A new Ireland would need a new flag

There will be a lot of talk about a possible future United Ireland, symbols and identity following a recent BBC Spotlight/LucidTalk/Ireland Thinks poll. This article isn’t going to get into a debate about whether a United Ireland should happen or if/when a border poll should take place. Instead it is about imagery, flags in particular, and why Ireland’s tricolour isn’t the solution.

The poll asked respondents, in the event of a United Ireland, whether Ireland should change its flag from the current tricolour to an unspecified other flag. The poll was carried out in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

In Northern Ireland 46% said yes, the flag should change; 36% said no, it should not change. A further 25% were either neutral or undecided. In the Republic only 21% supported changing the flag, with 63% opposed. 

The idea behind changing the flag is that a United Ireland should be a new Ireland with new symbols and a new start. Many Irish and nationalist people will be quick to dismiss the idea of changing the flag because the Irish flag was deliberately designed to welcome both British and Irish people. 

The issue with this line of reasoning is that we actually have two flags that claim to do this, but neither does. 

The Irish flag

The Irish flag is simple and designed to incorporate the island’s two largest identity groups.

The colours Green and Orange are deeply and historically linked to the two largest communities on the island, although they’re far from the only two communities and neither is homogenous. The flag ties these two well traditional colours together with peace between them. Symbolically it ticks a lot of boxes – but this isn’t a box ticking exercise. 

Designed in 1848 along the lines of the French Tricolor, the Irish tricolour came to prominence during the Easter Rising in 1916 as the flag of Irish Republican rebels fighting against British rule in Dublin. Three months later thousands of unionists died fighting to secure their place in Britain at the Battle of the Somme. While both of those sentences are clearly oversimplified, the Rising and the Somme are seismic events in the histories of the respective identities. 

The tricolour was made official in 1922 as the flag of the new Irish Free State and was retained following the declaration of the Republic. Its century-long association with Ireland is more than enough to damage its brand with unionism, and the connection with the Rising doesn’t help matters. This should be enough to exclude it from being the flag of a new and welcoming nation. It’s even seen by some as “the flag of a foreign nation” as a former UUP MLA informed us.

If nationalists are asking unionists to accept being brought into a country they don’t want to be in – with no mechanism for returning – the least they could do is accept a compromise on the flag. 

The Union flag

The other flag that attempts to incorporate Irish and British identities is none other than the Union Flag of the United Kingdom. Better known as the Union Jack, and even the ‘Butcher’s Apron’ to some in Ireland, the UK’s flag was specifically designed to include Ireland. Adopted in 1801, it was intended to symbolise the creation of a new United Kingdom, a country made up of three kingdoms by combining the flags of England, Scotland and Ireland. So why don’t Irish people feel included when it’s waved? Surely it’s the Welsh who should be up in arms, not the Irish. 

It’s a legitimate question since, as Irish flag defenders will tell you, all you need is representation to feel included… right?

It’s an issue that a lot of nationalists will dismiss by saying they had no say in its creation and that they never wanted to be included. When were unionists consulted on the Irish flag’s design? When did they want to be included? You may wish to argue about the many crimes of the British Empire here, but what does that have to do with hoisting a flag designed by Irish people over a community that has rigorously campaigned against it for 100 years?

You can argue that the red diagonal cross of St Patrick isn’t used much anymore but, by the same token, Orange isn’t the official symbol of much either – other than the Orange Order which, with around 34,000 members, is about as many people as you’d expect to show up for a big match in Casement Park.

A new Ireland would need new symbols 

Our symbols and concepts have changed a lot over the years, what was possibly a good compromise for a flag design in 1848 has come to mean something else in 2021. And it’s important to remember that how it is thought of has changed on both sides of the border. 

Unionists don’t see it as a compromise because it’s the Irish flag but many Irish people don’t see it as a compromise either. Because they call the Orange bit ‘Gold.’ 

