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05 Flags

The history of the Irish Tricolour bearing the colours green for the Catholic majority, orange for William of Orange the Protestant King (and his followers) and white for the desired peace between them, goes back to the middle of the 19th century.

It was first unfurled in public by Young Irelander Thomas Francis Meagher who, using the symbolism of the flag, explained his vision as follows: "The white in the center signifies a lasting truce between the "Orange" and the "Green," and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood". Fellow nationalist John Mitchel said of it: "I hope to see that flag one day waving as our national banner."

Since its use in the 1916 Rising it became widely accepted as the national flag, being used officially by the Irish Republic (1919 - 1921) and the Irish Free State (1922 - 1937).

In 1937 when the Constitution of Ireland was introduced the Tricolour was formally confirmed as the national flag: "The national flag is the tricolour of green, white and orange." While the Tricolour today is the official flag of Ireland (Republic of Ireland) as a state flag it does not apply to the entire island of Ireland.

Since Partition there is no universally agreed flag that represents the entire island. As a provisional solution for certain sports fixtures the Flag of the Four Provinces enjoys a certain amount of general acceptance and popularity.

Historically a number of flags have been used, including St. Patrick's cross, the flag sometimes used for the Kingdom of Ireland and which represented Ireland on the Union Flag after the Act of Union, a green flag with a harp (used by most nationalists in the 19th century and which is also the flag of Leinster), a blue flag with a harp used from the 18th century onwards by many nationalists (now the standard of the President of Ireland), and the Irish Tricolour. The state flag applying to Northern Ireland is the Union Flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

St Patrick's Saltire was formerly used to represent the island of Ireland by the all-island Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), before adoption of the four-provinces flag. The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) uses the Tricolour to represent the whole island.