The National Flag

Some Facts about our Flag

  • The national flag of Ireland is a tricolour of green, white and orange.
  • The flag is twice as wide as it is high.
  • The three colours are of equal size and the green goes next to the flagstaff.
  • The flag was first introduced by Thomas Francis Meagher in 1848 who based it on French tricolour.
  • The green represents the older Gaelic tradition while the orange represents the supporters of William of Orange.
  • The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the 'Orange' and the'Green'.
  • It was not until the Rising of 1916, when it was raised above the General Post Office in Dublin, that the tricolour came to be regarded as the national flag.
  • It is now enshrined in the Constitution of Ireland.


National flag


Visit the following links for further information on our National Flag

The National Flag  This links to a Microsoft Word Document

The National Flag  This links to a PDF document
Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources,  29-31 Adelaide Road, Dublin 2, Ireland
Tel +353-1-6782000 Fax +353-1-6782449