. It is long past time that we got to grips with this issue and the issues that lie beneath it. I assure the Member that I am committed to working with Executive colleagues and everyone required so that we can deal with the issue in a comprehensive and lasting way.

Ms Mallon

Yes, I agree that flags can be used to mark out territory. As I said in my response, it is a problem that persists and that we need to comprehensively try to deal with. I believe that the answer to taking the issue forward lies in the commission and that we really need to find a political consensus and show leadership at all levels to try to achieve that. I am committed to doing that in my Department, but I am realistic. I understand the nature of the problem, so I also understand that, if we are to genuinely deal with it, we must all work together.

Mr Storey

I welcome the Minister to her post and wish her well. Unfortunately, for many years in my constituency in the village of Rasharkin, illegal signs have been put up on top of directional signs. That is intimidating. They have been put up in support of republican prisoners, and, repeatedly, the police and your Department have failed to address the issue. When will you allow the Protestant minority in the village of Rasharkin to live free from the intimidation caused by that type of activity?

Ms Mallon

I thank the Member for his question. I firmly believe that everyone should live free from intimidation. I do not see this as an issue of one side or the other. I accept that my Department has a role to play. It is clear that, under article 87 of the Roads Order, it is an offence to fix certain attachments to the surface of a road, tree, structure or other works in or on a road. It is that legislation that my Department seeks to rely on. I want to work with the PSNI; I want to work with communities; I want to work with every single Member in the House, because that is the only way that we are going to genuinely tackle this issue in a sustainable and lasting way.

Ms Ní Chuilín

I, too, welcome the Minister to her first Question Time and wish her well. The Department has been working on revised guidance to staff around this issue for some time. Will she ensure that robust measures are taken through legislation to deal with illegally erected flags? I am sure that she will agree that everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live, has to live free from sectarian harassment.

Ms Mallon

I absolutely agree with the Member. I have asked for a detailed submission on the guidelines. As I have said consistently in answering the questions, we need to deal with this robustly, but we need to do it in a way that tackles the underlying issues as well. It is not just a simple issue of erecting an illegal flag or a banner on a lamp post or a bit of street furniture. We need to get to grips with the underlying issues. We all need to show leadership, and that means that we should be as vociferously opposed to illegal paramilitary flags representing loyalist paramilitaries going up as we should be for issues to do with dissident republicans. We need to approach this in a very equal way. I want to work with everyone in the House, and I want to play my part in tackling the issue.

Mr Allister

I agree with Mr Storey's comments to the Minister and I trust that she will take them on board. In respect of her Department, we not only have the issue of flags but the issue of permanent structures on departmental lands and those of arm's-length bodies in the form of memorials glorifying terrorism. What action is being taken in that regard? A predecessor of hers told me that there were 34 such memorials in place. Has any action been taken, and does she agree that until we get to zero tolerance of the physical force tradition, then we are going round in circles on this matter?

Ms Mallon

I thank the Member for his question. If he has details of any structures that are on DFI land, I will be happy to look at them. Yes, we should have a zero tolerance approach, but we should do so universally. We should not accept signs or structures in some places while not accepting them in others. I look forward to working with the Member and with others as we take that universal zero tolerance approach.