After the unification of Ireland into the United Kingdom, Ireland flew the Union Flag in which it was represented by the addition of the St. Patrick Saltire. The St. Patrick Saltire was also used to represent Ireland alone as a province of the United Kingdom. The annexation of their homeland into the state of the hated English (who had been attempting to assert political and cultural dominance over the island for centures) was not long to be tolerated by the Irish. Less than thirty years after the annexation, local and national labor unions began to use the strike to protest English economic policies and poor wages and living conditions of ordinary Irishmen in the face of the continued wealth and prosperity of their English landlords. These labor disputes soon evolved into open political rebellion against the British. At different periods during the Irish rebellion, several different flags were used. The most notable of these was the "Green Flag" depicting the Irish Harp and the Starry Plough. The Green Flag evolved from the banner carried by the Society of United Irishmen, a republican organization that actually predated the annexation of the Irish state into the United Kingdom. The Starry Plough did not emerge unti the 20th century, when the Irish Citizen Army evolved from the trade unions into an armed paramilitary organization much like the Irish Republican Army. It gain notoriety for its use during the rebellion of 1916 (a rebellion that very nearly toppled the Irish and British governments to turn the British state into the world's first Marxist communist state.)
The Irish tricolor evolved in the period of time between the popular and widespread use of the Green Flag and the Starry Plough. A revolution in France in 1830 (one of the several in succession of one another following THE French Revolution of 1792) saw the return of the French Tricolor. Irish republicans and trade unionists used the Irish tri-colors as a cockade in celebration of the revolution in France and the hopes it gave to the Irish cause. The meanings of the colors of green, white, and orange is unsure, but most Irish are of the opinion that they represent the Catholics of the south (green), the Protestants of Ulster (orange), and the peaceful coexistance between the them (white). Regardless of the original meaning, these colors soon became associated with the Irish struggle against the British. By 1848, the Young Ireland movement had evolved out of the older Society of United Irishmen and had become the dominant anti-English, pro-republican group. At a meeting of the movement in Waterford in March of 1848, its leader, Thomas Meagher, introduced the flag as it was draped over a second floor balcony from which he spoke to a crowd below him. It was displayed again in Dublin in April of that year and eventually became the accepted flag of the Young Ireland Movement.
In 1921, Ireland was granted autonomy as the Irish Free State. The Irish Tricolor was used by the Free State government. It was used specifically in an attempt to prevent its use by paramilitary republican elements. Regardless, it was used extensively by Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army. After the Irish Free State became the Irish Republic, the Irish Tricolor emerged as the national flag. The part of Ireland that was supposed to have been represented by the orange band, the Protestant of Ulster, remained a part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland. Though reunification with these six loyal counties is not an official policy of the Irish government, and the subversive acts of the groups who fight for that reunification are illegal, the Irish flag is said to represent the entire Ireland. The political reality, however, is that it does not. For this reason, Ireland often uses a flag that is called the Flag of the Four Provinces (see vexillogram above). This flag is used at all events, particularly athletic events, in which participants from both sides the border are involved. The provinces of Ulster spans both sides of the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, and so the Ulster emblem included on the flag appropriately represents both sides inspite of the province's political division. The Flag of the Four Provinces is used almost at an alternative to the official national flag, and is often flown alonside of it. Though each province has its own flag, each province is represented in this flag as well, and so it is used as a provincial flag throughout the entire island. It is very much like a "national provincial flag."
Incidentally, there are no official flags of the counties in Ireland. Some of the county councils have adopted flags, but these represent the councils themselves, not the counties. In addition, all counties have adopted on an unoffical basis the colors of their local rugby teams, often displayed on banners with vertical bands. These "team colors" serve as the closest example that the Irish counties have come to adopting county flags. |
