Irish Flag PNG
Ireland is one of the few states that own a flag with a straightforward interpretation that hasn’t changed since the design was introduced. Green represents the Roman Catholics living in Ireland, orange – the Protestants. The white stripe between them symbolizes the much hoped-for peace, which replaced hundreds of years of fierce acrimony and fighting.
| Colors | HEX Code | Pantone | RGB | CMYK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green | #169B62 | 347 U | 22, 155, 98 | 71, 0, 72, 0 |
| White | #FFFFFFF | Safe | 255, 255, 255 | 0, 0, 0, 0 |
| Orange | #FF883E | 151 U | 255, 136, 62 | 0, 43, 91, 0 |
History of the Flag
The diverse history of the flag of Ireland reflects the intense political violence and upheaval the country went through more than once. The most prominent themes in the flag design have been the green color, three crowns, a gold harp, and a vertical tricolor.
1169/1386 – 1541
Following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–1171, the Lordship of Ireland (Anglo-Norman Ireland) was created. It was the part of Ireland controlled by the King of England.
The Lord of Ireland, who was also the King of England, had a personal standard depicting his coat of arms. It featured three golden crowns, one above the other, over a blue field.
According to some sources, it was only in 1386 that the three crowns were first used as a heraldic element. They could be seen on the arms given by Richard II to Robert de Vere. In his book “A History of Irish flags from Earliest Times” (1979), Gerard Anthony Hayes-McCoy stated that the triple crown most likely became the country’s coat of arms during the funeral procession of Henry IV in 1413.
The crowns could be seen on the coins of Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry VII, who ruled, one after another, from 1461 to 1509, as well as on the coins of Lambert Simnel (1487).
The roots of this coat of arms, though, can be traced further into the past. Historians connect it with one of the patron saints of England, St. Edmund, the Saxon king of East Anglia (855–869). The flag of East Anglia featured three gold crowns on a blue field next to St. George’s Cross. Interestingly, this symbol was somewhat reminiscent of the coat of arms of the province of Munster. Sir John Bernard Burke (1814–1892), a British genealogist and the Ulster King of Arms, suggested that the triple crown symbol was brought by the Normans during their invasion of Ireland.
1542 – 1642
Following the failed revolt of Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare, in 1534–1535, Leonard Grey, Lord Deputy of Ireland, managed to win over several clans. As a result, by 1540, most of Ireland was under the control of the king’s Dublin administration. In 1542, the Kingdom of Ireland was proclaimed, while the English King Henry VIII also became the King of Ireland.
The newly-formed Kingdom of Ireland used a dark blue flag featuring a silver-stringed gold harp. Above the harp, a crown could be seen, very similar to the crowns from the previous flag.
1641 – 1653
Following the 1641 rebellion, when Irish Catholics fought against the English and Protestant settlers, a new political entity was proclaimed. It was called Confederate Ireland, or the Irish Catholic Confederation. Created by Catholic aristocrats, landed gentry, religious and military leaders, it was in power during the Eleven Years’ War (1642-1652) and controlled almost two-thirds of Ireland.
Confederate Ireland used a green flag showcasing a silver-stringed gold cláirseach harp. Not only was the color of the flag changed, but the coat of arms, too. The crown disappeared. This flag was originally used in 1642 by Owen Roe O’Neill, the Gaelic Irish soldier that led the Irish Confederate Ulster Army.
While this flag didn’t last long as an official one in the 17th century, a lot of other Irish flags have been based on it. It even represented the Irish team at the 1930 British Empire Games.
1660 – 1801
In 1660, the Stuart monarchy in England, Scotland, and Ireland was restored, and an uneasy peace returned. The monarchy brought back the old flag, the one featuring the gold harp and crown over the dark blue background.
However, the green harp banner remained the country’s unofficial flag over the following two centuries, as a symbol of its fight against England.
1801 – 1922
The green flag with a harp made a victorious return as the main flag of Ireland. It was, however, supplemented by the British Union Jack, which was placed at the top left quadrant.
After the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Irish and the British parliaments introduced the Acts of Union in 1800. According to it, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established. The aim was to get rid of the discrimination against local Irish groups, from Roman Catholics to Presbyterians and other minority religions.
