User:Jnestorius/Flag of Ireland

This page is about the flag of the state called Ireland. For other flags associated with Ireland, see Cross-border flag for Ireland.

"Irish flag" redirects here. For the cocktail, see List of duo and trio cocktails.

Ireland

Use	National flag and ensign
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	1919
Design	A vertical tricolour of green, white, and orange.

The flag of Ireland (Irish: bratach na hÉireann / suaitheantas na hÉireann) or Irish tricolour is a vertical tricolour of green, white, and orange, with the green band at the hoist. It is the national flag of the Republic of Ireland, serving as civil flag, state flag, military flag, and ensign. Many Irish nationalists use the tricolour as the flag of the entire island of Ireland; however, this is disputed, especially by Ulster unionists.

The flag symbolises peace (white) between Ireland's two traditions: the Catholic Gaelic (green) and the Protestant British (orange). Symbolic combinations of green and orange are reported from around 1800, but the tricolour flag first came to prominence when Thomas Francis Meagher brought one from France in 1848. It remained a minor symbol until the 1910s, during which time the unofficial flag of Irish nationalists was a green flag with a gold harp. The tricolour became associated with militant republicanism and was called the Sinn Fein flag after the 1916 Rising. It was used by the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1919, adopted by the Irish Free State after 1922, and enshrined in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland.

Design

Article 7 of the Constitution of Ireland states:

The national flag is the tricolour of green, white and orange.

As there are no further statutory requirements in relation to the flag, the Department of the Taoiseach issues advice on correct flag protocol. The flag should be rectangular in shape and its length should be twice its width, translating into an aspect ratio of 1:2. The three coloured pales — green, white and orange — should be of equal size, and vertically disposed. The precise colours of the flag as set by the Department of the Taoiseach are:

Scheme	Green	White	Orange
Pantone	347	Safe	151

The flag should normally be displayed on a flagstaff, with the green pale positioned next to the flagstaff, at the hoist; the white pale positioned in the centre; and the orange pale positioned at the fly, farthest from the flagstaff. Provided that the correct proportions are observed, the flag may be made to any convenient size.

Symbolism

The green pale in the flag symbolises the older majority Gaelic tradition of Ireland. Green had long been associated with Ireland as a nation, and with the revolutionary groups within it. The orange represents the minority who were supporters of William of Orange. He, of the House of Orange and originally the Stadtholder of the Netherlands, had defeated King James II and his predominantly Irish Catholic army at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. His title came from the Principality of Orange in the south of France that had been a Protestant bastion from the 1500s. It was included in the Irish flag in an attempt to reconcile the Orange Order in Ireland with the Irish independence movement. The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the two cultures and a living together in peace. The flag, as a whole, is intended to symbolise the inclusion and hoped-for union of the people of different traditions on the island of Ireland, which is expressed in the Constitution as the entitlement of every person born in Ireland to be part of the independent Irish nation, regardless of ethnic origin, religion or political conviction.

There are exceptions to the general beneficent theory. Green was also used as the colour of such Irish bodies as the mainly-Protestant and non-sectarian "Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick", established in 1751. When the tricolour was designed in 1848 the Orange Order faced suppression and was in serious decline.

Is there disagreement over the symbolism? See de Paor quote below re "some muddling of the basic symbolism of the separate colours".

• Is green Catholic, nationalist, republican, Gaelic?
• Is orange Protestant, unionist, loyalist, British?
• Is white peace, brotherhood, unity? Govt brochure gives both.

Magan says Brian Hand says: tricolour was from Connolly's socialism, emphasising unity, and used in 1913 by them. Fenians were not proconciliation. "It’s unlikely that one side would have used its battle flag to portray peace with its enemy". O'Donovan Rossa's funeral coffin draped with tricolour. Earlier tricolours used by suffragists, in various colour combinations, including green-white-orange and green-white-yellow. Most 1916 rebels did not recognise the flag. Adopted by 1919 republic. Claimed by both sides in Civil War.

Meagher's words:

The material of this flag was of the richest French silk, which was gorgeously trimmed and embroidered; the colours were orange, white and green. "I need not explain the meaning of this flag," he said, "the generation now springing into arms will catch it at a glance. The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the 'orange' and the 'green,' and I trust that the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may clasp hands beneath its folds in noble and generous brotherhood."

Dora Sigerson Shorter's 1918 prose poem The Tricolour about the 1916 Rising:

Out of poverty and misery from some dark corner of the slums she had hurried at the sound of the shooting — the old woman who had no place in the revolution — where the young, the hopeful, the idealists were fighting. What could she do then, this weak and trembling old creature, this Sean-Bhean Bhocht, useless, and in the way in the gun-swept streets of the blazing city? [...] When all seemed quenched of youth and young heroic dreams, poor and nameless, she threw off the rags that poverty held about her and was beautiful in the tricolour of faith, hope, and love.

Irish Women's Franchise League in 1908 adopted green and orange as its colours, to symbolise appeal to nationalist and unionist, although most members were nationalist. Its flag was "green, orange and white".

Brian Hand argues that tricolours were popularised by suffrage groups from the 1890s, and that until the Easter Rising "the Tricolour belonged primarily to the left-wing militant tradition — they alone believed that unionists and nationalists should unite against their common capitalist oppressors. It was James Connolly who brought the Tricolour to the Supreme Council, and it flew in the Rising over buildings involved in the 1913 Lockout ... , so becoming a symbol of victory over capitalist oppression. ... It was a demonstrably egalitarian flag: three equal bands of colour, in a homologically vertical arrangement rather than a hierarchically horizontal one."

Variant colours

Irish tricolour "misrepresented" with gold instead of orange

It is claimed that often differing shades of yellow, instead of orange, are seen at civilian functions. A 1957 writer said "the orange is usually yellow". However the flag guide says that this is a misrepresentation which "should be actively discouraged". In poems and lyrics, especially Irish rebel songs of the 1913–23 revolutionary period, the colours are often enumerated as "green, white and gold"; for example in "Dying Rebel", "Gather Round the Flag" by Peadar Kearney (also a 1976 version of "The Tri-coloured Ribbon", but not a c.1920 version), "The Six who were Hanged" by Thomas McGreevy (which also juxtaposes "silver and gold" with "green"), "Ireland at the Peace Conference" by Harry Boland, and "Long Journey Home" by Elvis Costello and Paddy Moloney. Other anonymously published songs from the revolutionary period: "Green, White and Gold", "Beneath our flag green, white and gold". Using "gold" in place of "orange" may variously be interpreted as simple poetic license, a throwback to the green and gold flag of nineteenth century nationalism, an identification with the papal colours of white and gold, or a desire to downplay the symbolism of "green" Ireland being in harmony with Orangeism. Charles Townshend suggests a connection with Robert Emmet, depicted in a green jacket with white and gold trim.

"green white and yellow" used by:

• Alice Furlong in a 1923 account of the 1919 funeral of Patrick Joseph McCall.

But "The flag of freedom" (1921) by Joseph Stanley has "Orange, White and Green".

Fragment of Jacob's-factory 1916 flag donated to the state in 2016 "contains green, white and gold".

The Army magazine An tÓglach in 1923 noted letters in newspapers stating the flag violated the rule of tincture that metals —Or (gold or yellow) and Argent (silver or white)— should not be touching; An tÓglach stated it was "not gravely concerned about the reported offence against the canon of heraldry".

Hugh Kennedy in 1924 said the tricolour "shocks the Heralds by flouting one of the fundamental laws of their code", meaning the rule of tincture prohibiting gold/yellow touching silver/white.

Offaly GAA's county colours are described as "Green, White and Gold". The county won the right to wear the "national colours" in a competition between Leinster counties.

In Northern Ireland in 1933, Regulation 24C passed under the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act prohibiting the flying of a tricolour of "green, white and yellow", which the High Court of Northern Ireland decided in 1951 on appeal by James McSparran could not be applied to a tricolour of green, white and orange. This decision was one factor leading to the Flags and Emblems (Display) Act (Northern Ireland) 1954.

There was disagreement within the cabinet about how much detail, if any, the Constitution should prescribe about the national flag. The first draft to include it gave the colours as "green, white and gold"; a note changed this to "orange white green"; later drafts had "green, white and orange". The Irish-language text of the Constitution specifies the colours as "uaine, bán, agus flannbhuí". The word uaine "verdant green" (of non-natural objects) contrasts with glas "grass-green; grey-green" (of natural features). For "orange", the first draft of the Irish text used cróchda "saffron"; parliamentary draftsman Arthur Matheson suggested changing the English text to match this. A later Irish draft used órdha "golden" before finally flannbhuí was chosen. Flannbhuí, the customary colour word for orange, combines flann "(blood)-red" and buí "yellow". The noun oráiste and adjective oráisteach are used for the orange fruit and the Orange Institution, and sometimes for the colour.

Denis C. Heron at 1868 trial of Richard Pigott and Alexander M. Sullivan (cf Party Processions Act and Party Emblems Act):

It was asserted that green was a party colour. I have before shown that green is the national emblem, and could not be a party colour. St. Patrick, in the conversion of Ireland, chose the green shamrock as an emblem of the Trinity. In the more ancient manuscripts Ireland is represented as a green island, and the genius of Ireland was a figure clothed in green. The flag of the Red Branch Knights was a tawny lion on green satin. Green is therefore the national colour. The constabulary are dressed in green, and they wear the ancient badge of Ireland— the shamrock. They have recently been presented with a medal for their praiseworthy conduct on the night of the 5th March last, and appended to it is a bright green ribbon. Green can never be degraded into the symbol of a faction or the badge of a party.

1897:

Some confusion in party colours seems, indeed, to have always prevailed. Thus, while yellow or buff is in Ireland the colour of the Orange Society, and is consequently regarded as the anti-Catholic hue, the anti-Catholics during the Gordon riots of 1780 wore blue ribbons. Lord George Gordon appearing on one occasion in the House of Commons with a blue cockade in his hat. Colonel Herbert sprang to his feet and said he would not stay in the House while a member wore the "badge of sedition." The leader of the anti-Catholics was accordingly ordered by the Speaker to put his cockade into his pocket. Again, the English adherents of the movement for Catholic emancipation in the 'Twenties wore orange ribbons as their distinguishing badge, while its most bitter and determined opponents in Ireland displayed the same colour. But in Ireland the vagaries as to party colours, which exist to so confusing a degree in the rest of the kingdom, are not to be found. There each party, North and South, has its own distinctive hue. Green is everywhere in Ireland the colour of the Nationalists, and yellow is everywhere the colour of the Orangemen. Orange and blue were, as I have said, the colours of William III., and these were adopted by the Orangemen; but blue has gradually been discarded by them, and that colour is only used now in Ireland by moderate Conservatives who do not care to identify themselves so closely with Orangeism as to wear its colours. But though orange and blue were the colours of William III., sprigs of green were, curiously enough, worn by his soldiers in their hats to distinguish them from the adherents of the Stuart cause — who wore the white badge of the King of France — at the Battle of the Boyne, which broke the back of that cause and the cause of the Catholic or Nationalist Irish in 1690.

It is interesting to note, as showing that blue was everywhere the coveted colour in popular movements long before the days of Whigs and Tories, that in 1690, and for many years previously and subsequently, blue was the colour of the Catholic and old Celtic Irish. It was not until the Revolutionary Society of the United Irishmen, about 1790, tried to form a union of Catholics and Protestants, or of the native Irish and of the descendants of the English and Scotch settlers, as a step towards the establishment of an Irish Republic, that green — produced by a blending of blue and orange — was adopted as the Irish national colour, which it has since remained.

"The Arms of Ireland and Celtic Tribal Heraldry" Canon ffrench 1906 JRSAI.

1917 report on the Irish Convention: "some Irish Barbara Freitchie had hung to the breeze a republican flag of red, green and white".

"Cuanach" wrote to An tÓglach in June 1923, saying that there were two variant flags in use, one with a red stripe and the other with a gold stripe; while some said it was orange, that was wrong because the green stripe already blended blue and orange. Dunno what symbolism Cuanach saw in the gold; my Irish is not up to it.

Parl debates

HC Deb 28 February 1831 vol 2 cc1006-30

He [O'Gorman Mahon] could not help saying, that this cry of sedition against the meetings in Ireland came with a very bad grace from the noble Lord [Althorp], who had said not long ago, that he saw no harm in a tri-coloured flag; that he was glad the tri-coloured flag had been reared; and he hoped it would prosper. He repeated, that to call these meetings seditious,— meetings at which there was no flag at all, much less a tri-coloured flag,—was in very bad taste on the part of the noble Lord.

HC Deb 25 June 1832 vol 13 cc1023-51

[Anthony Lefroy] Gentleman legislate against the Political Unions; against those bodies the existence of which his Majesty's Prime Minister had declared to be inconsistent with all good Government—which met openly and in the face of day to discuss whether we should have an hereditary Legislature; and which assembled with badges, banners, and tri-coloured flags.

HL Deb 02 July 1832 vol 13 cc1189-236: "They carried tri-colored flags, a cap of liberty, and a green flag, bearing on one side a harp, and on the other a figure of Mr. O'Connell"

HC Deb 08 June 1893 vol 13 c541

MR. THEOBALD asked Mr. Speaker if it would be in Order to move the Adjournment of the House in order to call attention to the question of national flags in Ireland?

MR. T. M. HEALY I have a Bill on the subject, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER I think a Motion of that sort would be anticipating the Bill of the hon. and learned Member.

HC Deb 20 March 1900 vol 80 cc1322-3

MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN I beg to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, as representing the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether, in view of the fact that on St. Patrick's Day last Irish flags were flying from Windsor Castle, Dublin Castle, London Mansion House, and the municipal buildings of Liverpool and other provincial English cities and towns, the Irish Government will now permit Irish County Councils to hoist the Irish National flag on Irish courthouses used by them as their places of meeting for the discharge of public business.

MR. ATKINSON I am not aware whether flags were erected or not on all the buildings mentioned, or whether the flags erected were similar to those proposed to be erected on Irish Court-houses. It is a matter in each case for the consideration of the high sheriffs, who generally have determined, in my opinion wisely, that it, was undesirable that Court-houses, primarily erected for the purposes of the administration of justice, should 1323 be associated with political or party displays of any kind or character.

MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN Will the right hon. Gentleman describe the kind of flag he objects to?

MR. ATKINSON I do not know what flags were used.

MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN I thought not.

MR. FLAVIN (Kerry, N.) Were the Court-houses built at the expense of the high sheriffs or of the ratepayers of the county?

[No answer was given.]

HL Deb 04 May 1916 vol 21 cc940-1 940

THE EARL OF MEATH ... the sergeant of the Royal Irish Constabulary who ... effected the arrest of Sir Roger Casement on his landing in Ireland. ... Not only did he discover the boat, but after a search he found, close by ... the green and gold flag of the "Sinn Fein Republic"—a flag which was made in Germany.

HC Deb 08 June 1917 vol 94 cc505-6

26. Mr. GINNELL asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if the carrying of flags by athletic clubs in Ireland is forbidden; and, if so, will he say under what Statute; why a general Proclamation to that effect has not been issued; under what authority Constable Flagherty, of Kilcullen, county Kildare, seized and carried off such a flag carried by Mr. Michael Healy on Sunday, 6th May, refusing to state his authority for so acting; and whether Flagherty will be required to return the flag and apologise?

Mr. DUKE The carrying of flags, other than emblems of sedition, is not forbidden. The flag in question, as I am informed, came within the exception.

HC Deb 19 June 1917 vol 94 c1619

82. Mr. GINNELL asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will, for public convenience, specify the particular colours to which the Government object in the flags of Irish athletic clubs and other drapery or have an order issued by the competent authority specifying them; and whether the order is to be enforced in this case by the military or by the police?

Mr. DUKE No such order is necessary.

Mr. GINNELL Will the right hon. Gentleman not make public, either now or at another time, to what particular colours he objects?

Mr. DUKE I cannot speak about colours. But people who engage in acts of sedition or the propagation of disaffection are guilty of a breach of the law, and, so far as I am concerned, they will be brought to justice for it. In the case of people who merely exhibit colours in a harmless sort of way, I am not going to occupy the time of the police or of the public in dealing with them.

Mr. GINNELL Will the Chief Secretary explain how it is then that the flags of athletic clubs are taken up. Surely they are not criminal?

HC Deb 18 April 1921 vol 140 cc1536-7W

Mr. HAYDAY asked the Chief Secretary whether it is by instructions that Crown forces trail Irish tricolour flags from lorries in passing from place to place; and whether, in view of the fact that this practice is provocative, he will give instructions for its cessation?

Mr. HENRY I presume the hon. Member refers to the flag of the Irish Republican Army. In that case the answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. As regards the second part, all sections of the Crown forces are well aware that such undignified action would incur the strong disapproval of their superior authorities and that any case brought to notice would be appropriately dealt with.

Dáil treaty debate:

• Frank Fahy: We are told that we have secured the flag. What flag? Would there not be serious opposition to the adoption of the tri-colour as the flag of the Irish Free State? I much fear so.

• Mary MacSwiney: Mr. Griffith said: “We brought back Saorstát na hEireann and we brought back the flag.” I maintain here that the Free State which he has brought back must not use the flag of the Irish Republic. And that is the flag of the Irish Republic, intimately connected with the Republic, not with Dominion Government, and the people of Ireland will not tolerate it being used as such. Now, the other side have stated they do not want fratricidal war. Now let me tell them what would happen if they used that flag. Every honest Republican would resent any act of the Free State to use that flag as they would resent the Black-and-Tans using it, because it is not the flag of a Dominion State. It is the flag of the Irish Republic and must be kept so. And I maintain they have no power to use that flag until they have got the sanction of the Irish people to do what they are doing; and if they get that those of us who are Republicans still will use our flag with a black band until the Dominion status is changed into a Republic.

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1921/dec/16/irish-free-state-flag HC 1921, 15 Dec:

• Esmond Harmsworth asked the Prime Minister if there was an undertaking given at the recent Conference that the flag of the Irish Free State will not be the present Sinn Fein flag, but the Union Jack with such minor alterations as local patriotism requires, as in the case of all the other self-governing Dominions within the British Empire?
• David Lloyd George: The question was not raised at the Conference.

HC 1921, 19 Dec:

• Esmond Harmsworth asked the Prime Minister whether the Government of the Irish Free State will have the power of choice between flying the Sinn Fein flag and the Union Jack, the national flag of both Great Britain and the Dominions; and whether, if they have that power, this House will have any power over the decision that is come to?
• [...]
• Austen Chamberlain: The statement which was made by both the Prime Minister and myself the other day was that, in the case of each Dominion, the Dominion itself settled what the Dominion flag should be, and we proposed to follow that course in regard to the Irish case. For myself it seems to me that, in view of the acceptance of an agreement of friendship and amity, the spirit in which it works is of much more importance than the actual symbol.

HC Deb 16 December 1921 vol 149 cc281-2

Mr. ESMOND HARMSWORTH (by Private Notice) asked the Prime Minister whether he proposes to communicate with the Sinn Fein negotiators as to whether the flag of the Irish Free State will not be the present Sinn Fein flag, but the Union Jack with such minor alterations as local patriotism requires, as in the case of all other self-governing Dominions within the British Empire, before the proposals of the Treaty are embodied in a Bill to be placed before this House?

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN As far as I know, no condition as to the flag was imposed 282 in any other Dominion, and the Government have followed the precedent of the earlier cases.

Mr. HARMSWORTH Will not the Government communicate with the Sinn Fein negotiators on this question of the Flag, which no doubt will excite considerable interest in the country and in this House?

Mr. SPEAKER That is the same question again.

HC Deb 07 December 1922 vol 159 cc2015-6W

Major WARING asked the Home Secretary whether Garter King-at-Arms is to issue any Regulations with reference to the national flag consequent to the passing of the Irish Free State Constitution Act?2016W

Mr. BRIDGEMAN The answer is in the negative.

HC Deb 15 May 1893 vol 12 cc926

Arthur O'Connor Will the Foreign Office consult, the First Commissioner of Works as to the significance of the crownless harps on green ground emblazoned round this Chamber?

1923 Dáil

• 10 May:
  • Darrell Figgis asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that Irish ships are under the necessity of flying the British flag in foreign ports and on the high seas, because no steps have been taken to establish an Irish mercantile flag.
  • Patrick J. Hogan: The answer to this question is as follows. It is not correct to state that no steps have been taken in regard to the establishment of an Irish mercantile flag, as the matter has already been given consideration. It is involved in the general question of the Merchant Shipping Code, which is a very complicated matter, and must necessarily take time to settle.
• 6 June:
  • Darrell Figgis asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that an Irish shipowner, desirous of flying the flag of the Saorstát on the high seas, was within the past fortnight referred by a Collector of Customs in the Saorstát to the English Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, stating that, under the provisions of this Act, the Irish flag cannot be flown on the sea except under a penalty of £500; whether this Collector of Customs was, in the existing state of the law, correct in making such a reference; and if he will, without further delay, bring in legislation to establish the nationality of Irish shipping on the seas.
  • Ernest Blythe: I have no information as to whether a Collector of Customs made the statement mentioned in the question. As regards the application of the Merchant Shipping Acts to the Saorstát and legislation on the subject by the Oireachtas, I have at present nothing to add to the answer given in reply to a question on the same matter by the Deputy on the 10th May last.
  • Figgis: Arising out of that answer, I would like to ask if it is correct that the existing state of the law is such that a penalty would be incurred by flying the flag of the Saorstát on the high seas?
  • Blythe: The President suggests that that is a constitutional question of the first magnitude.

1926:

• Osmonde Esmonde asked the President if he will state whether it is intended to introduce legislation for the purpose of legalising the national flag.
• William T. Cosgrave It is not considered necessary to introduce legislation for the purpose of legalising the national flag, which has already been established for non-maritime purposes by usage.
• Esmonde: Is the President aware that this is the only nation in Europe which has not legalised its national flag? In view of the fact that this State has been recognised for four and a half years, does the President expect that Irish citizens will pay proper respect to a State which refuses to legalise its national flag?
• Cosgrave: The second part of the question is not admitted, and the first part scarcely arises.
• Thomas Johnson: Is the President prepared to say what is the national flag? What is the other colour besides green and white, because it varies, even in Government Buildings? Sometimes it is a pale, sickly yellow, and sometimes it is red.
• Cosgrave: The real colours are orange, white and green.
• Johnson: Is it possible for the President to influence the Minister for Industry and Commerce to provide means whereby the makers of bunting would be able to find an orange colour?
• Cosgrave: The discovery of the colour is not so much the question as its fastness. It is a question of the discolouration of dyes which has taken place during the last fifteen years. Yellow is a colour which assumes various hues according to its age.

1930:

• Frank Carney: We have not got a Mercantile Marine. Is it possible for Free State shipping, registered in the Free State, to sail into any port without carrying what is called the red duster, or the British Red Ensign?
• Patrick McGilligan: It is being done at the moment.
• Carney: On sufferance only.
• McGilligan: The Deputy asked was it being done and I replied that it is being done.
• Carney: I will give the House an example. Gilbert and Sullivan in the “Pirates of Penzance” never even dreamt of anything so funny. The Muirchu approached a French vessel off the coast of Donegal. In the old days they would have fired a shot across her bows as a signal to heave to. Something more prosaic is done at present; a string of flags or a megaphone would be used. They told the French vessel to heave to and the French skipper wanted to know what kind of flag they were carrying and whether they were pirates. He refused to heave to. What did the Muirchu do about it? If the Minister can tell me that, except on sufferance, any Free State vessel can go anywhere and hold up any vessel even inside the so-called territorial waters of the Free State without carrying the Red Ensign, I will believe him, but I will not consider that is the position until I am told.

  A Deputy had a question here yesterday relative to an arrest made of a fishing vessel. The Minister, I suppose, is still trying to explain why it was the vessel was not detained or fined. He has been trying to explain other such matters to me for the past two years but no definite explanation has been forthcoming.

• [...]
• McGilligan: Deputy Carney, who has the remarkable idea that the Minister for Education was able to create a smoke-screen by putting his tongue in his cheek, is concerned with our ships sailing the seas and the flag they fly. I told the Deputy that that was being done. The Deputy can get a record of ships throughout the world, and he will find that there is hardly a port into which ships from the Free State have not sailed at some time within the last three years flying the Irish colours.
• Carney: The Red Ensign.
• McGilligan: No.
• Carney: Must it not be done?
• McGilligan: It must not be done.
• Carney: It must.
• McGilligan: I am stating the facts, and I want the Deputy on this Report to discuss what is relevant, and to say hereafter, whatever may have been the fact up to date, whether there is any prohibition on Irish ships registered here sailing into any port and flying what we have determined is the Irish flag. Is that a fact?
• Carney: Yes, that is a fact up to the present.
• McGilligan: Very good, the Report is justified in that.
• Carney: It has to be done up to the present.
• McGilligan: The facts tell against the Deputy. He must read what has been recorded by impartial observers at every port. There are ships registered here flying the Free State flag and they enter almost every port of importance in the world.

1934:

• Eamonn O'Neill asked the Minister for External Affairs if he will state why ships registered at Saorstát ports and engaged in trading outside the Saorstát have to fly the Red Ensign on the high seas and in foreign ports, and if he will take steps to have international recognition secured for the Tricolour as the National Flag of the Saorstát.
• Eamon de Valera: No objection has been taken by the Government of any country to the flying of the Tricolour on the high seas or in foreign ports by ships registered in Saorstát Eireann. The flag to which the Deputy's question refers has, however, been flown by such ships in accordance with the temporary legal position created by Article 73 of the Constitution. A Bill is in draft, and will be introduced in due course, terminating this position and declaring the Tricolour to be the national colours to be flown by all ships registered in Saorstát Eireann.

Debate on the 1937 Constitution has only 2 brief mentions:

• De Valera introducing the second reading: "The flag which is accepted as the national flag is laid down here specifically in the Constitution as the tricolour"
• Committee stage "Article 7 agreed to."

Merchant Shipping Bill, 1947—Second Stage. Dáil:

It is the practice in other countries for yacht clubs to have a distinctive club flag instead of the merchant flag and power is being taken in the Bill to authorise the use by members of such clubs of a variation of the national flag. Before deciding that the tricolour should be the flag for the merchant fleet, the Government considered the practice prevailing in other countries. In some countries, including Great Britain, there is a distinctive flag for the merchant fleet. In other countries such as the United States, France and Portugal the national colours are used. The Government thought it best to prescribe the tricolour as the Irish merchant flag. The tricolour is now flown on Irish ships and has become well-known in many ports throughout the world.

Merchant Shipping Bill, 1947—Second Stage. Seanad

We had a Bill prepared in 1939 to remedy that situation, but with the outbreak of war it was necessary to act quickly and an Emergency Powers [1527] Order was made which is now being established as the permanent law. The Order made in 1939 and the proposals in this Bill require every ship other than a fishing boat to hoist the Irish Tricolour when entering or leaving any port outside the State, and in the case of vessels of 50 tons gross or upwards on entering or leaving any home ports. The hoisting of any other national colours on an Irish ship is prohibited. In other countries there is a practice of permitting the use of a distinctive club flag instead of the merchant flag by yacht clubs, and powers are being taken here to authorise the use by members of such clubs of a variation of the national flag.

