The British government has been accused tonight of diluting plans to overhaul the Northern Ireland justice system after it emerged the royal coat of arms will be displayed on court buildings.
In a series of concessions to unionists on the reforming Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill going through the House of Commons, the British government has tabled amendments which allow the coat of arms inside existing buildings to be retained if the courts are of historic or architectural value.
The Union flag will also be allowed to fly from court buildings on designated days such as the Queen's birthday.
The proposals angered the SDLP and Sinn Fein national chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin who tonight claimed the Government was repeating the "mistake" of the police reform legislation.
Mr McLaughlin said from Australia: "We are disappointed by the British Government's move. We would have expected them to have learnt the lessons of the dilution of the Police Bill and would have expected them to try and avoid those mistakes.
"The criminal justice review did not meet the expectations of the nationalist and republican community to start with. However central to the outcome of the criminal justice review was that courts would be neutral working environments in and around the courts.
Although the Northern Ireland Office would not comment on the amendments, Ulster Unionist sources welcomed "significant concessions" on the flags issue and the coat of arms.
An Ulster unionist source said: "This is a significant concession to us as under the existing criminal justice reform plans new court houses would not have displayed a coat of arms at all and all coat of arms inside the buildings would have been torn down.
It is understood that in the amendments tabled by the Government today, it will be proposed that the Flags Order be amended to provide for the flying of the Union flag from court buildings on designated days.
The Union flag flies from Government buildings in Northern Ireland on designated days.
The SDLP and Sinn Fein have pressed for the removal of royal symbols from court buildings on the grounds that they are not neutral.
But the decision by the Government to guarantee that the coat of arms will appear in courthouse buildings will mean that new courtrooms like the Laganside courtrooms in Belfast will have to display the royal symbols.
Ulster Unionist MP Lady Sylvia Hermon tonight said she would welcome any move by the Government to address unionist concerns.
The North Down MP, who has been involved in the committee stage of the Bill, said: "From the beginning we have been advocating that any removal of the coat of arms from existing buildings would have been an act of vandalism and that it needed to be built into the fabric of new buildings.
"I also note that the Secretary of State John Reid said during the second reading that he would listen to representations on the coat of arms from a heritage point of view.
PA