1916 – 1916
The five years after 1916 were the times of political instability, to say the least of it. One of the key episodes of this story was the so-called Easter Rising in 1916, an insurrection in Dublin. Though it was suppressed, this campaign did leave a distinctive flag. It was green, based on the main symbolic color of Ireland, and featured gold lettering “Irish Republic.” In other words, it was obviously inspired by the green flag with the gold harp, but was adjusted to explicitly name the entity it belonged to.
1919 – present
The roots of the Irish tricolor can be traced back to the 19th century. Back then, Irish nationalists and those who fought for independence used different flags and ribbons combining three colors. It was then that the combination of green, orange, and white was formed and got the symbolic interpretation that it has had ever since.
There’s evidence that the vertical tricolor (orange-white-green) was first used as far back as in March 1848 or even in September 1830. The early use of the tricolor in the 1930s is believed to have been inspired by the French Revolution. In 1848, Thomas Francis Meagher from the Young Ireland publicly introduced this flag in front of a gathered crowd. He cited the French Revolution as the inspiration behind it.
However, it was only around 1917 that the flag became truly popular. It was used as a symbol of the centuries-old fight for separatism, and it appeared on the streets during the Easter Rising, next to the green flag with a harp. The tricolor became the flag of the new revolutionary Ireland and was eventually adopted as a national flag. Also, quite a few people associated it with Sinn Féin, the party of the rebels, who won three-quarters of all seats in Ireland in the 1918 elections.
The flag was used from 1922 to 1937 by the Executive Council, although the Free State Constitution did not explicitly declare it as a national symbol.
The final step in the formal adoption of the tricolor was the constitution introduced on December 29, 1937. Even when the Republic of Ireland parted ways with the British Commonwealth in 1949, the flag persisted.
Meaning of Symbols and Colors
On March 7, 1848, Thomas Francis Meagher showcased the flag to the crowd from 33 The Mall, Waterford, and gave an explicit explanation of what it meant. According to it, the white stripe stood for “a lasting truce” between Irish Protestants (orange) and Irish Catholics (green).
The color choice has a deep-rooted history.
The orange, quite literally, represents the word “orange” in the name “William of Orange” and one of the territories he ruled, the Principality of Orange. Also known as William III, William of Orange (1650–1702) was the sovereign Prince of Orange and also was in power in other lands, from Holland and Zeeland, as well as Overijssel in the Dutch Republic to England and Scotland. Apart from the name of the principality, his “Orange” title supposedly resulted from his position as a Stadtholder of the Netherlands, which was known as a Protestant bastion from the 16th century. So, the orange color on the flag was chosen because the minority Protestants in Ireland were supporters of William of Orange.
The history of the green color as the symbol of Ireland is even longer and more diverse. Its first use is connected with Gaidel Glas, son of Nel (or Niul), father of the Irish people. At least this is what Lebor Gabála Érenn tells us, a 11th-century collection of poems and prose narratives describing the history of Ireland from the creation of the world. Green was an unofficial color of Ireland for centuries.
The opposition between green and orange can be traced to the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 1640s, the green harp flag was adopted by the Irish Catholic Confederation. The United Irishmen, established in the 1790s, also flew a green harp flag, while orange was chosen by their rivals, the Protestant organization Orange Order. It was established in 1795 in memory of King William of Orange.
Interestingly, though, green has been also used by quite a few nonsectarian or even Protestant organizations, so its symbolism is a bit wider than just one element in the “Protestant/Roman Catholic” dichotomy.
Use of the Flag
The Irish tricolor is used both as the national flag and ensign. Green is worn by the county’s athletes during competitions. The ratio is 1:2.
The most common mistake when using the Irish flag or talking about it is replacing the orange with yellow or gold. Yellow versions were even flown at civilian functions, while the word “gold” has been sometimes used in songs and poems. However, the Department of the Taoiseach, which is responsible for everything that has to do with the flag, discouraged such substitutions.
There is also a rule that prohibits writing on the flag or placing any flag higher than the national one.
Coat of Arms
The Irish coat of arms features a gold harp with silver strings placed on a dark blue field. The first cases when Irish kings used the harp as their emblem can be traced to the 13th century. Henry VIII of England chose this emblem in 1541 when he stopped being Lord of Ireland and proclaimed Ireland to be a kingdom again. When in the 1600s the monarchies of England, Scotland, and Ireland were united, they got this coat of arms.
It was then chosen by the Irish Free State when it became independent from the United Kingdom in 1922. Eventually, in 1945, the harp got the formal status of the country’s coat of arms from the Chief Herald.
