Mr Brolly said bunting should be used instead of flags.

Organisers of last Sunday’s parade said they were surprised by the comments from Mr. Brolly as there had never been issue with the flags before.

Mr Brolly said: “At particular times of the year, as we commemorate the hunger strikers and all of our patriot dead, it is understandable that the flag is displayed and flown in their honour. However, it is the manner in which the flag is displayed that is cause for concern.

“The national flag should at all times command the highest degree of respect. While I accept that some organising committees, such as the one in Dungiven, ensure that any flags erected by them are only flown for the duration of the commemoration, this is not always the case.”

Mr. Brolly said it is too often the case where the national flag is dishonoured, “not only by being displayed on lamp posts, telegraph poles and even trees, but even more dishonouring is that flags of particular football clubs are flown above the tricolour on the same pole.

In Dungiven, Irish tricolours are flown along the Main Street to mark the death of INLA man Kevin Lynch (25) from Park who died in 1981 after 71 days on hunger strike.

Mr. Brolly said the tricolour should never be used as a means of intimidation or of marking out territory.

“The national flag is a symbol of peace and national reconciliation and anyone displaying it for any other purpose not only dishonours the flag but the memory of our patriot dead and the ideals for which they died.

“Other ways of honouring our patriot dead with the display of the Tricolour need to be considered, such as requesting property owners along the route of any procession to fly the flag from their premises for the duration of the commemoration.”

Mr. Brolly said the tricolour should never be used as a means of intimidation or of marking out territory. He added: “The national flag is a symbol of peace and national reconciliation and anyone displaying it for any other purpose not only dishonours the flag, but the memory of our patriot dead and the ideals for which they died.”