Why the tricolour doesn't get a look-in

The tricolour caused offence this week for ‘sending out the wrong message’ – but the truth is that the national flag is notable for its absence in most Irish parishes

THERE WAS controversy this week about the placing of an Irish tricolour on top of the Obelisk monument at the Battle of the Boyne site in Co Louth. Local county councillor Frank Godfrey pointed out that the flag made visitors to the area feel threatened. While the tricolour is located on private property, it is in an area with strong historical links to the Orange Order.

“I have no problem with flying the tricolour. But this one is sending out the wrong message,” said Cllr Godfrey, “With the peace process, we are trying to promote friendship and goodwill. If someone put a Union Jack at Kilmainham Gaol there would be a lot of people who wouldn’t feel too happy about it.”

As the debate developed during the course of the week, attention turned to how Irish society relates to the tricolour. One woman caller to RTÉ Radio One's Livelineprogramme said a recent visit to Glendalough had been spoiled by the sight of a tricolour in a ragged state. "The Irish flag, which is meant to inspire pride and respect in every Irish citizen, was flying from a closed catering hut . . . One section of the flag was missing. The rest was unravelling. It looked very sad and sorry."

The protocol section of the Department of the Taoiseach lays down guidelines for the handling of our national flag. It specifies that the flag should not touch the ground when it is being hoisted or lowered, and that it should be replaced when it becomes ragged or frayed. The guidelines also state that the tricolour should not be draped on cars, trains, boats or other modes of transport, and should not be carried flat except when used to drape a coffin.

There are also provisions in relation to the dimensions, colouring and flying of the flag. Often, though, these guidelines are paid little heed when the national flag is used on public occasions.

One exception is when it is used by the Defence Forces or the Naval Service. For example, the tricolour holds strong significance for the Naval Service and is flown between the hours of sunrise and sunset at naval bases and on all Naval Service ships.

In general, the attitude to our flag is a mixture of pride and detachment, with our outlooks made uncomfortable or else reinforced by the political struggles of the past century. Yet even historical sentiment goes only so far – the only full-size tricolour that survives from the 1916 Rising failed to sell at auction in New York recently.

Historian Diarmaid Ferriter points to the fact that the Irish national flag was very contested in the period after 1916 and, in fact, the civilian code for the flag was not introduced until after 1945. “After the Rising, for example, the tricolour was associated more with individual political parties, such as Sinn Féin, and not the Republic,” he says, “The bottom line is that the Union Jack in the North was always more important than the tricolour in the South.”

While some Irish people are happy to wave the tricolour with pride during sporting occasions or on St Patrick’s Day, for the majority it still has no place outside homes or places of work. David Monagan, an American author living in Cork, says he found it strange to see so few sightings of the tricolour when he moved to Ireland a decade ago.

“I was back in the US the summer after 9/11, and the American flag was everywhere,” he says. “At one McDonald’s outlet I counted six American flags. It made me think about role of the national flag in Ireland. There are

incredibly strong differences between the two countries. In Ireland, you don’t see the flag unless you’re driving by a prison or military barracks, or maybe the local city hall.”

Monagan contrasts this reluctance to embrace national identity with a willingness to wear county or parish colours whenever GAA matches take place. Since moving to Ireland, he says, he has never seen a tricolour in his neighbourhood. “If there is a hurling match going on, then every third car will have local colours. I think it points to a very different sense of national identity in Ireland. It’s much more local here, and people are almost tribal in their perspective. Perhaps that’s why the tricolour doesn’t get a look-in.”