Dáil 1949:

• Thomas Anthony Kyne asked the Minister for Education if he will make regulations requiring the National Flag and a copy of the 1916 Proclamation to be displayed in all national schools in the Republic.
• Peadar Cowan asked the Minister for Education whether he will arrange for the display in every classroom in our national schools of a copy of the Proclamation of Easter Week, 1916, and of photographs of the signatories to the Proclamation, and if he will further arrange to have instructions given to all children attending the national schools in regard to the respect to be paid to the National Flag and the National Anthem.
• Richard Mulcahy: I propose taking Questions Nos. 2 and 3 together. I have given careful consideration to the suggestions implied in the Deputies' questions and I have come [561] to the conclusion that no useful purpose would be served by making and enforcing regulations such as they recommend. Symbols so precious as the National Flag and the 1916 Proclamation are apt to have their significance obscured and their appeal blunted if, instead of being reserved for solemn national occasions, as I think they should be, they are made subject to casual every-day familiarity. The better way, in my opinion, to inculcate patriotism in the young people of our national schools is to base it firmly on instruction in our language, our history, our music and song and our folk-lore. Respect for the National Flag and worthy pride in the sacrifices and achievements connected with our history will naturally follow and be stronger and more deeply rooted than if their growth appeared to be dictated.
• Con Lehane Is the Minister aware that the view expressed by him is one that runs directly counter to that taken by leaders in other countries and that suggestions such as are implied in the Deputies' questions have for a long number of years been carried out in the United States of America?
• Mulcahy: We are going through our own growth, both in our institutions and their management and in the rooting of our patriotism in the realities of Irish character and Irish tradition. If at any time it appears that any of these things is necessary and would help in any way towards that, then the matter can be reconsidered.

Seán MacBride, 1950: A strong protest was then made to the British Government on the 31st January last. It was pointed out that the continuance of a state of affairs wherein a law was in existence, and enforced, which purported to render it a criminal offence to display the Irish flag in Ireland was provocative and caused deep offence to Irish national sentiment.

1951 Dáil question:

• Seán MacBride asked the Minister for Education whether he is prepared to consider the desirability of flying the National Flag during school hours from a pole provided for the purpose in each national school and to urge the formal hoisting and lowering of the flag daily in the presence of all the children and teachers.
• Seán Moylan: I do not consider that symbols of national significance should be made a matter of such every-day familiarity that reverence for them would become superficial, mechanical and meaningless. ... That method is very much in vogue in America, but the American problem is completely different in so far as school-children in America come from homes of so many different nationalities with so many different traditions, and in America the Government, apparently, do consider that the main problem is trying to make Americans of children of a number of varying nationalities. We have not that problem here and I do not think we should adopt the method the Deputy suggests.

In the House of Commons of Northern Ireland in 1951:

• James McSparran: The tricolour is admitted by all nations within the comity of nations to be the national flag of Ireland.
• Honorable members: No.
• McSparran: We are having interruptions already. It is the national flag of the Irish Republic.
• William May: That is better.

1952 "a joint recommendation by the Glasgow magistrates and the Scottish Referees' Association to the effect that the Irish tricolour should not in future be flown at a soccer ground in Glasgow".

1952:

• Patrick O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice if he will have erected on or at all Gardaí stations suitable flagpoles for the display of the National Flag on appropriate occasions.
• Kevin Boland: The answer is in the negative. I do not propose to depart from the practice, which has obtained for the past 30 years, of flying the National Flag only at a limited number of the more important Government buildings, including some of the more important Gardaí stations.

NIHC 1954:

• 687:
  • Robert Samuel Nixon: I will tell the House the origin of the tricolour free, gratis, and for nothing. I will quote Ernest Blythe, a former Vice-President of the Executive Council of Eire. You could do no better than listen to him, a former journalist in Newtownards, a man who rose to a specially prominent position in Eire. At a meeting on the 7th February this year in Armagh he said, and I quote as published in the Press Referring to the Flags and Emblems Bill, which has been introduced by the Northern Ireland Government to protect the flying of the Union Jack and prohibit the flying of other emblems and flags where likely to cause a breach of the peace, Mr. Blythe said, "I deplore the introduction of this Bill but I think it was largely due to the confusion caused in the minds of Northern Nationalists by the terms of the Constitution of the Republic. "Nationalist people in the North seem to me to have convinced themselves that the tricolour is the national flag of all Ireland. It is not anything of the sort. It is the flag of Easter Week, and the flag of the heroes, and it is the flag of the Twenty-Six Counties, but it is not the flag of all Ireland. I think the people who force the tricolour in the North are doing great harm in various ways and they are certainly doing harm to the flag."

• 1076:
  • Cahir Healy: The flag of this country is the tricolour.
  • Hon. members: No, no.

• 2643
  • Francis Hanna: The flying or display of the tricolour has come to be used by those responsible for such display as an allegation of the sovereignty of the Twenty-six Counties over the Six Counties. Just as the display of the Spanish flag in Gibraltar to proclaim the alleged sovereignty of Spain over the Rock would not be tolerated by the British authorities there, so we will not tolerate the display of the tricolour in Northern Ireland as an allegation of foreign sovereignty. This tricolour, which prior to 1920 was the symbol of treachery and treason, is now in danger of becoming the symbol of aggression and intolerance and as such it will not be tolerated. (Hon. Members: Hear, hear.) I am not the keeper of the conscience of the police, and I cannot say what any particular officer's apprehension would be in any particular circumstances. Hitherto I have not felt that the display of the tricolour in a wholly Nationalist area was likely to cause a breach of the peace anywhere in Northern Ireland, and the police seem to have been of the same opinion. But this persistent claiming that every time the tricolour is flown it is a victory for the Anti-Partition cause, and a proof of the sovereignty of the Dublin Parliament in Northern Ireland, is fast changing my mind. I am beginning to feel that the flying of the tricolour in any Nationalist area may lead to a breach of the peace either there or somewhere else later on (Hon. Members: Hear, hear) and I should not be surprised if the police were driven to the same conclusion.

• 2765:
  • Viscount Brookeborough: What about the tricolour? To us it represents the flag of the Irish Republican Army, who are responsible in this country for murders, arson, and kidnapping. It is responsible for all those, and that is the colour, that is the flag, that we are supposed to accept with open arms. But it goes a great deal further than that. The tricolour is the flag now of the Irish Republic, and it should be a flag that can be flown with any other flag of any other friendly nation.
  • Joseph Francis Stewart: It is flown in every other country except Northern Ireland.
  • Brookeborough: But there is this difference: the tricolour represents people who claim dominion over Northern Ireland. They certainly do. That is the reason the Flags and Emblems Act was brought in. That flag is not only irritant to us because it represents the damage and misery and suffering that were caused here, but because it represents a country that is apparently friendly. It represents a people rather than a country, a people that claim dominion over Her Majesty's dominion of Northern Ireland.

• 2877:
  • Harry West: An undertaking was given but it was not adhered to, and this foreign emblem was flaunted
  • Cahir Healy: It is not a foreign emblem. It is the national emblem.

1954 Dáil:

• Brendan Corish asked the Taoiseach if the terms of the Flags and Emblems Bill, approved by the Stormont Government, have been brought to his notice; and if, in view of the fact that Nationalist citizens of the Six Counties regard the tricolour of the Republic of Ireland as their national emblem, he will, on behalf of the Government of the Republic, protest against the introduction of such a measure which is designed to prevent the flying of the tricolour in the Six Counties.
• Donnchadh Ó Briain I have seen the Bill referred to by the Deputy. I am satisfied that nothing effective would be achieved by a protest and accordingly I do not propose to make one.
• Corish: Does the Taoiseach not regard it as a very serious matter that the tricolour may not be allowed to fly in six counties of Ireland?
• Eamon de Valera: I do regard it as a serious matter but it all arises out of the fact that our country is partitioned.

1963 Dáil:

• Anthony Barry: I think we should not confine our national jumping teams to Army riders.
• Gerald Bartley There are practical difficulties in having a hybrid team.
• Jack McQuillan Such as?
• Bartley: One very important one is the honouring of the National Anthem and the National Flag. ... One of the authorities that choose the civilian teams has objected to the use of the National Flag and we cannot have officers on a team that does not honour the Flag and the Anthem. ... the Irish Olympic Horse Society ... have duly honoured the National Flag on all occasions but they are not representative of the show jumping authorities. It is those who have objected to the use of the National Flag and Anthem, and who have some sort of non-committal flag that I have in mind.

1979 Fisheries Act amendment to make it easier to prosecute foreign fishing boats for poaching, which had previously stalled by not flying any flag. A side effect was to encourage Irish fishing boats to fly the Irish flag.

Brian Lenihan, Snr: “47.— (1) Where in any proceedings for an offence under Chapter II of Part XIII of the Principal Act there is evidence from which it appears to the court that the sea-fishing boat to which the alleged offence relates, or on board which such offence is alleged to have been committed, is either of a foreign character or of foreign origin or that at or about the time of the alleged offence such boat——

(a) wore no flag or wore a flag other than the national flag, or

(b) had marked on her stern the name of any place other than a port mentioned in the Second Schedule to the Merchantile Marine Act, 1955, or

(c) had on board any books, papers or other documents from which it so appears that the boat was not an Irish ship,

then, until the contrary is shown, such evidence shall be sufficient to prove that such boat is a foreign sea-fishing boat.

(2) Where in proceedings for an offence under Chapter II of Part XIII of the Principal Act it is proved that the sea-fishing boat to which the alleged offence relates, or on board which such offence is alleged to have been committed, wore at or about the time of the alleged offence a flag other than the national flag, the presumption raised by subsection (1) of this section, in so far as it depends on that proof, may be rebutted by the defendant proving that the flag so worn was not a flag distinctive of nationality.

(3) The provisions of this section are in addition to, and not in substitution for, those of section 19 (3) of the Act of 1962 (as amended by section 67 of this Act).”.

Under existing legislation it is necessary, when a foreign sea-fishing boat is being charged with an infringement of fishery legislation, to obtain certificates from each of the 12 registrars of ships around [794] our coast to the effect that the vessel in question is not registered as an Irish sea fishing boat. This procedure, involving compliance with the requirement, is often difficult and the resultant delay often causes problems for the State in regard to effectively prosecuting the people concerned. This amendment will eliminate the need for such certificates except in the unlikely event of the defence insisting on their production.

Briefly what I am doing is making it easier to prosecute foreign boats. This will eliminate the need to produce a particular form of proof which, added to the confusion in bringing prosecutions, places an undue burden on the State in securing convictions against foreign boats. It makes it easier for us to successfully prosecute foreign boats.

HC Deb 25 October 1982 vol 29 c265W HC Deb 25 October 1982 vol 29 c265W

37. Sir John Biggs-Davison asked the Minister for Trade if, having regard to the all-Ireland jurisdiction of the Commissioners of Irish Lights, he will ensure that their vessels fly, instead of the tricolour of the Irish Republic, an ensign appropriate to a body responsible to Her Majesty's Government as well as to the Government of the Republic.

Mr. Sproat: These vessels are registered in the Republic of Ireland and so fly its national colours in

From 18 January 1984, the tricolour was displayed in the Dáil chamber.

1984 debate about Remembrance Sunday, in lead up to National Day of Commemoration:

• Noel Treacy: Did the Minister think it fitting that our national flag should be relegated to a secondary position in a parade involving the Defence Forces? Is that the proper way to have Army participation? What is the Minister's attitude to this?

[...]

• Paddy Cooney: I was present at the ceremony concerned and, in fairness to the organisers, our national flag was honoured in a place of preeminence both this year and last year. I do not know who is feeding the Deputy with inaccurate information.
• Treacy: I was not there last year nor this year. Can the Minister clarify if the Irish flag was carried by the Irish Army last year?
• Cooney: It was not. No national flags were carried by members of the Army who participated in the parade. A standard of the United Nations was carried in that parade.

[...]

• Treacy: Can the Minister clarify if it is normal procedure for the Army to parade without national flags?
• Cooney: It happens regularly.

1990 questions: the EU flag can be flown without the tricolour; if the tricolour is flown it has precedence:

• Roger Garland asked the Taoiseach

  82: regarding Article 20 of An Bhratach Náisiúnta (details supplied) if this limitation as to use is also to apply to the EC flag as implicit in his reply to parliamentary Question No. 62 of 12 June 1990; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

  83: in view of the fact that the EC flag is not the national flag of another nation, but of a supernational body of which Ireland is a part, his views on whether An Bhratach Náisiúnta cannot adequately deal with the relative positions of the Irish flag and the EC flag and that the only assistance that it can be in the matter is by the assertion in Article 4, when the national flag is carried with another flag or flags, it should be carried in the place of honour, which implies that the Irish flag should be flown in the position of honour relative to the EC flag; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

  84: his views on whether his reply to parliamentary question No. 62 of 12 June 1990, combined with the protocols in An Bhratach Náisiúnta imply that the EC flag should not be flown anywhere without the Irish flag being flown with it, in the position of honour; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

• Charles J. Haughey I propose to take Questions Nos. 82, 83 and 84 together. An Bhratach Náisiúnta deals solely with the guidelines for the flying of the national flag, both on its own and alongside other flags. As the guidelines clearly state, the national flag takes precedence over all other flags, including the European Community flag and the flags of all other states. There is no requirement in An Bhratach Náisiúnta whereby a flag other than the national flag cannot be flown unless it is displayed alongside the national flag.

Seanad Willie Farrell 1991: How many schools in Ireland today hang the Tricolour or tell people what the Tricolour is about and how to hang it? None or very few.

1996 Trade Marks Act:

Michael Howard: Section 9 deals with specially protected emblems which cannot be used in the construction of a trade mark. On the spur of the moment I have tried to identify the emblems in question. The national flag, the harp and the shamrock obviously enter the reckoning under this section. I am aware that ministerial consent can be given for the use of specially protected emblems. I do not foresee anyone using the national flag to construct a trade mark, but I can foresee a tendency to use the shamrock or the harp. [...]

Pat Rabbitte: This provision is probably as old as the State and is certainly as old as the 1963 Act.

1996, Seán Barrett:It is not the practice to fly the national flag on a daily basis at Arbour Hill. The flag is raised and lowered by the Defence Forces on ceremonial occasions such as the annual 1916 commemoration and at wreath laying ceremonies at the 1916 memorial.

1997, Michael D. Higgins:The national flag is flown at the Garden of Remembrance on a daily basis and at some other national monuments on certain days during the year in accordance with guidelines issued by the Department of the Taoiseach. At present the flag is flown during normal opening hours at the Garden of Remembrance.

1997, John Bruton: The Garden of Remembrance is the only site under the care of the National Monuments and Historic Properties Service of my Department where the national flag is flown daily. Most other sites with visitor facilities arrange to fly the national flag on occasions of visits by dignitaries, anniversaries and festivals having a substantial local impact. Normally the flying of the flag would coincide with the opening hours of the sites or the duration of a specific visit. At present, the flag is flown during normal opening hours at the Garden of Remembrance but ... a review is being undertaken of the opening hours of the Garden of Remembrance which will include an examination of the flying of the national flag there.

