The Northern Ireland Assembly resumes this morning for the first time since its suspension four months ago. Tension between the parties remains high, and a debate over a motion on the flags issue, expected to take place tomorrow, is likely to be stormy.
The Democratic Unionist Party motion, proposed by the Rev Ian Paisley, calls on the Assembly to issue a directive that the Union flag shall be flown by government departments on all designated days, as in the rest of the United Kingdom, and additionally on Stormont's Parliament Buildings every day the Assembly is sitting.
The motion is a direct challenge to Sinn Fein Ministers' policy of refusing to fly the Union flag on their departments. There are 20 designated days for hoisting flags on government buildings: forthcoming dates include the Duke of Edinburgh's birthday on June 10th and Queen Elizabeth's official birthday on June 17th.
A Sinn Fein Assembly member, Mr Conor Murphy, said: "Where flags are flown over government buildings they should be both Irish and British. Where it is not possible to fly both flags then none should be flown."
He said all the parties to the Belfast Agreement had acknowledged the need to use symbols and emblems in a manner that promoted mutual respect rather than division. "Parity of esteem requires that where British cultural symbols are used in public life, equivalent Irish symbols should be given equal prominence," he said.
Today will be taken up with ministerial statements and the first stage of a number of Bills. The most significant of these is the Appropriation Bill, setting out the mechanism for distributing funding allocations to the various departments in accordance with budgetary plans and financial estimates.
The main issue of contention, the reform of policing, is not on the Order Paper, but many Assembly members who are also MPs are expected to be in Westminster tomorrow for the second reading of the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill.
Patrick Markey adds from New York:
As Britain's policing Bill heads for its second reading tomorrow, a member of the Patten Commission has warned that diluting its recommendations on RUC reform could damage prospects for peace.
Speaking on Friday in New York, Dr Gerald Lynch said the Patten Commission's suggestions on reforming the RUC should not be watered down by the British government legislation.
"After the government apparently said they were going to accept the Patten Commission, now it looks like they are going to modify it significantly, and there is a big concern that we will be back to square one," Dr Lynch said.
"What we fear is if this Bill goes through in such a way that the IRA withdraws its offer then we are back to a very difficult situation," he told a National Committee on American Foreign Policy lunch. "To change it now when it has been so connected, I fear for the consequences."
President of New York's Jay John College of Criminal Justice, Dr Lynch is also one of the eight members of the independent Patten Commission on policing.
Asked if the Bill would lead to an accountable police agency, Dr Lynch said such a service was unlikely with changes to the commission's suggestions on the checking and investigating powers of the policing board and the new ombudsman post.
"There is absolutely no way you can make those changes and have an acceptable police. It's absolutely against what was recommended. We wanted a fully accountable police service, accountable to the whole community," Dr Lynch said.
An SDLP delegation led by Mr Alex Attwood and Mr John Tierney has met the Oversight Commissioner, Mr Tom Constantine, who has been appointed to supervise the implementation of police reform. The delegation expressed concerns about the contents of the Implementation Plan, some of which had been leaked to the news media.