MEP in row over removal of tricolour
MEP Avril Doyle asked for a tricolour to be removed from a Wexford Church before her daughter's wedding, it has emerged.
The decision to remove both a tricolour and a papal flag from the altar of Crossabeg Church has raised questions locally.
However Ms Doyle has defended her decision, saying that she did not see a place for flags in churches.
Ms Doyle's daughter Christine married Englishman Glen Howitt in St Patrick's and St Bridget's Church on August 31.
"It was my personal call as I believe there is no place in church for flags of any kind. Having got permission, we removed both the tricolour and the Vatican flag from the altar for the wedding ceremony," said Ms Doyle.
However there has been some criticism in the area of the decision.
"The flags have been there since 2003, when we celebrated the bicentenary of convict priest Fr James Dixon's first Mass in Australia," said one local.
"The flags have since been put back up, but they are not hanging in the correct way now. A lot of people down here are very annoyed about the fact that these flags were taken down. You have to ask if our MEP is ashamed of our flag?"
Ms Doyle insisted that it had always been her position that nationalism had no place in a Church.
"It has been my consistent position for many years that there should not be flags of any kind inside a church. Will there be national borders in the next life?" she said.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: "In Ireland we do not have a tradition of placing flags in churches, although it may occasionally happen.
"The decision on flags in churches remains a local matter without any official sanction."
