The Northern Ireland Assembly has unanimously voted in favour of passing on a cross-party ad-hoc committee's report on the contentious issue of flags to the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson.
Mr Mandelson, who will take the final decision on when the Union flag should be flown from public buildings, published his draft proposals in August. They contained a suggestion that the flag be flown from designated buildings on 17 days of the year, including Queen Elizabeth's birthday and St Patrick's Day. He is expected to issue his ruling before November 12th, the next public flag-flying day.
In the report, the parties are believed to have stated their traditional positions, with Ulster Unionists supporting Mr Mandelson's proposals while the SDLP outlined three options: no flags at all, equality between the Union flag and the Irish flag or, in the long term, an agreed consensual flag and emblem. Sinn Fein opposes the flying of the Union flag unless it is hoisted alongside the Irish flag while the DUP has accused the Assembly of wasting taxpayers' money on producing the report in the first place.