No flag at courthouse was ‘oversight’ - Allister told

Mr. Allister said: “After noticing that Ballymena Courthouse failed to fly the Union Flag on 6th February to mark the Accession of Her Majesty the Queen I tabled an urgent written question to the Justice Minister demanding an explanation and asking what action was to be taken. The Minister has responded today and informed me that the Union Flag was not flying “due to an oversight by G4S Secure Solutions (UK)”.

“Under the terms of their contract G4S are required to fly the Union Flag from all court premises on designated days. Minister Ford advises me that G4S were asked for an immediate report on why this failure occurred and that the Chief Executive of to the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service will be meeting with the Managing Director of G4S to “urgently discuss the issue”.

Mr. Allister continued: “This is welcome but it would appear that Ballymena was not the only Courthouse to not fly the National Flag on 6th February. According to a report in the Irish News the Flag was not flown from Londonderry, Enniskillen and Dungannon as well. I intend to press Minister Ford on this issue. It would appear that the issue is not just limited to Ballymena and one wonders if other Designated Days have passed when the Flag did not fly from all our courts.

“It’s bad enough that the flying of the Flag has been restricted to designated days never mind that it isn’t flown on one!”