Give Northern Ireland an Official Flag
As well as the Union Flag (also known as the Union Jack) each of the constituent nations of the United Kingdom has its own flag – except for Northern Ireland that is. England has the red cross of St George on a white background; Scotland has the white saltire on a blue background; and Wales has a red dragon on a white and green background.
Historically the nationalist community of Northern Ireland has used the Irish tricolour. This is the flag of the Irish Republic and was designed with a nationalist green stripe, an orange stripe to represent the Ulster Protestants and a white stripe in the middle to represent peace between the two.
The Unionist community has preferred to use the flag of St George emblazoned with the red hand of Ulster and sometimes a Union Flag in the fly. This however is not the official flag of Northern Ireland despite its long use during the Unionist ascendancy in the provinc
e.
The Union Flag has a red saltire in it which was added to represent Ireland at the time of union between Great Britain and Ireland in 1800. It is usually considered to be the flag of St Patrick but some argue that it was the flag of the powerful Irish Fitzgerald family. It combined with the English and Scottish flags to make the Union Flag that is known the World over.
If Northern Ireland was to have a flag of its own it would have to be acceptable to both communities. I would suggest a flag design competition and a committee made up of representatives of both communities that could make a recommendation to Parliament and the Queen. The new South African flag was a product of such a design competition and cleverly combined the African Nationalist colours with the traditional South African Dutch-style flag.
In my view the time has come to find Northern Ireland a flag that both communities can be proud of and which can be used at sporting occasions and on official buildings. Despite recent setbacks, the peace process remains the most powerful driver in Northern Ireland politics. Maybe a new flag could be a small step to cement that process and reduce the use of more sectarian symbols.
29 Comments »
Leave a Reply
About Richard…
Richard is a Conservative Councillor on Reading Borough Council representing Peppard ward since 2007, having been re-elected in May 2011. He previously represented Thames ward from 2001 to 2004. He is currently the Conservative Shadow Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport on Reading Borough Council. 
Recent Comments
steve foley on New YouGov Poll – UKIP F… steve foley on Reflections on the Electi… Richard Willis on Reflections on the Electi… steve foley on Labour Splits Causes Loss of H… Steve Foley on Reflections on the Electi…
Tell me – why do English politicians always want to change the flags of the constituent nations of the UK?
Why?
Has anyone asked you specifically to raise this?
Is this just your idea of imposing something on some other group of people?
You know what I think? I think Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland people are thrilled to bits that you have the flag of St. George and long may you have it.
Here’s the deal, in return, you enjoy your flag and you leave our well alone. OK?
We are not interest in changing our flags and if any of us did, we have mechanisms in place to institute such change – change that will having nothing to do with England at all.
So, stop busy-bodying and leave us alone!
S.Clark
S Clark – perhaps you could point me to the official flag of Northern Ireland then? There isn’t one. There are unofficial flags used by the different communities, each of which is unacceptable to the other. If the peace process is to mean anything I think it would be good to attempt to find a flag that can be acceptable to both communities.
I raise issues that I find interesting and I give my thoughts on them. That is what most blogs are about. It is called debate in a democracy.
Richard, Would it be such a silly suggestion to make, that you start moves to make the current flag of Northern Ireland official?
How about that?
Just because some people don’t like it, doesn’t mean that it should be changed.
There are plenty of things that i don’t like about the way our country is governed, however i have to live with it.
For instance, the name, uniform, badge of the Gallant Royal Ulster Constabulary were changed to appease the very people who tried to murder them (aswell as the then Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher)…every symbol of Unionism was omitted from the new PSNI badge, except for a pitiful (almost comical) cartoon-like crown,…the Queen’s crown was treated with great disrespect!!
Recruitment for the PSNI is now 50% Roman Catholic and 50% Non Roman Catholic, which means that if 10% is “other” then the majority Protestant community is being discriminated against to again, appease the minority.
Is our Government’s way of ‘non discrimination’ to discriminate against the majority?
Every single change that has been made in the past 10-15 years has eradicated all which we hold dear.
Even the Red hand (a symbol which is acceptable to both communities) was removed from the Northern Ireland tourist board sign, because a minority didn’t like it.
The coat of arms has also been removed from all Government buildings for the same reason.
