Parachute Regiment flag
Posted by Jim on November 6, 2025
THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH:
Council presses Stormont on law to remove flags after Parachute Regiment colours flown following Bloody Sunday trial
Parachute Regiment flag
Tanya Fowles, Local Democracy Reporter
Today at 09:45
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has unanimously agreed to write to the Stormont ministers, after Parachute Regiment flags were erected in Tamlaght following the Bloody Sunday verdict.
The former paratrooper known as Soldier F was found not guilty of committing two murders and five attempted murders on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in 1972.
Soldier F had been accused of the murders of James Wray and William McKinney on Bloody Sunday, when 13 people were killed when members of the Parachute Regiment opened fire on a civil rights demonstration.
Judge Patrick Lynch at Belfast Crown Court said last month that the “evidence presented by the Crown falls well short” of being “convincing and manifestly reliable” enough to secure a conviction.
Raising the matter at the latest council meeting, SDLP councillor Adam Gannon told members: “These flags were erected maliciously with only one goal – to cause hurt and further division.
“It was effectively a disgusting attempt at gloating in the face of great pain. It’s nothing but sectarian hatred.”
He added the issue “highlights the ongoing problems with flags in our communities, which come up again and again and again. The Executive needs to get serious on flags.”
Mr Gannon proposed writing to the Ministers of the relevant Departments of Infrastructure, Communities and Justice, bringing this matter to their attention, setting out the hurt it caused and asking for action in proving “meaningful legislation which will remove flags when required”.
This was seconded by Councillor Ruaídhrí Lyttle of Sinn Féin and agreed unanimously across the chamber.