Revision of An Bhratach Náisiúnta:

• 1998, minister Síle de Valera: I understand that the proposed updating of the booklet on the national flag, An Bhratach Náisiúnta, was first discussed in January 1997 between Roinn an Taoisigh and the Genealogical Office. Since then there have been ongoing discussions on the subject between that Department and the Genealogical Office and there have also been consultations with other Government Departments, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Defence.
• 2001, ditto: I understand that a revised edition of the booklet “An Bhratach Náisiúnta” is at an advanced stage of preparation and [204] is at present with the Department of the Taoiseach for final approval. While it has taken some time to produce the revised edition, the Department of the Taoiseach has given considerable thought to producing a more modern and concise version of the original booklet, which is still available through the Government Publications Sale Office. I understand that the revised booklet will go to print in mid-March 2001.
• 2006, Bertie Ahern: An updated version of the booklet dealing with the National Flag entitled "An Bhratach Náisiúnta" was produced by my Department in May 2001. At the time, copies were placed in the Oireachtas Library and a copy was sent to all schools in the country.

  The National Flag and the European Flag are correctly positioned over Government Buildings in accordance with this publication which states that the European Flag should be flown on the immediate left of the National Flag or as seen by an observer on the immediate right of the National Flag.

1998, Michael Smith: Guidelines in relation to the use of the national flag by the Defence Forces are laid in Defence Force Regulations and Administrative Instructions. These documents are issued to all branches of the Defence Forces. The regulations cover matters relating to the national flag such as its material and dimensions, where and when flown, hoisting and lowering, precedence and display, etc. My Department has not issued any guidelines relating to the use of the European flag.

2003 Brendan Kenneally: Let us take another major benefit which has, partly at least, derived from our international soccer campaigns. For as long as I can remember, as a child and youth, the flying of the national flag, our tricolour, was almost a reserved function. In some respects it was almost dangerous to fly it because if a tricolour flew from a bedroom window or on a pole in a garden, there was an immediate and an automatic assumption that the householder was a supporter of extreme republicanism. That was far from the truth but we hardly realised that we had been robbed of our flag. When just about every other country in the world could take pride in waving theirs at every opportunity, we had to do it almost covertly. Then along came Jack Charlton and the boys in green with tricolours flying everywhere, draped around shoulders and paraded in the streets, often with more enthusiasm than respect. However, we had recovered our flag. Today it is available to all our citizens and the days when we needed the respectability of a political meeting or a GAA match to fly the tricolour are long gone.

2006, adjournment debate;

• Tom McEllistrim proposed "to give every primary school a tricolour and a flagpole to mark the 90th anniversary of the Easter 1916 Rising ... The European flag, a blue flag with gold stars, was given to each national school in Ireland, so why not our own national flag?"
• Mary Coughlan: There are no plans to provide a tricolour or flagpole to all schools, rather the focus will be on sending out educational materials.

2007:

• Eamon Gilmore asked the Taoiseach if he has received complaints regarding inappropriate use of the national flag; if it is permitted to write slogans on the national flag and to display them publicly; his plans to introduce legislation regarding use of the national flag; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10689/07]
• Bertie Ahern: The Department of the Taoiseach published a booklet entitled "An Bhratach Náisiúnta, The National Flag" which details the manner in which the national flag should be flown. These are guidelines not regulations. Copies of this booklet have been placed in the Dáil Library. From time to time, the Department receives queries regarding the correct manner in which to fly the National flag. In the past 12 months, the Department has recorded 8 queries in relation to use of the national flag (many of which would have been received either by phone or email) all of which have been dealt with satisfactorily. There are no plans to introduce any legislation with regard to use of the national flag.

2009:

• Finian McGrath asked the Taoiseach if it is correct that at all the Government press conferences only the EU flag is flying and not the Tricolour. [5581/09]
• Brian Cowen: The National flag and the EU flag are both represented in the backdrop to the podium in the Government Press Centre. In addition, the National flag is present at all major press conferences held there. However, camera angles, interview positions etc. can mean that the National flag does not always come into view in newspaper photographs or in television coverage. While obviously my Department is not in a position to control such matters, the Government Press Office will try to ensure as far as possible the National flag is given prominence at events in the Press Centre.

2011 Gerry Adams: Ireland is greater than the Twenty-Six Counties. As such, we will also raise issues of importance to people in the North and will expose the economic and political damage being done by partition in both states on this island. Partition makes no political or economic sense whatsoever. It is a barrier to prosperity. On the other hand, a united Ireland makes sense. A single-island economy makes sense, economically and politically. Above this Chamber flies the flag of this nation — all Thirty-Two Counties — the flag of green, white and orange. The future unity of our people is represented in those colours.

2015 30 April 2015 p.52 Q30:

• Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide an update on the provision of a national flag to every school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16723/15]
• Heather Humphreys:

  Throughout 2016, there will be ceremonies, events and programmes marking the significance of the National Flag in our historical and cultural narrative in the 100 years since the Rising.

  One of the core objectives of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme, which was launched on 31st March, is to capture the imagination of our young people so that they may better understand the events of 1916. My Department has been working with the Department of Education and Skills, to ensure that the programme reaches every school in the country.

  Key events and activities will include the following:

  • there will be a presentation of the National Flag and a copy of the Proclamation by a member of the Defence Forces to every national school in the country;
  • work will continue with the Thomas Meagher Foundation, which has been engaged in the provision of the National Flag to secondary schools around the country;
  • a special Proclamation Day will take place in all educational institutions on 15th March 2016, which it is envisaged will include the raising of the National Flag, followed by a reading of the Proclamation; and
  • an online teaching resource on the National Flag will be developed to support primary and post-primary teachers, which will be available from September 2015.

2017:

That Seanad Éireann:

noting:

• that the 7th of March, 1848, was the day when Thomas F. Meagher raised a Tricolour Flag for the first time, from 33 The Mall in Waterford City;
• that Meagher said of its colours ‘the white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between Orange and Green and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood’;

in this year, the 150th anniversary of the death of Thomas F. Meagher, formally adopts the protocols and guidelines drawn up by the Department of the Taoiseach for the National Flag

Mark Daly "I thank the Ceann Comhairle as well for facilitating and placing a Tricolour flag from 33 The Mall over Leinster House today."

Other flags

1893:

• MR. THEOBALD asked Mr. Speaker if it would be in Order to move the Adjournment of the House in order to call attention to the question of national flags in Ireland?
• MR. T. M. HEALY I have a Bill on the subject, Mr. Speaker.
• MR. SPEAKER I think a Motion of that sort would be anticipating the Bill of the hon. and learned Member.

1900: In connection with the Queen's visit to Ireland and the enthusiastic observance of St. Patrick's Day. we were told of a flag that I do not remember seeing flying in the pattern described—green flag with Irish harp, crown over, and Union in upper comer. This combination puzzles me. If I were an Irishman I would gladlv hail the crown over the harp, but would object that the Union on this Standard is no more needed than the Union in the upper comer of the Scotch Standard (yellow flag, with red rampant lion, double red lines, and fleur-de-lis).

Arthur Charles Fox-Davies and M. E. B. Crookes, The book of public arms (T.C. & E.C. Jack, Edinburgh: 1894) p.34 s.v. "Ireland":

A great deal of fuss has been made lately about "the uncrowned harp " of Irish notoriety, which is credited with some subtle connection with the "uncrowned king," or at any rate with that suppositious and clamoured-for state of things in Ireland which is the " odds " of Her Majesty and her executive. The ordinary harp of Ireland, as a moment's glance at a florin or half-crown will show, is not crowned ; the crown being simply added when the harp does duty off the shield as a " badge," as is or should be the case with alt the national badges, save in the case of the dragon of Wales ; Wales being only a Principality. The mistake probably occurs because the harp does duty both as a charge upon the escutcheon and as a badge. The " uncrowned harp upon a green flag " (which seems so very recently to have been made the subject of diplomatic (?) inquiries in the House of Commons, in other words " Vert, an Irish harp or, stringed argent," is simply the perfectly legitimate, authentic, and well-known Coat of Arms of the Province of Leinster. So that the so-called Irish Republican party must invent a design very original and different if they want anything distinctive from the authorised emblems. Even the shamrock (undcr^ the name of the trefoil) is ranked among the "legitimist "and legitimate signs. Might I suggest as something widely distinct from the Irish regulation symbols, and yet appropriate, the following : Sable, two bones in saltire, surmounted by a morthead argent ?

1912 Third Home Rule Bill; amendment proposed by Alfred Hamersley defeated:

The Union flag (commonly known as the Union Jack) appointed by Royal Proclamation, in pursuance of the Union with Ireland Act, 1800, shall, notwithstanding the passing of this Act, continue to be the official flag of Ireland, and shall be hoisted in a conspicuous place and kept flying over the building or buildings in which the Irish Parliament sits throughout each day up to sunset while the Irish Parliament is in Session.

On 6 December 1921, John M. Flynn, Secretary of the Illinois Committee for the Dáil loans, sent an amused cover letter to Harry Boland with a notice of a "New Flag for the Irish Republic" endorsed by the Illinois convention of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and designed by one John J. Geraghty: a horizontal tricolour, with a green bar at the hoist charged with 32 (4 × 8) white stars.

1921 "A freeman of the City of Dublin" writing to the Irish Times says Treaty Article 1 implies ensign with badge; harp-on-blue is illicit because royal arms, so Patrick's saltire would be best, though a badge "say, a circle with a shamrock or the wolf-hound and round tower" would be allowable.

1922: Thomas Sadleir, the acting Ulster King of Arms in 1922, asked by Hugh Kennedy, the Attorney-General of the Irish Free State, about possible designs for the Great Seal of the Irish Free State, opined:

If a new flag is to be instituted, it would seem to be a pity to omit the golden harp in its original form. It could be placed on a blue or tricolour background, though the latter might be objected to as retaining the orange for Ulster. Perhaps a golden harp on a blue and white background might be suitable.

1935:

• Captain A. EVANS asked the First Commissioner of Works what proportion of the flags exhibited on Government buildings in honour of the King's Jubilee are Welsh and Scottish, respectively?
• Mr. ORMSBY-GORE The lion rampant flag of Scotland is flown on Dover House, Whitehall, and the red dragon flag of Wales is displayed on three prominent public buildings in Whitehall. The cross of St. George representing England and Wales, and the saltires of St. Andrew and St. Patrick, representing Scotland and Ireland, which together form the Union Jack, have been used in association with each other as separate flags or incorporated in banners at a a number of points. Only St. Andrew's saltire flags have been used in the decoration of the Scottish Office.

1949:

• Professor Savory asked the Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs on how many occasions the Union Jack has been flown over the offices of the United Kingdom representative in Dublin since 3rd September, 1939.
• Mr. Emrys Evans It has not been the practice to fly a flag from the Office of the United Kingdom representative to Southern Ireland.

1986:

• 22 July:
• Mr. John David Taylor asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will arrange for the flag of Northern Ireland to be flown alongside the flags of Wales, Scotland and England on public buildings in Whitehall for future state visits to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and on other suitable state occasions.
• § Mr. Tracey The St. Patrick's flag is flown along side those of St. Andrew, St. George and the Red Dragon of Wales.
• 25 July:
• Mr. John David Taylor asked the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his reply of 22 July, Official Report, column 111, why the flag of St. Patrick for Ireland is flown on public buildings in Whitehall during state visits to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• § Mr. Tracey I shall write to the hon. Member.
• Mr. John David Taylor asked the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the answer of 22 July, Official Report, column 111, if St. Patrick's flag for Ireland has been adopted by Her Majesty's Government as the flag for Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.
• § Mr. Scott I have been asked to reply. No. The flag of Northern Ireland is the Union flag.

Older

• Samuel Watson Battle of Clontarf 1844 - Dublin raven on light blue (white, says text) (Njal Saga); Gaelic banners include green with white sunburst (Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh), and crimson with black device.
• George IV, King of England, Entering Dublin 1821 by William Turner de Lond has a weird flag with Union Jack plus Royal Standard plus Maid-of-Erin-with-harp.
• John Lavery The Blessing of the Colours (1922) Hugh Lane Gallery. (tricolour with a pale orange; flag draped of Michael Collins' corpse has richer orange.) First ceremonial blessing was on St Patrick's Day 1922 at barracks in Marlborough Hall, Glasnevin by parish priest Henry Dudley, followed by raising of the flag and playing the national anthem.
• Lavery's painting of Collins' funeral appears to have orange stripe at head of coffin? Or else head pointing away from altar.

History

The Confederation of Kilkenny ... set up an Admiralty, elaborated an ensign for its ships, ... and a letter to Father Luke Wadding, one of the important figures behind the Confederation, mentions a frigate which 'bears the Irish harp in a green field in a flag on the main top'. [this may be the same incident as Owen Roe O'Neill below]

A green flag featuring a harp was an older symbol of the nation of Ireland, dating back at least to Confederate Ireland and the pursuits of Owen Roe O'Neill from 1642. It was subsequently widely adopted by the Irish Volunteers and especially the United Irishmen. A rival organisation, the Orange Order, whose main strength was in the Ulster, and which was exclusively Protestant, was founded in 1795 in memory of King William of Orange and the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. Following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which pitted the "green" tradition of the republican United Irishmen against the Orange tradition of Anglican Protestant Ascendancy loyal to the British Crown, the ideal of a later nationalist generation in the mid-nineteenth century was to make peace between the two traditions and, if possible, to found a self-governing Ireland on such peace and union.

Joseph Magery (McGarry) ran 8-gun Sans Peur privateer from Dunkirk during American Revolution flying "his own special ensign with an Irish harp superimposed on the new US flag".

• CSO/RP/CA/1831/8 : "Memorandum entitled 'Proceedings at a Meeting of the Inhabitants of the Manor of Grange Gorman', Wednesday 19 January 1831": Daniel O'Connell "summarised the 4 recent proclamations made [under the Dangerous Assemblies (Ireland) Act, 1829] by the ‘hair-brained’ Lord Anglesey, which prohibited the display of orange and green flags and ribbons".

