CONCERNS have been raised over the erection of flags on the Goal Square and Dublin Road of Enniskillen, to commemorate the centenary of Northern Ireland.
While the erection of flags has sparked much debate, Cllr Paul Blake, pictured below, has urged priorities to be focused on how Enniskillen will look to tourists as we come out of lockdown.
“Enniskillen is a tourist town and that’s what we need to attract coming out of this pandemic. When you put flags up like that it’s a desecration of a flag,” he warned.
“We want Enniskillen to be a welcoming town, we don’t need to mark territory. We’re in the 21st century and we don’t need to see this coming into one of the main entrances of our town no matter what flag it is.
“To me a flag is something that needs to be cherished. We don’t need to put it up on a lamp post and watch it being battered by the weather.
“It’s not progressive to see parties play on this as opposed to trying to change the situation.
We want to see our hotels busy and hospitality thriving and we can’t do that if we are going to go back to the past by putting up flags.”
Speaking after the overnight erection of pro union flags, MLA Jemma Dolan said, “These flags result in a rise in community tension and they are intimidating to many, particularly if they are erected right outside somebody’s house.
“I have no problem with people from a unionist background flying flags respectfully but the manner, amount and location of these flags is concerning.”
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