The Northern Ireland assembly was yesterday recalled from recess for an emergency debate on the Easter displays in the Stormont assembly.

Unionists were outraged that the Stormont commission, which runs the building, approved lilies - a symbol of the republican movement - for the floral displays.

The nationalists and the non-sectarian Alliance party attacked the unionists for forcing the recall of the assembly "over a bunch of flowers" when there was no emergency recall "last summer when people were dying on the streets".

Despite the unionists winning the vote to get rid of the lilies, they failed to get the flowers removed because they did not win cross-community support. The unionists are now insisting that orange lilies be displayed when the Orangemen mark the battle of the Boyne.

In a heated debate, PUP leader and Good Friday Agreement supporter, David Ervine, expressed his regret that he had not killed more republicans during his time as a loyalist terrorist.