Orange and green as rival symbols: "Orange and Green" poem by Gerald Griffin.

1799

• "I may see the Orange-lilly and Green-shamrock uniting to banish all party distinctions".
• "Green with Orange answers very well"

The oldest known reference to the use of the three colours of green, white and orange as a nationalist emblem dates from September 1830 when tricolour cockades were worn at a meeting held to celebrate the French Revolution of that year — a revolution which restored the use of the French tricolour. The colours were also used in the same period for rosettes and badges, and on the banners of trade guilds. However, widespread recognition was not accorded to the flag until 1848. At a meeting in his native city of Waterford on 7 March 1848, Thomas Francis Meagher, the Young Ireland leader, first publicly unveiled the flag from a second-floor window of the Wolfe Tone Club as he addressed a gathered crowd on the street below who were present to celebrate another revolution that had just taken place in France. It was inspired by the tricolours of France and Newfoundland; Meagher's father was born in Newfoundland. Speeches made at that time by Meagher suggest that it was regarded as an innovation and not as the revival of an older flag. From March of that year Irish tricolours appeared side-by-side with French ones at meetings held all over the country.

the following quote:

It is not known who designed the Irish flag, but Meagher was always fond of banners and symbols and it is more than likely he designed it, modelling it on the tricolour of the French Republic.

is cited to "Bulletin of the Department of External Affairs (Ireland) No.761:20 VI, 1967, page 6" by a self-published book, which notes "Other authors also support Meagher's role in the creation of the flag, but disagree on whether it was initially displayed in Waterford or in the village of The Commons." The 1967 article was reprinted in "The Irish Democrat" of August 1967.

By that time he was the most popular of all the Irish leaders, his oratory being the most fiery and inspiriting of the period. With O'Brien and others he went to Paris in March to congratulate the new Republic and brought back a new flag, a tricolour of orange, white and green, which he presented to the Irish people, explaining that the white symbolized peace between the green of the Catholics and the orange of the Protestants of Ireland. (It is not known who designed the Irish flag, but Meagher was always fond of banners and symbols and it is more than likely that he designed it, modelling it on the tricolour of the French Republic).

At a meeting in Dublin on 15 April 1848, chairman William Smith O'Brien was presented with various banners:

• P. J. Barry on behalf of "fifteen thousand men who lately met at the North Wall" gave "a small banner of green satin, beautifully embroidered, and richly fringed with gold lace. It bore the inscription : WILLIAM SMITH O BRIEN, M. P., IRELAND'S TRUEST PATRIOT."
• S. R. Frazer of the Repeal Association Committee gave "an old banner of green silk, richly ornamented, and bearing the Volunteers' arms and motto on its centre. It was one of the original flags of the 3rd Regiment of Irish Volunteers"
• Meagher gave "a splendid flag surmounted by the Irish pike. The material was of the richest French silk, which was most gorgeously trimmed and embroidered; the colors were orange, white, and green." His speech was:

From Paris, the gay and gallant city of the tri-color and the barricade, this flag has been proudly borne. I present it to my native land, and I trust that the old country will not refuse this symbol of a new life from one of her youngest children. I need not explain its meaning. The quick and passionate intellect of the generation now springing into arm 3 will catch it at a glance. The white in the centre 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. If this flag be destined to fan the flame of war, let England behold once more, upon that white centre, the RED HAND that struck her down from the hills of Ulster, and I pray that Heaven may bless the vengeance it is sure to kindle.

• John Mitchel then spoke:

Ah! the gleaming pike-head rises through our darkness like a morning star. This magnificent Irish tri-color, with its Orange, White, and Green, dawns upon us more gloriously than ever Sunburst flashed over the field of Benburb, or blazed through the battle-haze of Clontarf. My friends, I hope to see that flag one day waving, as our national banner, over a forest of Irish pikes

Liam de Paor, 1971 [emphasis added]:

Nationalism, of course, took many forms, from moderate constitutional movements loyal to the crown to radical attempts at the achievement of a bourgeois or a workers' republic. The radical movements produced their own new sets of colours. When liberal revolution in Europe produced a polychromy of tricolours, modelled one way or another on the French, across the Continent, one was invented for Irish republicanism too. It attempted to convey in its colours the old message of the Volunteers and of the United Irishmen - that Catholic and Protestant, Gael and Planter, should abandon these historical identities and merge them in the new identity of Irish citizenship. By the mid-nineteenth century this could be conveyed (although with some muddling of the basic symbolism of the separate colours) through a combination of orange and green, linked with a now neutral white. But for a long time it was the green flag of romantic Ireland rather than the tricolour of romantic republican revolution which prevailed.

Stephen Stokes, an Englishman who served in Ireland as a soldier and policeman spent 20 years making a tapestry with panels of historical vignettes displayed at the 1853 Irish Industrial Exhibition and now in the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History. The panel depicting the 1848 Young Ireland rebellion is the earliest surviving colour depiction of the tricolour.

Although the tricolour was not forgotten as a symbol of the ideal of union and a banner associated with the Young Irelanders and revolution, it was rarely used between 1848 and 1916. Even up to the eve of the Easter Rising of 1916, the green flag featuring a harp held undisputed sway. Neither the colours nor the arrangement of the early tricolours were standardised. All of the 1848 tricolours showed green, white and orange, but orange was sometimes put next to the staff, and in at least one flag the order was orange, green and white. In 1850 a flag of green for the Roman Catholics, orange for the Protestants of the Established Church and blue for the Presbyterians was proposed. In 1883, a Parnellite tricolour of yellow, white and green, arranged horizontally, was recorded. Down to modern times, yellow has occasionally been used instead of orange, but by this substitution the fundamental symbolism is destroyed.

At an August 1848 Irish nationalist fundraising meeting in Lafayette Place, New York there was "tremendous cheering for the Irish tricolour of white, orange and green".

Need more details on precisely when (in 1912-26) the tricolour superseded the green harp in various organisations. GAA used green harp in 1885; Padraic Pearse and The O'Rahilly in 1915 specified the gold-harp-on-green as the national flag for the Irish Volunteers. Diarmuid Lynch made a submission to the Bureau of Military History on "The National Flag, 1916". Other BHM statements discuss flags. bmhsearch/search.jsp?querystr=flag

Two 1910/11 cases of publicans flying flags [not necessarily tricolours], offence under 1836 licensing law [not repealed until 1960]:

• "Justices — Practice (Petty Sessions). 4." [Adjournment — Declining of jurisdiction — Mandamus — Flying flags not the usual sign of the licensed premises — Prosecution — 6 & 7 Wm. IV., c. 38, s. 8] A publican was summoned for flying a flag (not being the usual sign of his premises) from his public house. The Justices, in the interests of the peace of the district, adjourned the hearing of the summons for six months: — Held, that the Justices, having taken into account matters extra-judicial, had in fact declined to adjudicate, and were guilty of a breach of duty. Mandamus was ordered, the Justices to pay the costs. B. (Began) v. Justices of Monaghan 45 I.L.T.R. 10
• "Licensing Acts — Offences. 15." [Displaying flag — Not the usual sign of the premises — Trivial offence — 6 & 7 Wm. IV., c. 38, s. 8 — 7 Edw. VII., c. 17, s. 1.] Where a publican displays from his licensed premises a flag which is not the known and usual sign of such premises, he is guilty of an offence which is in its nature serious; and if extenuating circumstances are relied upon to make what would otherwise be a serious offence trivial, those extenuating circumstances should be proved before the Justices. Glasgow, Appellant, v. O'Connor, Respondent K.B., 45 I.L.T.R. 5
  • William Redmond Dáil 1927-03-04 I think it would be well to give the Dáil some idea of what, up to this, the Courts have considered to be serious offences. The leading case upon the question is one known as Glasgow against O'Connor. This was a case the incidents of which occurred in the town of Bantry, in the year 1910. A local licensee, a follower of Mr. Wm. O'Brien, then M.P., thought to show his affection by displaying a green flag from his publichouse. He was duly summoned and under the Probation of Offenders Act the then magistrates exercised their discretion. They held that in view of the fact that there was a public meeting, and probably in view of the fact of the popularity of Mr. O'Brien in the neighbourhood, that there were extenuating circumstances. But there was an appeal. The late Lord Chief Baron Palles, probably one of the greatest exponents of common law in his day in any of these countries. held that this was a serious offence, and one of the reasons incidentally that he gave the decision that it was a serious offence was that the flag that was displayed was not the ordinary emblem of the publichouse nor was it an emblem of the order of Freemasons or Friendly Brothers, both of which would, by the Act of 1836, have been exempted. The Lord Chief Baron held that the offence was serious and he said that if extenuating circumstances had to be relied upon to make the matter itself a trivial one, they would have to be stated and proved to be other than those which appeared to exist. But if a similar case came up to-day, under the Minister's present amendment, there would be no question of the exercise of this discretion at all, because we have it now decided that this displaying of a flag in itself was a serious offence and the Minister proposes to limit the discretion only to those cases which are of a trivial or technical nature.

Tricolour on the coffin of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa in 1915 when Pearse gave his famous oration. NLI KE157 "Funeral of O'Donovan Rossa, lying-in-state in the City Hall, tricolour on coffin, guard of honour"

Flag flown from the GPO

At the 1916 Easter Rising, rebels flew flags of different designs; the headquarters at the General Post Office in Dublin flew three flags from the front (eastern) façade: a tricolour at the southern corner, a green flag with gold harp at the northern corner, and in the middle a green flag with "Irish Republic" in white and gold.

Jacob's factory had a tricolour, recovered after the rising by Thomas A. Grehan of the Evening Herald, who in autumn 1917 posted fragments of each of the three stripes of "the Sinn Fein Flag" to friends. Mendicity Institution garrison had a horizontal-stripe tricolour.

"WRAP THE GREEN FLAG ROUND ME BOYS" SHEET MUSIC. c.1916 includes both Green Harp and Tricolour flags on cover.

"Sinn Fein go deó" orange-white-green tricolour flown in 1916

https://books.google.ie/books?id=MDDzDQAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=intitle%3AThe%20intitle%3AIrish%20intitle%3AVolunteers%20intitle%3A1913-1915&pg=#v=onepage&q&f=false

The tricolour captured the imagination as the banner of the new revolutionary Ireland. It came to be acclaimed throughout the country as something of a national flag. To many Irish people, though, it was considered to be a "Sinn Féin flag". Michael O'Flanagan said during the East Cavan by-election, 1918 campaign, "the quarrel between Ireland and England will go on until Ireland is completely separated from England under that beautiful tricolour flag of the Irish Republic." A United Irish League pamphlet at the 1918 general election asked, "Why has Sinn Fein hauled down the Green Flag?" and called the tricolour "an absurd new-fangled flag" and "a fake flag for a fake policy". The tricolour was used by the government in the Irish Free State, but not necessarily with the intention that it should become the national flag: However Republicans, especially those who are involved in or support the armed struggle, claim the sole right to ownership of the tricolour as expressed in Take It Down From The Mast.

The government in Ireland have taken over the so called Free State Flag in order to forestall its use by republican element and avoid legislative regulation, to leave them free to adopt a more suitable emblem later.

1976 archives: NAI S.3088 A

The Provisional Government (Hugh KEnnedy) asked Thomas Ulick Sadleir about harp emblem; he though they were thinking of the flag, rather than the seal, and suggested a gold harp on a blue-and-white background; also advised asking Eoin MacNeill about any pre-Norman banners. For the flag, Henry Egan Kenny ('Sean-Ghall') offered a dodgy history (Green = Catholic blue + Protestant orange). In 1927 asked Richard Irvine Best and J. J. Bouch for more reliable history, which was later made official (excluding mentioning of green-uncrowned-harp at Liberty Hall). Griffith made it Sinn Fein stamp in 1908. Meagher orange-white-green. McDunphy 1932 memo re Eucharistic congress orange and lesser extent green both varied (red/yellow or yellow/blue resp); govt communique deprecating gold/yellow. The T. F. Higgins suggestion of 1830 French revolution origin (James Patrick Mahon, which Best replied referred to "cockades, banners and ribbons" of green-white-orange, but not tricolour flags. Ext Affairs suggested Lovibond Tintometer to specify shades.

"The symbolism of 6 December 1922 was not one-sided. One of the most noticeable changes on the streets of Dublin was the hoisting of new tricolour flags over public buildings."

It continued to be used during the period between 1922 and 1937. However, the 1922 Free State constitution did not provide for national symbols and its use was almost entirely confined to the territory of the Irish Free State. The official publication of the 1922 Constitution had a tricolour on the front cover. In 1937, its position as the national flag was formally confirmed by the new Constitution of Ireland.

Edward Conor Marshall O'Brien from 20 June 1923 to 20 June 1925 sailed his yacht Saoirse around the world; according to The Irish Times, on the high seas he flew the defaced British blue ensign of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, while in port he flew the Irish tricolour.

In June 1939, Irish Times wondered what the new mercantile marine flag would look like; yachtsmen consulted by "Quidnunc" said tricolour colours unsuitable: white and orange would fade and green too like sea.

At outbreak of war Admiralty order British ships to return to port; Irish Times wondered if it applied to Irish ships, which mostly flew both red ensign and tricolour.

The yacht ensign was announced by The Irish Times in June 1950, "designed by the Genealogical Office"; "blue" with tricolour in "top left" and "badges or arms" in "bottom right".

Use in Northern Ireland

See also: Northern Ireland flags issue

Tricolours flying in the Croft estate Carnlough, County Antrim

The purported symbolism of the flag (peace and unity between Catholics and Protestants) has not become a universal reality. In 1921, Ireland was partitioned, with the unionist-dominated north-east becoming Northern Ireland, while later, in 1922, the remainder of Ireland left the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to form the Irish Free State. Northern Ireland continued to use the British Union Flag and created its own derivation of the flag of Ulster (with a crown on top of a six pointed star) to symbolise the state. Furthermore, for many years the tricolour was effectively banned in Northern Ireland under the Flags and Emblems (Display) Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 which empowered the police to remove any flag that could cause a breach of the peace but specified, rather controversially, that a Union Flag could never have such an effect. In 1964, the enforcement of this law by the Royal Ulster Constabulary at the behest of Ian Paisley, involving the removal of a single tricolour from the offices of Sinn Féin in Belfast, led to two days of rioting. The tricolour was immediately replaced, highlighting the difficulty of enforcing the law.

