Irish Flag

History of the Irish Flag

In his election speech on the 19th of February 1848, Thomas Francis Meagher, a leader of the Young Ireland Confederate Club movement stated:

"...what strength have I to beat my way towards that bold headland, upon which I have sworn to plant the flag I have rescued from the wreck?"

In this speech Meagher outlined his dream for a New Ireland. He spoke of rescuing the flag from the wreck that was the sectarian Old Ireland where Irish Catholics and Protestants were at odds. Meagher created a new flag to symbolise a new hope for unity between the two sides in a country that was desecrated by the Great Famine (p92. Cavanagh 1892).

The Irish Tricolour flag was first flown publicly by Meagher in his native city at the Wolf Tone Confederate Club at 33 The Mall, Waterford City on March 7th 1848. The national media reported on this in 1998, 150 years after the flag was first raised.

Thomas Francis Meagher Bust alongside the Waterford Civic Trust Blue Plaque
commemorating the Irish Tricolour's first flight at 33 The Mall, Waterford City

Meagher travelled to France in April of 1848 and on his return, at a meeting in Dublin on the 15th of April he presented a fabulous version of the Tricolor made from the finest French silk to the citizens of Ireland. He said:
“...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 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 beneath its folds, the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood..." 
Soon after Meagher was part of the Young Irelanders 1848 Famine Rebellion. He was arrested and accused of high treason. On the 16th of July, just before his trial, he visited the sublime Slievenamon in Co. Tipperary and gave a speech to 50,000 people. Meagher, decorated with a fabulous Tricolour Sash fulfilled his February promise and baptised the country with his new flag saying these words:
"...he [O'Connell] preached a cause that we are bound to see out. He used to say "I may not see what I have labored for I am an old man my arm is withered no epitaph of victory may mark my grave but I see a young generation with redder blood in their veins, and they will do the work." Therefore it is that I ambition to decorate these hills with the flag of my country."
The Irish Tricolour has inspired generations of Irish people since its conception in 1848. Although the flag didn’t see the light of day again until it was raised above the GPO in 1916, so poignant was its symbolism that its message still prevailed over half a century later, as it does today. The tricolour was eventually recognised as Ireland’s national flag in 1937.

Flag Variations

The 1848 arrangement of the Irish Tricolour, Notice the orange element is to the left.


A representation of the flag presented to Dublin in 1848, which had the red hand of Ulster on the white stripe.


Often the orange is misrepresented by gold. This is incorrect and does not do justice to the original meaning of the flag.


This is the current version of the flag. It was adopted by the Republic in 1919 and then officially by the state in 1937.