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Haass proposals: Flying of Irish tricolour ruled out Haass proposals: DUP says agreement before Christmas unlikely
(about 4 hours later)
The flying of the Irish tricolour on government buildings has been ruled out by Richard Haass, the BBC has learned. The DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson has said he believes agreement in the Haass talks before Christmas is unlikely.
The former US diplomat is heading a team attempting to resolve the issues of parades, flags and the past. A revised set of proposals on ways to deal with flags, parades and the past were given to the five parties on Thursday.
The fresh set of recommendations by Richard Haass have caused serious concern amongst unionists.
He is meeting representatives of the five main political parties on Friday for further discussions.
Dr Haass will meet the parties individually in the morning before holding round-table talks in the afternoon.
The former US diplomat's first set of proposals were rejected by unionists earlier this week and led to Dr Haass and his vice-chair Meghan O'Sullivan locking themselves away for 36 hours to prepare a new version, which was given to the parties on Thursday.
He is meeting representatives of the five main political parties on Friday for further discussions.
Unionists said on Thursday evening that they were unhappy with Dr Haass's second draft of proposals.
Mr Donaldson, who is part of the DUP's talks delegation said he thought further dialogue in the new year would be needed.
Importance
"I have to say there's still a few silly things in there that really do need to be taken out and there are still areas on which further progress is required," he said.
"We're prepared to work on for as long as it takes to resolve these issues because we recognise how important they are for the people of Northern Ireland."
Sinn Féin's talks negotiator, Gerry Kelly, said "advances" had been made.
"We can make progress, but the political will needs to be there and this is an opportunity which we, certainly in Sinn Féin, and I would say all the parties, need not to lose, is we'll not come back again easily, so we're up for finishing the job for the people in the north, and indeed throughout Ireland and Britain," he said.
"These are the three toxic issues which have been hanging around for 15 years, we have an opportunity to sort them out and we're up for trying to do that."
On Thursday, it was revealed that the flying of the Irish tricolour on government buildings in Northern Ireland had been ruled out by Dr Haass.
It is understood his proposals include a licensing system for the flying of flags, a trauma centre and new bodies for dealing with parading and the past.It is understood his proposals include a licensing system for the flying of flags, a trauma centre and new bodies for dealing with parading and the past.
He is to meet representatives from the five executive parties on Friday for further discussions.
The fresh set of proposals by Dr Haass has caused serious concern amongst unionists.
He appears to have ruled out the flying of the Irish tricolour on government buildings but backed designated days for flying the union flag.
However, he said there was no agreement on what local councils should do.
His report said new bodies for dealing with parading and the past should be established.
Trauma centre
He said councils should carry out an audit of what memorials they have on their premises.
There has also been talk of a trauma centre for Troubles victims.
Unionists did not think much of Dr Haass's first document and they do not like his revised one either.
The DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) said his latest set of proposals contained "some silly things".
Ulster Unionists were angered by the latest draft and demanded to know "who was inserting" some of the proposals.
The SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party) and Sinn Féin seemed more content.
The Alliance Party said a deal was possible "if the will was there".
Dr Haass will meet the parties individually on Friday morning and there will be a round table session in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the secretary of state has been speaking at a debate about flags held at Queen's University in Belfast.
Theresa Villiers refused to discuss the subject of the Haass talks directly, but emphasised the importance of the parties involved in the talks coming to an agreement.