Despite its original symbolism, in Northern Ireland the tricolour, along with most other markers of either British or Irish identity, has come to be a symbol of division. The Ulster Unionist Party Government of Northern Ireland adopted the Ulster Banner (based on the flag of Ulster) in 1953. Thus it is this flag and the Union Flag that are flown by unionists and loyalists, while the tricolour is flown by nationalists and republicans. In Northern Ireland, each community uses its own flags, murals and other symbols to declare its allegiance and mark its territory, often in a manner that is deliberately provocative. Kerb-stones in unionist and loyalist areas are often painted red, white and blue, while in nationalist and republican areas kerb-stones may be painted green, white and orange, although this is a much less frequent occurrence. Elements of both communities fly "their" flag from chimneys, tall buildings and lamp-posts on roads.

Under the 1998 Belfast Agreement, it was recognised that flags continue to be a source of disagreement in Northern Ireland. The Agreement stated that:

All participants acknowledge the sensitivity of the use of symbols and emblems for public purposes, and the need in particular in creating the new institutions to ensure that such symbols and emblems are used in a manner which promotes mutual respect rather than division.

Nationalists have pointed to this to argue that the use of the Union Flag for official purposes should be restricted, or that the tricolour should be flown alongside the British flag on government buildings. Unionists argue that the recognition of the principle of consent in the Agreement — that Northern Ireland's constitutional status cannot change without a majority favouring it — by the signatories amounts to recognising that the Union Flag is the only legitimate official flag in Northern Ireland. Nonetheless some level of compromise has been achieved. As in the rest of the UK, the British flag is flown over Parliament Buildings and state offices on a limited number of named days — for example, those honouring Queen Elizabeth II's official birthday). Major exceptions to this rule are the City Hall in Belfast where the Union Flag is allowed to fly year-round, and the local district councils. For instance, local councils such as the Larne Borough Council can choose to fly the Union Flag every day of the year, on designated days of the year, such as the Lisburn City Council, or not at all, like the Down District Council or Derry City Council. A Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast, Alex Maskey, displayed both flags in his own offices, and this caused much controversy.

A 1916 tricolour was sold for €300,000 in 2006.

It was proposed to prohibit taxi drivers advertising their Irish ethnicity, including by use of the national flag; there were concerns this would facilitate discrimination against immigrant drivers and foment ethnic tensions.

The tricolour draped on the coffin of Defence Forces personnel is not generally given to the next of kin after the funeral, but rather returned to the Defence Forces. News media reported in 2015 the minister was considering changing this after complaints from a widow.

Hollywood connection

JOHN O’MAHONY: REVOLUTIONARY AND SCHOLAR (1815-1877) BRIAN SAYERS (NUI Maynooth) PhD 2005

pp.50, 140-1:

O'Brien and Meagher, together with Edward Hollywood, headed a delegation, sent from the Irish Confederation, to bring greetings to the new French republic. Hollywood was a Dublin silk-weaver chosen in the same democratic spirit which placed Albert in the new provisional government. ... Martin MacDermott was despatched to Paris in the early spring of 1848 to prepare the way for the deputation ... to meet Alphonse de Lamartine, the French minister of foreign affairs. On 3 April, Alphonse de Lamartine formally received the delegation ... at the Hotel de Ville in Paris. Martin McDermott, John Patrick Leonard and Lord Wallscourt, whose father was a prominent Orangeman, accompanied them. The French republican government was under threat from all sides and was in no position to antagonise Britain by offering help to Irish revolutionaries. Beyond enthusiasm the Confederate delegation received no help from France.

Easter Sunday Wreath-laying Ceremony at Glasnevin Cemetery Ireland 2016, Government of Ireland

The second [wreath] will be laid at the grave of Edward Hollywood, who was the weaver of the first Irish Tricolour in 1848.

Memoirs of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher pp.280-1:

Mr. Hollywood was a prominent silk-weaver as well as patriot; and as an incentive to patriotism, and the encouragement of native manufactures, he produced a neck-kerchief of green silk with an orange border. As an emblem of the union of Orange and Green!" the article soon became popular with the Confederates in Dublin, and throughout the country; and, as its originator was a man who consistently stood by his colors, he made his appearance in the "proclaimed city of Waterford," with the insignia of the United Irishmen fluttering in the bronze, as the coach whirled rapidly down the Quay. He had no doubt of his neck-gear attracting some suspicion to himself, but, on principle, he braved the risk and took his chances. But the risk came from a different quarter than where he surmised it would, and his chances of being drowned, (for a while,) far out-weighed those tending in an opposite direction. For, as it so happened, our good Waterford "rebels" being in a very dangerous mood, suspected Mr. Hollywood to be a Castle spy masquerading in national colors, and some of them followed him to the coach-office, determined to watch his movements, and if these were such as to confirm their suspicions to pitch him incontinently into the Suir ianfull view of the British men-of-war.

Poor Mr. Hollywood, unsuspicious of danger from such a quarter, immediately on alighting from his lofty perch hurried back to where he had seen our familiar faces, but he was quickly followed and soon surrounded by a half-dozen fierce-looking fellows, one of whom peremptorily asked him "What was his business in Waterford?" and also, "Why he wore those colors?" adding sarcastically " as if they could deceive any one!"

Hollywood, seeing at once who his interlocutors were, and that, in his case "honesty was the best policy, told them that he came from Dublin; that his business in Waterford was to look for Mr. Meagher who was a personal friend of his; and that he wore the neck-kerchief because he had a good right to do so having made it. He then told them his name. They had heard of it, but how were they to know that he wasn't some Castle detective who assumed it to cloak his villainy? Was there any one in Waterford who knew him, and could confirm his statement? for, if there wasn't

Hollywood half-amused, and half-alarmed, did not wait to hear the threatening alternative but eagerly informed his "good friends" :hat, as luck had it. he saw three men at the upper end of the Quay who could vouch for his honesty.

Thereupon, he was permitted to go on his way a few paces in advance of his vigilant escort, until he met us going towards the coach-office to see and compare notes with him. After our cordial greeting, he briefly related his exciting experience of the past ten minutes adding, quite seriously, "I really expected the fellows would pitch me over the Quay ! "

We admitted there was some grounds for his supposition but that we\set matters right in a minute. Thereupon I walked over to where his late escort, joined by another group, were watching our proceedings. One of the men asked me if I knew that man who just joined us? I told him I did; that he was Edward Hollywood, Mr. Meagher's fellow-delegate to Paris ! With a sigh of relief, he remarked : " Oh ! how glad I am ; we took him for a detective looking for Meagher, and came very near flinging him into the river ! "

The whole crowd then advanced to where Mr. Hollywood stood, and soon convinced him that he was among men after his own heart.

Before our parting, Mr. Hollywood signified his intention of seeking O'Brien and Meagher in the district between Carrick and Cashel.[* NOTE. After the failure of the insurrectionary movement, Mr. Hollywood effected his escape to France, where, with his family, he continued to reside for some years. After his wife s death, he returned to Dublin, and officiated as one of the chief mourners at MacManus's funeral in that city, in November, 1861. Some years later he died in Dublin, and was burled In Glasnevin cemetery. His funeral was numerously attended by his surviving comrades of 48. Ills grave lies within a few yards of the main entrance to the cemetery.] I do not think he succeeded in finding them; for, after the affair at Ballingarry (on that same day) their movements became more uncertain than ever before.

Fenton 2009:

Soon after the three 'Prosecuted Patriots' made bail, a delegation of Young Irelanders, led by William Smith O'Brien, left for France to present the provisional government there with a congratulatory address. In this respect they mimicked nationalist movements from the continent entire. Their number included an ordinary workman, Edward Hollywood, a Dublin silk weaver, in homage to the granting of Albert, a French worker, [Alexandre Martin] a seat at government in Paris. The expedition, however, was unfulfilling as the new French leader, the poet-politician Alphonse de Lamartine, attempting to step back from an earlier radical manifesto of foreign policy, proffered only vague expressions of support.

Manchán Magan suggests political use of tricolours was popularised by Women's Social and Political Union 1908 flag of green, white, and purple, prominent at the 1913 funeral of Emily Davison. At the 1915 funeral of republican Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, the coffin was draped in a tricolour. James Stephens's 1901 coffin "was wrapped in the Irish Republican flag of white, green and orange".

2017, change to allow fly 24/7 at Government Buildings from illuminated flagpole. Kenny said change reflected "new respect" for flag from 2016 centenary. I wonder if it saves hassle of raising and lowering daily.

Ensigns

Ensign of the National Yacht Club.

On vessels belonging to members of certain clubs, the standard tricolour may be replaced with a special ensign issued to the club by warrant of the minister responsible for marine matters, currently the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. The design will have been approved by the Chief Herald of Ireland, and includes the tricolour in the first quarter, with the club badge in the fourth quarter, occasionally extending up into the third quarter. The field of such ensigns is usually blue; this is specified in the warrant as azure, representing St Patrick's Blue, although many clubs use darker blue in practice. Two clubs have warrants for ensigns with white fields. The club burgee should be flown when the club ensign is used.

Source for some of the above:

Law

Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Act 2014, section 34:

National colours for Irish ships

(1) The national colours to be flown by Irish ships shall be the national flag except that—

(a) in the case of State-owned ships for which a special flag is prescribed under subsection (2), the national colours shall be the flag so prescribed, and

(b) in the case of ships in respect of which a special flag is authorised by flag warrant under subsection (3), the national colours shall be the flag so authorised.

(2) The Minister may prescribe a flag to be flown in lieu of or in addition to the national flag by State-owned ships or by specified types of ships.

(3)

(a) The Minister may, by flag warrant issued to a body of persons, authorise the members of that body to use a flag in lieu of the national flag on specified Irish ships, and may by any such warrant impose conditions and restrictions on the exercise of the authority thereby conferred and may revoke any such warrant.

(b) An application for a flag warrant under this subsection shall be made in such a form and manner and be accompanied by documents, other supporting information and the appropriate fee as the Minister may determine from time to time.

(c) An application for a flag warrant under this subsection shall be considered by the Minister in consultation with the Chief Herald of Ireland (within the meaning of section 13 of the National Cultural Institutions Act 1997 ) and the Minister for Defence.

Leo Varadkar 2014

• 15 April:

  Part 3 relates to Irish ships, their national colour and character. Sections 33 to 38, inclusive, clarify which ships may be known as Irish ships and the requirements in relation to the flying of flags by such ships. Based primarily on the existing legislative requirements, it includes prohibitions on hoisting flags other than the national flag, pretending to be an Irish ship, concealing Irish character and assuming foreign character. Ships holding visitor registration under section 24 will not be known as Irish ships and it will also be possible to provide that ships on the register of other categories or types, when not operating domestically, will not be known as Irish ships.

• 14 May:

  Section 35 sets out the requirements for the hoisting of national colours or the Irish flag on a ship in different circumstances. Section 35(1) sets out the circumstances where the national colours are required to be hoisted on Irish ships. Section 35(2) clarifies that fishing boats are exempt from the requirements of section 35(1) and continues an existing exemption in section 12 of the Mercantile Marine Act 1955 in recognition of the fact that fishing boats must enter and leave port on a regular basis.

  Given the proposed extension of mandatory registration to personal watercraft and small fast powered craft under the Bill, the amendment seeks to extend the exemption to these craft. It means that for practical purposes these vessels will not be required to hoist the national flag in accordance with section 35(1) when operating domestically. Again, we are not going to require small craft to display the Irish flag, although they may do so if they wish.

History

During the Irish Civil War, vessels controlled by the Free State flew the Red Ensign.

The Coast Patrol sloop SS Dainty flew "a bright, new tricolour" in 1923.

A 1929 DIFP document said that at the 1930 Imperial Conference "complete control of merchant shipping legislation (including the flag and description) will we believe be secured". Did Australia et al have a merchant navy ensign before the Statute of Westminster 1931? The Navigation Act 1913 made the Australian Red Ensign legal for mercantile marine; however, technically, unregistered vessels should have used the British Red Ensign until "an Admiralty Warrant was issued on 5 December 1938".

1931:

It is one of the anomalies of membership in the British Commonwealth of Nations that, while each associate Nation may have its own individual national flag and national anthem, not one has a maritime flag for the use of its mercantile marine. The Irish Free State Government plans to remedy this state of affairs. It requires only the consent of the British Government and Admiralty for the adoption ... Vessels whose destination or port of call on route may be in the Irish Free State invariably display the Green White and Orange Tricolor at the foremast ... The new Saorstat marine flag will be blue of field with the Brian Boru harp in gold. This ensign has already made its appearance In Irish waters on yachts of the National Yacht Club of Dun Laoghaire late Kingstown of which the Earl of Granard who married an American wife is commodore. On the British Royal Standard the quartering for Ireland is Blue Field Golden Harp uncrowned. There seems to be no doubt but that the color Blue and Gold were associated with Ireland in the ancient days. The latter color however was not actually golden of hue as we know golden today. It was more of saffron and that color predominates in the Irish kilts of long ago. The official colors today of University College Dublin are St Patrick's Blue and Saffron. The Saffron has been adopted by the College Officers Training Corps.

Only Muirchú and (from 1937) trawler Fort Rannock could fly tricolour. Instances in 1930s of British Customs fining Irish ships in British ports for flying illegal ensign.

"Neutral Ireland" The Round Table, 1939–40, p.147:

The position of ships registered in Ireland and flying the national flag is also peculiar. As we have never repealed the relative sections of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, our ships under municipal law should fly the British red ensign. Moreover, as the Irish tricolour, so far as can be ascertained, has never been registered internationally, it is not to be found in any code book. It would therefore seem to have no valid existence in international law, although it has recently become the custom to fly it on ships registered in Ireland. One such ship, an oil tanker, the SS Inverliffey, flying the Irish flag, was sunk by a German submarine on September 11, but she was bound for a British port and her registration had been changed to British while she was at sea.

