A Scot council's bid to fly the Irish tricolour to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising appear to be floundering after its supporters said the move is being reconsidered.

SNP councillors at North Lanarkshire who supported the move are to hold further discussions on the plan on Monday.

The group's leader David Stocks said he had been inundated with complaints about the bid to mark the centenary of the key event in Irish modern history by flying the nation's flag.

It comes as Loyalist groups announced a campaign to oppose the decision.

Further details emerged on Friday about the move as the local authority confirmed a decision on flying the flag will be taken at the end of March.

The stand-in chair of the meeting, Labour's Sammy Love, had moved to refuse the request by Scots-based Irish Republican group Cairde na hEireann for the flag to be flown from civic buildings to mark the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

But party colleague Pat O'Rourke blocked the bid to abandon the request and was supported in his amendment by SNP councillors. This led the council's corporate services committee to vote narrowly in favour of the proposal.

However, according to the Motherwell Times the SNP have indicated backtracking on their support while many in Labour are attempting to thwart the plan.

North Lanarkshire has said its practice is to follow Scottish Government guidance, issued annually, on the flying of flags.

To fly the Irish tricolour, it said, was a departure from council policy, which is based on UK and Scottish Government guidance, it now had to be approved by the full council.

But Cairde na hEireann's national organiser Franny McAdam pointed to neighbouring Glasgow's flag policies which has flown flags in support of Palestinian, Norway, Finland and Switzerland in recent years.

North Lanarkshire said the likely decision date will be March 27, with sources saying it was unclear what way the politicians would vote.

One hardline Loyalist group said it would actively oppose the flying of the Irish flag in North Lanarkshire.

The Regimental Blues took to social media to say: "The decision will be made by the full council next month as the council views this decision too serious to be made by a small group of councillors.

"Regimental Blues will today begin working on a campaign to combat this and will launch the campaign on Monday 15 February. We Walk The Walk."

One supporter said the "6500 people" following the group on social media could "bring Coatbridge to a standstill (and) get media attention".

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.

Cairde na hEireann's Franny McAdam confirmed requests to fly the Irish flag had been sent to both Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Parliament but he had not received a response.

Mr McAdam said: "We're quite happy with this first decision. It's the correct one. But we're obviously less happy it has to go to full council and North Lanarkshire bringing out Scottish Government policies.

"A precedent has been set several times by Glasgow. This is the biggest event in Irish history and time the Scottish Government and councils supported their Irish communities."

A spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said: "We received a request to fly the national flag of Ireland to commemorate the centenary of the Easter Rising.

"The Corporate Services committee decided to support this application. However, because this decision would represent a departure from current council policy the matter will have to be considered at a future meeting of the council."