Rarely has a flag possessed such lasting relevance as that of the “Tricolor,” the national flag of the Republic of Ireland. Its three equal stripes illustrate the Irish political landscape as accurately today as in 1848, the year the flag was first unfurled.
• Orange—standing for Irish Protestants
• Green—signifying Irish Catholics and the republican cause
• White—representing the hope for peace between them
• Why Orange?
The color orange is associated with Northern Irish Protestants because of William of Orange (William III), the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland who in 1690 defeated the deposed King James II, a Roman Catholic, in the fateful Battle of the Boyne near Dublin. William Ill’s victory secured Protestant dominance over the island, to the enormous benefit of the 17th-century colonizers of Northern Ireland—the English (mainly Anglicans) and Scots (mostly Presbyterians). Sometimes called Orangemen, Protestants in Northern Ireland celebrate the anniversary of the battle each July 12.
Green for the Emerald Isle
Green as the color standing for the Irish Catholic nationalists of the south may have something to do with shamrocks and verdant landscapes, but more importantly, green symbolizes revolution. An earlier, unofficial Irish flag—the gold harp on a green background- served from 1798 until the early twentieth century as a symbol of nationalism. As the revolutionary, James Connolly wrote, just weeks before he participated in the quixotic Easter Rebellion (1916) that led to his execution by firing squad.