Belfast flag protest: Policing board chair says talks will 'bear fruit' 11 January 2013 Last updated at 08:04 The chair of the policing board in Northern Ireland has said he believes dialogue on the union flag issue will "bear fruit." There have been nearly 40 days of protests over the decision by Belfast City Council to limit the flying of the union flag to designated days only. The cost of policing protests and dealing with disorder during the first two weeks was £3.8m. Brian Rea said "dialogue and not disorder" was needed. Mr Rea was speaking after a meeting of the policing board on Thursday which PSNI Chief constable Matt Baggott attended. On the same day, the new unionist forum met for the first time. "I want to pay tribute to those who are endeavouring to take this by a different route," Mr Rea said. I believe the dialogue that has now commenced by the political leadership will bear fruit. Dialogue and not disorder is the way to resolve this. Mr Rea said the chief constable had told the board that continued use of resources to police protests and respond to disorder would "within time have some knock-on impacts on other areas of policing." However, he added that there was a firm commitment to ensure the service to the community was not "adversely impacted." The unionist forum has set up a taskforce to engage with the wider community, and eight working groups on subjects across the unionist spectrum.