The Irish flag: green, white and orange
Ireland's tricolour is associated with Thomas Francis Meagher, who in April 1848 presented a silk tricolour to the citizens of Ireland and gave it its enduring meaning.
The Irish national flag consists of three equal vertical stripes: green on the hoist side, white in the centre, and orange on the fly. It is often mistakenly described as green, white and gold — but orange is correct, and the distinction matters.
In Meagher's own words, explaining the symbolism of the flag:
"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."
— Thomas Francis Meagher, April 1848
The green represents the Gaelic and Catholic tradition of Ireland; the orange represents the Protestant and unionist tradition (from William of Orange); and the white represents the hoped-for peace between them.
Where the flag was first flown
The tricolour is traditionally associated with 33 The Mall, Waterford — close to the Waterford Crystal factory on the banks of the River Suir. The building still stands, and a large Irish flag flies there today.
Some confusion exists with contemporary accounts suggesting a French flag flying on this occasion. 1848 was the year of revolutions across Europe, and the February uprising in Paris that toppled Louis-Philippe and established the French Second Republic was electrifying for Irish nationalists. Flying the French tricolour in Waterford that March was a deliberate political statement — a declaration of solidarity with republican revolution and the overthrow of monarchy. It is without doubt however that in April 1848, on his return from Paris, Meagher made a definitive contribution to the Irish flag — presenting a silk tricolour to the citizens of Ireland and delivering the speech in which he explained that the white centre stripe signified a lasting truce between Orange and Green.
Thomas Francis Meagher
Meagher was a leader of the Young Irelanders — a nationalist movement that broke from Daniel O'Connell's constitutional approach in favour of more direct action. In 1848 he was arrested for sedition following the Battle of Ballingarry. Sentenced to death, the sentence was commuted and he was transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), from which he later escaped.
He eventually reached the United States, where he founded the Irish Brigade — a celebrated unit of the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war ended in 1865 he was appointed the first acting Governor of Montana Territory, where he died in 1867 under disputed circumstances.
The flag today
The Irish tricolour became the official national flag under Article 7 of the Constitution of Ireland in 1937: "The national flag is the tricolour of green, white and orange." The proportions are 1:2 (height to width).
A common point of confusion: the flag of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) uses the same three colours — orange, white and green — but in reverse order, with orange on the hoist side.