It’s Orange. The constitution says so. Calling it gold cuts out the Protestant tradition that it was specifically designed to include. There’s a myth that it’s gold for the Golden Harp but this is simply untrue. Our symbols are complex and our words matter, you can’t tell your unionist neighbour that they’re included in the Orange bit of the flag if you usually call it Gold. 

By the same token if the Northern Irish football team announced that they were playing in ‘Mint’ from now on, nationalists would be pretty ticked off – even if they don’t primarily support the team. The very fact that the word ‘gold’ is in such common use should be enough to exclude the tricolour from consideration.

A new flag

The new flag wouldn’t need to fly over City Hall every day; a version of the current designated days system should be agreed. Everyone should be free to wave the tricolour or the union jack if they wish and continue to identify in whatever way they see fit. This isn’t about the erasure of old symbols, merely the creation of an agreed one for if and when we come together. 

I’m not going to make a suggestion of what this new flag should look like. I’m no artist and am far too colourblind to try. We do, however, have a number of pre-existing options that we can use as building blocks to create agreed symbols. As mentioned above, the UK flag includes St Patrick’s Cross, an old flag of Ireland that is used in the PSNI logo and appears regularly on suggested new flags for both Ireland and Northern Ireland. We also have the Red Hand of Ulster, an ancient Gaelic symbol that has been adopted by several unionist groups. There’s the Harp, an ancient instrument that has been displayed on several older flags – and now prominent on our pints. These symbols could provide the basis of agreed imagery. 

It doesn’t even have to be green

Aside from St Patrick’s Day, major sporting events are the most common times that people gather in full national colour, so sport is important. Helpfully, sport is full of ideas of how to address the issue. We already make green work with the shamrock clad All-island Rugby Union, Rugby League, Hockey and Cricket teams. The island sent two Green Armies to France for the Euro’s in 2016. 

There’s a school of thought that Irish Green is recognised around the world and so needs to be included. However the Dutch Oranjegekte, Italian Azzurri and New Zealand All-Blacks have all managed to build a global brand around a colour that isn’t on their flag. A quick run through of national colours shows that a lot of countries identify with a colour that isn’t on their flag and many more use colours of convenience in sporting competitions. A list that includes Germany (white in football), China (blue), Japan (blue), Northern Ireland (green) and Ireland (blue in boxing). 

You could also meet halfway on the colour scheme: there’s St Patrick’s Blue and British Racing Green.

They probably have too much going on to be good national flags, but the logos of the All-Ireland Hockey and Amatuer Boxing Associations combine the flags of the four provinces, including the Red Hand. The same four provinces’ imagery is included in Ireland’s Call, sung before every rugby international.

Who decides? 

We could just let the politicians pick the flag. Although they might just use some UN inspired blandness designed to disappoint everyone equally.

Or, as others have done, they could come up with an actual good flag, even in a difficult place. 

It’s worth bearing in mind that Northern Ireland still doesn’t have an agreed upon flag 23 years after the Good Friday Agreement. One way of addressing this  is through public engagement.

The flag is currently specified in the Irish constitution, but this clause can be removed simultaneously with the other constitutional changes in a border poll. Any new design can later be set by law. 

We should ask the public for submissions and then hold a New Zealand style referendum to pick a favourite, although instead of a Yes/No on question on a single option we could use our STV system to find a compromise from a range of decent options, ensuring that everyone is listened to. Holding the vote simultaneously with a general or presidential election would make this a fairly cheap option too.

Given the results of this poll its clear that sentiments in favour of the flag remain very strong, but accepting the need for compromise is the way to create a united future. We must be accepting of new ideas and new images if we are to build an inclusive new Ireland.

More on Northern Slant:

• If unionism won’t provide for soft unionists, it’s going to lose them by Cameron Mack
• Don’t let border poll become the Irish Brexit by Fionnbharr Rodgers
• Public opinion and Northern Ireland’s future: What does the latest polling tell us? by Jamie Pow