A Scottish local authority has unanimously rejected a request to fly the national flag of the Irish Republic above council buildings to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising.

The corporate services committee of North Lanarkshire Council had previously backed a submission from a Coatbridge-based Irish republican group to fly the tricolour on April 24, the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of a rebellion in Dublin against British rule.

But North Lanarkshire Council on Thursday confirmed that that decision has now been overturned.

A full council meeting on Thursday refused to support the motion.

Cairde Na hEireann wrote to ask if the flag could be flown above council premises in Coatbridge’s Kildonan Street as well as buildings in Motherwell and Cumbernauld.

But the leader of the local authority’s ruling Labour group had confirmed his members would vote against the proposal at a full council meeting taking place on Thursday.

Councillor Jim McCabe praised the contribution of the Irish in North Lanarkshire, but said flying the flag would contravene existing council policy.

North Lanarkshire's Labour administration instructed its members to vote against the idea. It has 41 of the council's 70 councillors so can defeat any support for the move by weight of numbers.

The corporate services committee of the council voted 8-6 in favour of flying the Irish Tricolour earlier last week.

Six SNP councillors joined two from the Labour ranks to push through the request from Scots-based Irish Republican group Cairde na hEireann that the flag be flown in April to mark 100 years since the Rising in the Irish capital.

Easter 1916 is the pivotal event in modern Irish history and although a failed rebellion against British rule became the catalyst for the Irish War of Independence and creation of the Free State in 1922.

Amongst the 15 leaders of the uprising executed in Dublin was Edinburgh-born socialist James Connolly.