Bryce Evans:

Yet after independence, British domination of Irish shipping continued. Services across the Irish Sea were operated by British companies, which employed many Irish people but whose ships were registered in British ports. ‘Irish’ ships flew under the red ensign of the British merchant fleet and sailed under British Board of Trade regulations; examinations for certificates of maritime competency were held in Ireland, but the question papers were British; and the Irish tricolour was completely absent from the high seas.

In 1934 a renowned Irish ship captain openly criticised the government’s inaction on the matter. Free State ships were being driven out by foreign competition, he claimed. Ireland’s independence did not extend to the sea, where it ‘had no place on the high seas because even ships registered in Dublin fly the red ensign’.

In June 1939, with world war looming, the Irish crew of the B&I ship Normandy Coast walked ashore at Dublin port in an act of protest against the transfer of the ship’s port of registration from Dublin to Liverpool. Three months later, in September 1939, there occurred a similar act in the port of Holyhead when the British crews of one passenger ship and two cargo vessels (B&I owned and registered in Dublin) refused to operate these ships under the Irish tricolour. These twin actions were more than mere expressions of nationalism, and more than trifling maritime episodes. Rather, they point to the state’s failure to build up its shipping portfolio in the 1930s as a major policy error.

The Irish crew who walked off the Normandy Coast worried that if they stayed aboard their vessel under the red ensign they would find themselves under attack from German U-boats. At the outbreak of war, the Irish government instructed all Irish-registered vessels to fly the Irish flag and the protesting sailors wanted it hoisted. But this, as the British sailors at Holyhead argued, was illegal since a ship’s flag was ultimately determined by its country of ownership.

It is evident, then, that the order for Irish-registered vessels to fly the tricolour was a desperate act intended to obscure the government’s failure to establish a mercantile marine by ramping up national tensions.

Emergency Powers (No. 2) Order 1939:

2. In this Order—

the expression "Irish ship" means a ship registered in the State under the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1939 ;

the expression "the Irish national colours" means a flag divided into three equal vertical stripes coloured respectively green, white, and orange, the green stripe next the hoist and the orange stripe in the fly.

3. There shall not be hoisted on any Irish ship any distinctive national colours, other than the Irish national colours or those colours with a white border.

4.

(1) Every Irish ship shall hoist the Irish national colours on entering or leaving any port outside the State, and, if such ship is of fifty tons gross tonnage, or upwards, on entering or leaving any port in the State.

(2) This Article shall not apply to a fishing boat duly entered in the fishing boat register and lettered and numbered in accordance with regulations made under Part IV of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.

Foreign owners transferred ships to UK registry (most such ships were already abroad).

While introducing the second reading of the Merchant Shipping Act 1947 in Dáil Éireann, Seán Lemass, the Minister for Industry and Commerce, stated:

It is the practice in other countries for yacht clubs to have a distinctive club flag instead of the merchant flag and power is being taken in the Bill to authorise the use by members of such clubs of a variation of the national flag. Before deciding that the tricolour should be the flag for the merchant fleet, the Government considered the practice prevailing in other countries. In some countries, including Great Britain, there is a distinctive flag for the merchant fleet. In other countries such as the United States, France and Portugal the national colours are used. The Government thought it best to prescribe the tricolour as the Irish merchant flag. The tricolour is now flown on Irish ships and has become well-known in many ports throughout the world.

Accordingly, the Act as passed provides:

• Section 2 (3): The Minister may ... issue to any body of persons a warrant authorising members of the body to hoist on specified Irish ships a specified flag in lieu of the national flag, and the Minister may by any such warrant impose conditions and restrictions on the exercise of the authority thereby conferred and may revoke any such warrant.
• Section 3 (1): There shall not be hoisted on an Irish ship any flag distinctive of nationality other than the national flag or that flag with a white border or that flag when comprised in a flag hoisted under the authority of a warrant issued under subsection (3) of section 2 of this Act.

The provision for the national flag "with a white border" is intended for use as a jack.

This was updated by Section 10 of the Mercantile Marine Act, 1955:

• (1) The proper national colours to be worn by Irish ships shall be the national flag or that flag with a white border except that—

  (a) in the case of State-owned ships for which a special flag is prescribed under subsection (2) of this section, the proper national colours shall be the flag so prescribed, and

  (b) in the case of ships in respect of which a special flag is authorised by flag warrant under subsection (3) of this section, the proper national colours shall be the flag so authorised.

• (2) The Minister may prescribe a flag to be worn in lieu of the national flag by State-owned ships or by specified classes of such ships.
• (3) The Minister may, by flag warrant issued to any body of persons, authorise the members of the body to use a flag in lieu of the national flag on specified Irish ships, and may by any such warrant impose conditions and restrictions on the exercise of the authority thereby conferred and may revoke any such warrant.

Itself superseded by section 34 of the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Act 2014, which requires consultation with the Chief Herald of Ireland:

(1) The national colours to be flown by Irish ships shall be the national flag except that—

(a) in the case of State-owned ships for which a special flag is prescribed under subsection (2), the national colours shall be the flag so prescribed, and

(b) in the case of ships in respect of which a special flag is authorised by flag warrant under subsection (3), the national colours shall be the flag so authorised.

(2) The Minister may prescribe a flag to be flown in lieu of or in addition to the national flag by State-owned ships or by specified types of ships.

(3)

(a) The Minister may, by flag warrant issued to a body of persons, authorise the members of that body to use a flag in lieu of the national flag on specified Irish ships, and may by any such warrant impose conditions and restrictions on the exercise of the authority thereby conferred and may revoke any such warrant.

(b) An application for a flag warrant under this subsection shall be made in such a form and manner and be accompanied by documents, other supporting information and the appropriate fee as the Minister may determine from time to time.

(c) An application for a flag warrant under this subsection shall be considered by the Minister in consultation with the Chief Herald of Ireland (within the meaning of section 13 of the National Cultural Institutions Act 1997 ) and the Minister for Defence.

Warrants for club ensigns have been issued to several Irish yacht clubs, and also to other organisations. These ensigns have the Tricolour in the first quarter and the club crest in the fly. Most but not all are various shades of blue (see St. Patrick's blue). Some clubs founded prior to 1922 originally had ensigns warranted by the British Admiralty with the British Union Flag in the first quarter; in these cases, the post-1947 warrant did not simply replace the Union Flag with the tricolour: e.g. the Royal St. George Yacht Club's British ensign was red whereas its Irish ensign is blue.

Oireachtas debates:

Patrick J. Crotty: The section re-enacts the provision of Section 2, sub-section (3) of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1947. The intention is that special flags authorised by warrant from the Minister should be flown instead of, and not as well as, the national flag. This is also the practice in Britain. The special flags which would be prescribed would also contain the national colours.

Kinsale Yacht Club:

In 1959 the Kinsale Harbour Sailing Club was renamed Kinsale Yacht Club and John Jacob and Dick Hegarty updated the old 1914 club rules – the old burgee was a white anchor on a cherry red background. After several weeks of working on the content and wording of the rules, they were submitted to the RYA – the IYA not yet being in existence. A new burgee was applied for to replace the old one, and this was to be a portcullis on dark blue (navy). In order for a skipper to be able to fly a defaced Club ensign, a warrant had to be applied for to the Minister of Transport, Minister of Defence and Chief Herald’s Office in Dublin. When the warrant arrived, what it stated was unusual in that the background was to be Azure blue not dark blue as nearly all other defaced ensigns in both Britain and Ireland. Only two other yacht clubs in Ireland are allowed to have an azure background. The original warrant has been found and will be displayed in the new clubhouse

IWAI forum threads:

• 2002:

  I understand that the only colours granted for defaced ensigns by the Chief Herald have been St Patrick's blue (azure) or white. The Royal Irish YC obtained the first white based on its historic (pre- 1849) grant of a British white ensign...all grants of which were withdrawn in that year save for that to the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes.

  A number of Clubs, preferring the appearance of the navy blue have adopted it in preference to St. Patrick's blue, however it is not in accordnce with their warrants.

  I understand that in Scotland, unlike this jurisdiction, a number of so called crimes against heraldry remain in force with penalties such as death extant (in theory). Accordingly I expect to read that the "bring back the birch" brigade will no campaign for the adoption of such measures in this country.

  As for those who maintain that these matters are of no, or little, importance, I would say that the same could be said of books or learning......

• 2005:

  I think that you will find that there are no Irish defaced ensign warrants that permit a navy field despite the fact that many institutions, mainly yacht clubs use and sell them!

  The azure referred to in the IWAI warrant is also known as St. Patrick's Blue and is actually an attractive colour when brand new. The problem is that it fades rapidly to a rather lifeless pale blue. This of course brings us to the reason that the RN, and the yachting community in the UK (and many in Ireland) follow the dawn to sunset "rule" - it prevents wear and tear and reduces fading.

  I understand that the azure has a B.S. Number (ironic eh!) and there are a number of reference points for it. For example it is used in the coat of arms of TCD (granted in 1591 or thereabouts) and is the colour of the TCD clock dial on College Green. It is also I think the field for the President's Standard, while in the UK it forms the background for the Irish Harp on the Royal Standard and for the Colours of a number of the Irish regiments.

  Despite all of this old and more recent history and tradition people seme to want to ape the British blue ensign with its navy field....still there's no accounting for taste!

Irish Defence Forces:

The National flag is used as the civil and state flag, and civil and naval ensign. The flag is the tricolour of green, white and orange and is divided into three stripes, equal in width and height [sic].

Kinsale Yacht Club has a club ensign, but its handbook says [emphasis added]:

All members of Kinsale Yacht Club who have an Irish registered vessel should either use the Irish National Ensign, the Irish National Ensign with white border or the Kinsale Yacht Club National Defaced Ensign (Azure Blue with Portculis and Irish Flag in the quarter). [...] Outside of home waters the Defaced Ensign should not be worn but rather the National Ensign.

The 2014 act removed the "flag with a white border" pilot jack option and added detail on the regulations for flag warrants, naming the minister for defence and chief herald.

British ensigns in Ireland

Western Yacht Club white ensign

Hansard 1859: 7 April, 18 July. leading to Command paper 1859, Session 2, No.111:

RETURN to Two Orders of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 7 and 18 April

(ORDER, 7 April 1859.)

COPIES "of all Correspondence relating to the Warrant granted to the Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland, especially those in the Years 1832, 1842, 1849, 1853, and 1858, and particularly the Admiralty Warrant to the Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland of the 6th day of February 1832, and Letters of the 31st day of July 1849, the 29th day of April, and the 2d day of May 1853; also Letter addressed by the late Maurice O'Connell, Esq., M.P., to the Lords of the Admiralty, and Sir James Graham's Reply, dated the 23d day of May 1853 :"

" Of any Letters or Minutes of any Applications made by the Royal St. George's, the Holyhead, or any other Yacht Club, for Permission to wear the White Ensign, with the Answers thereto :"

" Of any Memorials or Letters from the Royal Yacht Squadron to the Lords of the Admiralty relative to their Claim for the exclusive Use of the White Ensign, with the Answers thereto, since the granting of the Warrant to that Club :"

" Of Memorial presented by the Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland through His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant to the Lords of the Admiralty, with the Reply thereto :"

" And, of General Warrants granted to all Royal Yacht Clubs, with the Dates on which separate Warrants were issued to the Yacht Owners of the several Clubs, authorising them to carry the respective Club Ensigns."

(Mr. Cogan.)

(order, 18 April 1859.)

" That there be added to the Return relative to Yacht Clubs, ordered on the 7th day of this instant April, any Statement of the Reason for the Admiralty withdrawing the White Ensign from the Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland in 1858, specifying whether the Circumstance that the Secretary of the Royal Western Yacht Club was in the habit of holding out the Privilege of the White Ensign as an Inducement to Persons to join that Club had any Influence over that Decision; and a List of the Vessels belonging to the Royal Western Yacht Club, specifying Name, Tonnage, and Ports to which they belong."

(Earl of Dalkeith.)

Admiralty, 20 July 1859; C. H. Pennell, Chief Clerk.

Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 22 July 1859.

Chambers's Journal, 1860:

But there is one honour which the yachtsmen have fought for with a good deal of pertinacity, and which has formed a matter not only of controversy with the Admiralty, but also of debate in the House of Commons: this is the flag. The outer world may perhaps not know that there are particular devices on flags which are, as a rule, prohibited. A merchant-ship may carry certain flags, but there are certain others which she may not carry. And so with all varieties of pleasure-yachts. Each one carries a triangular flag called a burgee, to denote the club to which it belongs; and there are thus just as many different kinds of burgees as there are clubs, each with its own distinguishing device. The commodore of a yacht-club is entitled to fly a swallowtailed or forked burgee, with the addition, in the case of vice-commodores and rear-commodores, of one and two white balls respectively. In addition to these, Mr Ackers, commodore of the Royal Victoria Yacht-club, has devised a series of signal-flags and signals for facilitating the nautical routine of yachtsmen. But the flag concermng which the contest has arisen is a larger one—the ensign. The Admiralty, when a yacht-club is fairly started, with the rules and conditions satisfactory, issues a warrant permitting every yacht to carry a blue or red ensign, or flag with a particular device on it. The blue ensign has a red cross in one of the upper quarters, while the red ensign has a red cross on a blue ground in one of the upper quarters; but that which is most coveted, because most difficult to get, is a white ensign, the highest in rank of the three, which has red lines dividing it into quarters, and a red cross with a blue ground in one of the upper quarters. The Royal Yacht-club at Cowes, on account, probably, of the connection of its members with high quarters, obtained, in 1829, permission to carry the white ensign of his Majesty's fleet, and, four years afterwards, the change from ' Club' to 'Squadron' was awarded as a further honour. By degrees, and through some kind of 'interest at court,' the privilege of the white ensign was extended to five or six other clubs; whereat the 'Squadron' complained, as if bits of its dignity had been unjustly torn away from it in order to adorn others. The Admiralty thereupon repented of its deeds, and in 1842 withdrew the white ensign from all except the Cowes Squadron; but, unfortunately, it made a blunder in confounding the 'Royal Western Yacht-club' with the 'Royal Western Yacht-club of Ireland:' this led to the continuance of the white ensign to the latter; and this continuance led to seventeen years of pouting on the part of the other clubs. 'I am as good as he : why should he have a nicer piece of cake than mine ?—such was the tone adopted. It has formed the subject of a parliamentary paper; and on one evening in the House of Commons, when an Irish member rose to make a grievance about it, Sir James Graham sarcastically said: 'If an uninformed bystander were to comment on the proceedings of this House, he would hardly believe that the formal decision with regard to our Indian empire is the subject which now awaits our decision'—this was said in 1858—'when we have been occupied, first, with considering about what was the fine imposed upon a cabman, and now what shall be the colour of the bunting worn by certain yachts. It is, in my judgment, a proof of the omnipotence of parliament, as shewing that there is nothing so great which it is not able to grapple with, and nothing so little that it will not stoop to consider.' The important question was settled by confining the white or St George's ensign exclusively to the Royal Yacht Squadron of Cowes.

