FLAG OF IRELAND: HISTORY AND MEANING - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The flag of Ireland is the national flag of this republic member of the European Union. Its composition makes it a tricolor symbol, having three vertical stripes of the same size. At the far left is the orange stripe, the white stripe in the center and the green stripe to the right. It is one of the few flags in the world to include the color orange.

From the 16th century, Ireland was constituted through the Kingdom of Ireland, a British satellite state. Her favorite symbol then was the harp on a blue background. However, this situation changed at the beginning of the 20th century with the annexation of the island to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. At that time, the flag became British.

Irish flag. (Drawn by User: SKopp, via Wikimedia Commons).

The tricolor flag emerged in 1848, but it was not until 1916 that it began to be raised as a symbol of Irish independence in the framework of the Easter Rising. Generally, it is understood that the Irish flag represents the union between denominationalities, since green is identified with Catholicism and orange with Protestantism.

Today, the flag of Ireland has also become a symbol of the reunification of the island.

History of the flag

The settlement of the island of Ireland dates back to prehistoric times. It is presumed that different kingdoms existed on the island in Antiquity that over time were unified in a High Kingdom, on which all the kings depended. Around the 5th century, Christian evangelization began in Ireland and continues to this day.

The territory also had Viking influence, who were the great founders of the main populated centers. Although a period of peace was maintained in the area, finally Celts and Vikings fought bloody wars, to which were added the interdynastics of the kingdoms of the island.

Lordship of Ireland

Ireland converted to Christianity, but rejected the power of the Holy See. Given that, Pope Hadrian IV issued a bull in 1155 in which he granted the English King Henry II the authorization to invade the territory.

The King of Lienster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, was deposed as High King of Ireland and exiled to Normandy. This monarch requested the support of Enrique II to recover the territory and thus began the Cambro-Norman invasion in 1169, which marked a before and after in the history of Ireland and the symbols that identify the island.

Quickly, the King of England Henry II was quick to claim his papal rights, which led to the signing of the Treaty of Windsor. This arrangement kept Ruaidhiri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, who had deposed Diarmait, as High King of Ireland with a partial occupation by Henry II.

In 1185, Enrique II ceded the English territories in Ireland to his son, with the title of Lord of Ireland. Thus was born the Lordship of Ireland, dependent on England. From the 13th century, the Irish recovered a large part of the territory, until they annulled any English presence.

Shield of the Lordship of Ireland

The main symbol of the Lordship of Ireland was a shield. In it, three crowns of different sizes were included on a light blue field. Also, it kept a white border.

Coat of Arms of the Lordship of Ireland. (NsMn, from Wikimedia Commons).

Kingdom of Ireland

The Tudor invasion led by the King of England Henry VIII definitely changed Ireland's relationship with England. The result was the creation of the Kingdom of Ireland in 1542, which was followed by the complete conquest of the island in the following centuries through different wars.

The wars that resulted in the total control of Ireland by British hands wiped out practically half of the island's population. Henry VIII was the king who broke with the Catholic Church, and that religious problem was strongly present in Ireland. The Catholics and Protestant dissidents were kept in a situation of exclusion from the Anglican ruling class.

The Irish tutored regime began to open up and thus move closer to greater autonomy. Through the repeal of Poyning's Act in 1782, Ireland gained legislative independence from Great Britain. However, the British government continued to have the prerogative to appoint an Irish government without the parliament.

Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Ireland

The main symbol of the Kingdom of Ireland was a shield. One of the most important symbols of Ireland throughout its history was incorporated into it: the harp. The field was blue and the harp was accompanied by a female winged effigy, in gold.

Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Ireland. (SodacanThis W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape., From Wikimedia Commons).

Based on this symbol, in 1642 the Irish soldier Owen Roe O'Neill made one of the first Irish flags. This included the shield harp on a green background. The symbol lacked any officiality.

Flag designed by Owen Roe O'Neill. (1642). (R-41, from Wikimedia Commons).

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Irish nationalism had increased with the Irish Rebellion of 1798. This movement confronted the Society of United Irishmen, who inspired by the French Revolution, tried to establish a republic on the island.

The rebels used the O'Neill flag with the color green as a nationalist symbol, which began to contradict the orange of the Protestants of Ulster, based on the Orange Order, founded by William of Orange.

The rebellion quickly failed, but Ireland faced a major political change. In 1800 the laws of the union were passed, which as of January 1, 1801 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

This new state unified both islands in the same figure. This led to the disappearance of the Irish Parliament and the unification of its representatives through the national parliament in London.

Irish nationalism grew in the mid-nineteenth century, with the figure of Daniel O'Connell as the main speaker who defended Catholic emancipation and the right of the Irish to access parliamentary seats. This made him reject the Union Laws of 1800.

