DUP and Sinn Fein in clash over Newcastle flags issue

12 April 2023

TWO local councillors have clashed over the erection of tricolour flags in Newcastle over Easter.

DUP councillor Alan Lewis said the “huge” tricolour flags entering and along Newcastle Main Street have disrupted tourism over the Easter break and damaged community relations.

However, his claims have been refuted by Sinn Fein councillor Willie Clarke, who said the flags were put up for an Easter commemoration and then removed.

Cllr Lewis said the Orange Order had respected an unwritten understanding that flags are only flown in Newcastle on the day of any demonstration, such as the Twelfth of July.

“Given that Newcastle is one of South Down’s premier seaside towns, this has worked well as it doesn’t interfere with tourism or detract visitors,” he said. “However, residents and business owners awoke on Thursday morning to find huge tricolour flags attached to lampposts in Newcastle’s Main Street.

“This is another example of republicans simply doing as they please and locals are aware of who put them up. Some of them own businesses and wouldn’t appreciate flags hung outside their own premises. Newcastle is a mixed area and a tourist hotspot that shouldn’t be marked or claimed by any one side.

“I am also disappointed to have received calls from visitors from outside the area saying they wouldn’t be staying in Newcastle last weekend. They intended to spend Easter weekend in South Down but decided to go elsewhere. This, in a nutshell, represents the damage these flags are doing.

“The flags are flown ahead of the annual Easter commemorations, a terrorist coat-trailing exercise which disrupts traffic, traumatises victims, divides neighbours and untimely sends visitors back to their cars and straight out of the area.

“Those responsible should reflect on the damage they are doing.”

Cllr Clarke defended the parade and flags being flown in Newcastle, saying that his party held a short annual parade in Newcastle every Easter Sunday, before the main commemoration in Castlewellan,

“A small number of flags are erected for the parade and are removed within days by local agreement,” he remarked.

“I negotiated this agreement with local unionist leaders and the PSNI over ten years ago. This resulted in a bespoke protocol on flags in Newcastle.

“It agreed that union flags would be erected on the morning of the Twelfth of July and removed after the parade, while three tricolours would be erected on Easter Thursday and removed on Easter Tuesday.

Cllr Clarke added: “Cllr Alan Lewis’s comments are, to be honest, patent nonsense and owe more to the DUP's refusal to acknowledge the republican and nationalist identity in South Down and beyond.

“He should focus his attention on removing union flags that damage community relations in Clough, Dundrum, Kilkeel and Annalong, which are erected all year round.”

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