1894 White Ensign kerfuffle:

The white ensign is, as a general rule, reserved for Her Majesty's ships, and warrants are not granted to private persons. The exceptional privilege enjoyed by the Royal Yacht Squadron was conferred on that Club in 1829 by a general warrant, and a personal warrant is issued to each yacht owner in the Club who is a British subject for his convenience; this warrant neither authorises nor forbids the wearing of the white ensign when the owner is not on board. As a special case, the German Emperor was granted a warrant in July, 1891, as owner of a yacht in the Royal Yacht Squadron. In 1883 Lord Annesley's yacht, the Seabird, was detained by the Turkish Authorities at the Dardanelles consequent on her wearing the white ensign, Lord Annesley being a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. On account of this, all yacht owners were warned that should they wish to pass the Dardanelles under the white or blue ensigns they must first obtain an Imperial Iradé, otherwise they were recommended to wear the plain red ensign.

Vestiges of British ensigns

In 1925, the Royal Cork Yacht Club applied to the Admiralty for a warrant for its Admiral, A.F. Sharman Crawford, to fly the club ensign; this was forwarded via the Colonial Office to the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. The Department of External Affairs recommended that such applications should be made in the first instance to the Free State government.

Eamonn O'Neill proposed an amendment in the debate on the Merchant Shipping Bill, 1947:

Whenever a yacht or pleasure boat club is situated in Irish waters it shall not hoist on its club premises, or on the craft of persons who are members of such club, any flag distinctive of nationality other than the national flag, or such specified flag in lieu thereof as may be authorised under warrant in accordance with sub-section (3).

Minister Seán Lemass responded:

There are obvious reasons why this amendment could not be accepted. It proposes to regulate the flying of flags on buildings and premises and this is not appropriate to a Merchant Shipping Bill. The flying of the national flags of other countries on yacht club premises would have to be considered in regard to the general question of the flying of these flags throughout the State. There is no legal prohibition on the flying of flags on buildings provided it is not likely to lead to a disturbance of the peace. It is well known that on the occasion of visits of people from other countries or on the occasion of a competition which would involve the attendance of competitors from other countries, the flying of the flag of those countries as a mark of honour and courtesy is a normal procedure.

In regard to the flying of flags on ships, under Section 3 of the Bill Irish-registered or Irish-owned vessels are prohibited from flying any flag other than the Irish national flag or a yacht [380] club ensign approved by the Minister. There is no necessity for an amendment to secure that result. If the amendment was proposed to ensure that Irish-owned yachts registered in Britain would not be entitled to fly any other flag, it would be difficult to secure by our legislation.

The amendment was not moved.

List of Irish yacht ensigns at FOTW.

1970:

... and the Royal Irish Yacht Club, which still flies the blue ensign of the Royal Naval Reserve, are reminders of the vanished importance of the Ascendancy, although these institutions are no longer monopolized by the Ascendancy families.

Flags of the world, 1981:

It is worth noting that there are still a few clubs in Southern Ireland that retain their old prefix "Royal", and until quite recently they continued to use the British Blue Ensign.Now, with the exception of the Royal St. George, they all use the blue yacht ensign of Southern Ireland. This has a blue field with the club badge in the fly, and in the canton the National Flag, the green white and orange tricolour. Among the latter is the Royal Cork ... which has amalgamated with the Royal Munster Yacht Club.

The 2006 Royal Navy List includes the Royal Irish Yacht Club under "Blue Ensign defaced by badge of club" and the Royal St George Yacht Club "Red Ensign defaced by badge of club". Clubs in other republics (Royal Bombay Yacht Club, India; Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, China; Royal Suva Yacht Club, Fiji) also have "Blue Ensign defaced by badge of club".

List

• Ireland: Yacht and Sailing Clubs list at Flags of the World (some defunct pre-1922; others only burgees)

Club	Location	Date of warrant	Colour of field	Emblem	Refs
University of Limerick YC	Limerick		azure blue	a yellow Elk’s head in the last quarter.
Lough Derg YC	Dromineer		azure blue	yellow sprig of shamrock in the last quarter
Lough Swilly YC	Buncrana		navy blue	Knot of Colmcille
National YC	Dún Laoghaire	July 1950	azure blue	a four-stringed harp argent (the club crest uses the harp of the state arms in gold)
Royal Cork YC	Crosshaven		Blue	Yellow Crowned harp (or else with three crowns of Munster and the date 1720 underneath the harp)
Royal Irish YC	Dún Laoghaire		White	Crowned harp (Its 1831 ensign was very odd.)
Royal St. George YC	Dún Laoghaire		Blue	Harp (Red with crown in British)
Powerboat.ie Motorboat Club	Online	2007	Azure	Gold propeller with two vortex lines
Inland Waterways Association of Ireland		May 1986 (or 1985)	Light blue	five waves coloured green–grey–white–grey–green (grey substituting for silver)
Kilmore Quay Boat Club	Kilmore Quay	(None?)	purple	Kilmore Quay church in gold
Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland	Kilrush	(originally 1832)	blue (originally the White Ensign)	Crown surrounded by a wreath of green shamrock (possibly with name written underneath)
Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club	Clontarf		Blue	Red bull
Howth Yacht Club	Howth		Blue	Red anchor
Malahide Yacht Club	Malahide		White	Black shield with a gold cross superimposed on a diamond
Skerries Sailing Club	Skerries		Blue	Golden goat's head at the bottom corner and facing the fly
Carlingford Sailing Club	Carlingford		Light blue	Gold celtic lion with silver tracery
Kinsale Yacht Club	Kinsale		Azure blue	Yellow portcullis
Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club	Ringsend		Blue	red insignia of Poolbeg Lighthouse
Irish Cruising Club	Island-wide; legal address most likely is Cork.		Dark blue	white Fastnet Lighthouse with beams

Protocol

John M. Kelly:

• Irish tricolour said to date from 1848 Young Ireland, suggested to be modelled on French.
• "Between 1922 and 1937, while the tricolour carried no statutory patent, it was recognised by official usage as the national and State flag."
• An Bhratach Náisiúnta is "a code of official protocol without basis of statute"
• Mercantile Marine Act, 1955 appears to be only statute to mention [Kelly overlooks 1979 Fisheries Act]
• Defence Force Regulations: (irishmilitaryonline also quoting from DFR A2)

  By Part V, Section I, Regulation 1(1) of the Defence Force Regulations (A2: Ceremonial) it is prescribed in relation to the national flag that ...

  the three coloured parts are of equal size and vertically disposed, the green being next to the staff, the white in the middle and the orange furthest from the staff.

  The same regulation says the flag "may not be defaced by any inscription or device".

  Reg. 35: "the Ensign to be used by the Naval Service shall be the National flag."

  Reg. 42: naval Jack "a green flag with a yellow Harp", specified more fully in an Appendix.

• Presidential standard "authorised not by statute or regulation but by a government decision of 29 December 1944".
• "There is no record of this decision in Iris Oifigiúil": which decision?

The Department of the Taoiseach has issued guidelines in order to assist persons in giving due respect to the national flag. Observance of the guidelines is a matter for each individual as there are no statutory requirements. It is expected, however, that the national flag will be treated at all times with appropriate respect by those who use it. The Department has general responsibility in relation to the national flag and this is primarily concerned with the protocol for the flying of the flag. The Department’s role, therefore, is an advisory one.

With respect to the display, placing and precedence of the national flag by both itself and in relation to other flags, the Department has made a number of suggestions. No flag or pennant should be flown above the national flag. When the flag is carried with another flag, or flags, it should be carried in the place of honour — that is on the marching right, or on the left of an observer towards whom the flags are approaching. Where one of these flags is that of the European Union, the European Union flag should be carried on the immediate left of the national flag, or, as seen by an observer when the flags are approaching, on the immediate right of the national flag. In the event of a display of crossed staffs, the national flag should be to the right and to the fore — that is to the left of the observer who is facing the flag. Its staff should be in front of the other flag or flags.

When the group of flags of the European Union are flown, the sequence is alphabetical, based on the first letter of the country’s name. The flags should be flown from left to right with the European Union flag flown from the first flagstaff before the group. An alternative order of flags is to begin on the left with the national flag and place the European Union flag on the far right of the group, as seen by an observer. With regard to international flags; where either an even or an odd number of flags are flown in line on staffs of equal height, the national flag should be first on the right of the line — that is on the observer’s left as he or she faces the flags. Where one of these flags is that of the European Union, the European Union flag should be flown on the immediate left of the national flag, or as seen by an observer, on the immediate right of the national flag. Where, however, an odd number of flags are displayed from staffs grouped so that there is one staff in the centre and higher than the others, the national flag should be displayed from the staff so placed. Where one of these flags is that of the European Union, the European Union flag should be flown from the first flagstaff on the right, or as seen by an observer, on the first flagstaff on the left. Only one national flag should be displayed in each group of flags or at each location. In all cases, the national flag should be in the place of honour. When the national flag is displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall or other background, the green should be on the right (an observer’s left) in the horizontal position or uppermost in the vertical position. When displayed on a platform, the national flag should be above and behind the speaker’s desk. While being carried, the flag should not be dipped by way of salute or compliment except to the dead during memorial ceremonies.

In raising or lowering, the national flag should not be allowed to touch the ground. When being hoisted to half-mast, the flag should first be brought to the peak of the staff and then lowered to the half-mast position. It should again be brought to the peak of the staff before it is finally lowered. On ceremonial occasions when the national flag is being hoisted or lowered, or when it is passing by in a parade, all present should face it, stand to attention and salute. Persons in uniform who normally salute with the hand should give the hand salute. Persons in civilian attire should salute by standing to attention. The salute to the flag when it is being borne past in a parade is rendered when the flag is six paces away and the salute is held until the flag has passed by. Where more than one national flag is carried, the salute should be given only to the leading flag. When the national anthem is played in the presence of the national flag, all present should face the national flag, stand to attention and salute it, remaining at the salute until the last note of the music.

When the national flag has become worn or frayed it is no longer fit for display, and should not be used in any manner implying disrespect. The national flag, when used as a decoration, should always be treated with due respect. It may be used as a discreet lapel button or rosette or as part of a centrepiece for a table. When used in the latter context with the flags of other nations, the national flag should also be displayed in the place of honour on a nearby flag staff. Where multiple national flags are flown on festive occasions these should be of uniform dimensions. Bunting of the national colours may also be used on festive occasions.

The national flag should be displayed in the open only between sunrise and sunset, except on the occasion of public meetings, processions, or funerals, when it may be displayed for the duration of such functions. When displayed on a platform, the national flag should not be used to cover the speaker’s desk, nor should it be draped over the platform. The national flag should never be defaced by placing slogans, logos, lettering or pictures of any kind on it, for example at sporting events. The flag should not be draped on cars, trains, boats or other modes of transport; it should not be carried flat, but should always be carried aloft and free, except when used to drape a coffin; on such an occasion, the green should be at the head of the coffin. The tricolour is draped across the coffins of Presidents of Ireland (including former Presidents), soldiers and Garda Síochána personnel killed in the line of duty, and other notables accorded state funerals, such as Roger Casement in 1965, or Kevin Barry in 2001. Care should be taken at all times to ensure that the national flag does not touch the ground, trail in water or become entangled in trees or other obstacles.

It is the normal practice to fly the national flag daily at all military posts and from a limited number of important State buildings. The European flag is flown alongside the national flag on all official buildings, and in most places where the Irish flag is flown over buildings. The national flag is flown over buildings including: the residence of the President of Ireland, Áras an Uachtaráin; Leinster House, the seat of the Irish parliament, when parliament is in session; Irish courts and state buildings; Irish military installations, at home and abroad; and Garda Síochána (police) stations. The national flag is also flown on St. Patrick’s Day (the national holiday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday (in commemoration of the Easter Rising of 1916), and the National Day of Commemoration on the Sunday closest to 11 July — the date of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921. On these occasions the national flag is flown from all State buildings throughout the country which are equipped with flagpoles, and many private individuals and concerns also fly it. The national flag is flown on the occasion of other significant national and local events such as festivals and commemorations. The national flag is frequently flown at half-mast on the death of a national or international figure on all prominent government buildings equipped with a flag pole. The death of a prominent local figure may be marked locally by the national flag being flown at half-mast. Where the national flag is flown at half-mast no other flag should be half-masted.

Meath County Council said in November 2014 relation to flying flags at Ashbourne municipal district office that "the resources to comply with the guidelines in relation to the national flag were not available". Similarly Athlone Municipal District in Westmeath said "It is not practical to raise and lower flags on a daily basis".

See also

• Cross-border flag for Ireland
• List of flags of the Republic of Ireland
• Principality of Orange

References

• An Bhratach Náisiúnta / The National Flag (PDF). Protocol Section, Department of the Taoiseach. 26 June 2005. ISBN 07769101X. Retrieved 2009-09-28. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
• Magan, Manchán (20 April 2016). "Tracking the Tricolour". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
• Ó Duir, Tomás D. (1949). "Bratach na hÉireann". Comhar (in Irish). 8 (11): 20–23. doi:10.2307/20548844. JSTOR 20548844.

External links

• The Irish Flag, historical commentary at Scoilnet

Category:National symbols of the Republic of Ireland Ireland, Republic of

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