British symbols

During the existence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland the Union Jack was used. This flag joined those of England, Scotland and Ireland. The Flag that was chosen to represent Ireland in this case was the flag of Saint Patrick, which consisted of a white cloth with a red cross. This symbol was previously that of the Order of Saint Patrick, but was never identified by Irish nationalists as their own.

Flag of Saint Patrick. (Hoshie and others, from Wikimedia Commons).

The Union Jack that was established in 1801 is still the flag of the United Kingdom today.

United kingdom flag. (Original flag by Acts of Union 1800SVG recreation by User: Zscout370, from Wikimedia Commons).

Origin of the Irish tricolor

The first time that a tricolor flag is registered for Ireland was in 1830, when the three colors were used on a cockade, as part of a commemoration of the French Revolution.

Recognition of the flag came in 1848 through the Young Ireland movement. At Waterford, one of its leaders, Thomas Francis Meagher, showed a group of supporters the flag, which had been inspired by the French tricolor. The flag quickly gained popularity and the independence leaders of that time valued it as a future national flag.

Independence

The independence movement, at first, acquired an autonomist hue. The pressure at the end of the 19th century was to achieve Home Rule and thus have a particular autonomy for the island.

This was finally achieved in 1914, but with the exclusion of some northern Protestant counties after pressure from the Ulster Volunteers, a unionist militia formed to defend the union with the United Kingdom, without Catholic influence.

To counter the movement from Belfast, the Irish Volunteers were formed, defenders of the unity of the island in autonomy. However, the autonomy law was suspended after the advent of the First World War. The Irish Volunteers were divided on participation in this conflict, but finally rose up in 1916.

This movement was called the Easter Rising and was led by the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizens Army. The British response was cruel, exacerbating the spirits of the Irish as a European-wide conflict raged.

During the Easter Rising, the tricolor flag proposed in 1848 was recovered and began to link with Sinn Féin, a republican party.

Green Easter Rising Flag

One of the epicenters of the Easter Rising was the central Post Office building in Dublin. Above it was hoisted a green flag with the inscription in gold letters of the Irish Republic. This was designed by Mary Shannon at the Irish Citizens Army headquarters. In this instance the tricolor flag was also raised.

Irish revolutionary flag. (1916). (ArnoldPlaton, via Wikimedia Commons

Proclamation of the Irish Republic

Sinn Féin garnered massive support in the 1918 general elections, which led to the Irish Republic's declaration of independence in 1919. Faced with the military response, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) became a guerilla that fought to maintain the independence of the revolutionary state.

This new state also used the tricolor flag, which for the first time came to represent the entire island.

Irish Free State

The war lasted for three years until the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921 with the established Irish Parliament. This treaty granted the independence to Ireland that they would obtain gradually, but left Northern Ireland in British hands.

The nationalist movement was divided by this and a civil war broke out, in which the government of the Irish Free State and opponents of the Anglo-Irish Treaty clashed. The conflict lasted until 1923.

Between 1922 and 1937 the Irish Free State ruled the island, but an official flag was never established. However, the tricolor was always used. When the country joined the League of Nations, Ireland used the green, white and orange flag. Its use was argued in part to not allow the symbol to be monopolized by radical guerrillas who opposed the agreement.

Republic of Ireland

In 1937 the Constitution of Ireland was passed, ending British rule and creating a parliamentary system in the country. In that text the flag of Ireland was officially established. The Republic of Ireland was proclaimed in 1949, stripping the British monarch of the head of state. The flag is still in force.

Meaning of the flag

Unity is the main purpose of the Irish badge. Thomas Francis Meagher, from Young Ireland, was the one who proposed the flag, which symbolized the inclusion between Roman Catholics, represented by the color green, and Protestant Christians, with the color orange.

For Meagher, the target was the lasting truce between Catholics and Protestants. The folded flag then represents the fraternity between the united groups.

The color orange comes from Protestant support for King William of Orange, who defeated the Catholics in 1690. The dynastic house to which this monarch belonged was the inspiration for the symbol. Also, green can be related to the color of Saint Patrick.

References

1. Caulfield, M. (1995). The Easter Rebellion: The outstanding narrative history of the 1916 Rising in Ireland. Gill & Macmillan Ltd.
2. Constitution of Ireland. (1937). Article 7. Recovered from irishstatutebook.ie.
3. Department of the Taoiseach. (sf). National Flag. Department of the Taoiseach. Recovered from taoiseach.gov.ie.
4. Kee, R. (2000). The green flag: a history of Irish nationalism. Penguin UK.
5. Murphy, D. (February 26, 2018). Fifteen facts about the Irish flag, for its 170th birthday. The Irish Times. Recovered irishtimes.com.
6. Smith, W. (2016). Flag of Ireland. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Recovered from britannica.com.