Where are you going to stop?
Many good men and women, will be turning in their graves at your suggestions.
Shame on you!
A bold proposal but . . . . (there’s always a but!)
Republican/Nationalists will never accept that Ulster is part of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But they are happy to accept the benefits not available in Eire!
The majority of people I know are happy with the current unofficial flag; St George’s Cross with the Red Hand in the centre – the official flag of Northern Ireland is presently the Union Flag http://flagspot.net/flags/gb-ni.html
Richard,
A better thing to campaign for would be an ‘English’ national anthem! Used when we take part in organised sport such as the 6 nations or commonwealth games as ‘England’ rather than GB.
Any suggestions?
Perhaps The UK should have created a new flag to appease Nazi Germany and appeal to both German and British ‘communities’? As a ‘Conservative’ Richard, you seem more Neville Chamberlain than Bonar Law, but then that probably explains The Conservative party’s approach to dealing with The Republican enemy during the Ulster conflict. Ulster (or British Ulster, if you prefer) has a flag – it’s the one which was draped across quite a few Loyalist coffins down the years before the boxes were buried – what about making that Ulster’s official flag?
Watcher – there is a difference between an external enemy seeking to destroy our way of life and a section of our own citizens who have a different view. I think you make a fundamental error in conflating Republican terrorists with the vast bulk of Nationalist inclined Northern Ireland citizens.
Surely it is in all our interests to find a way forward that takes the overwhelming majority of decent people of all beliefs and backgrounds with us. Only that way will Northern Ireland’s future in the United Kingdom be secured.
Waving a flag that is seen as sectarian will only enflame the passions that we hoped we had calmed.
Mark – another issue but one worth addressing!
MR Willis:
I suggest using the pre-partition Green Ensign except changing the Union Jack for the non-controversial St Patrick’s Saltire.
An interesting suggestion Shane.
The issue with republicans is they don’t recognize the legitimacy of Northern Ireland in the first place. For this reason, they will never support any flag. The real question is if Ireland was united would the Union Jack change?
A couple of my designs:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_northern_ireland_flag.svg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Patrick%27s_Northern_Ireland_Flag_Hexagon.svg
I like the green one.
Athough the St Patrick’s Saltire/Cross is of dubious historical precedence as a flag of Ireland prior to 1800 or so, it has been used as a “sort of” neutral flag in more recent times and is on the badge of the PSNI I note.
The addition of the red hand in the middle would have to carefully considered. Any 6 pattern (star or hexagon) would assume the legitimacy of the six counties as a unit. Why not have the red hand inside the sheld as below as on the nine counties Ulsterflag? This flag only needs to be an acceptable flag for NI Football and the Commonwealth games team at the minimum and I think is more inclusive of all concerned. It is on page 2 of FB’s newniflag page posted here.
The six counties IS a legitimate unit – that is what is agreed democratically, and if we want continued peace the reality must be acknowledged.
Also a shield is a symbol of war. (back in the day they’d bludgeon you to death with a shield if you weren’t careful!) The hexagon is already used all over Northern Ireland – from the official logos of all local government department, to the Tourist Board and even Lidl! It also can be seen to represent the Giant’s Causeway.
I am a member of the Northern Ireland Conservatives and stood in the 2007 Assembly Elections here for the party. Your proposal to give Northern Ireland an official flag has my full support. I favour the white design posted by Palo from web page below. Though I would replace the hexagon with the six pointed white star currently found on the Ulster Banner.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Patrick%27s_Northern_Ireland_Flag_Hexagon.svg
@ Stephen O’Brien,
The hexagon was to give some association with the Giant’s Causeway. It also was to prevent people from confusing the star with the Star of David. It still has 6 sides for 6 counties. The hexagon was also chosen to be similar to the logo used by the Northern Ireland tourist board at http://discovernorthernireland.com . A hexagon is also used as a symbol for many Northern Irish government departments and sites such as http://www.tasteofulster.org/ .
I am in full agreement with Northern Ireland having it’s own Flag/ Standard.
I would favour the cross of St Patrick with the red hand of Ulster in the middle
The Cross of St Patrick was the flag used by Ireland when it was united under England.
The Red hand of Ulster has allways been used as representing Northern Ireland.
This new combination would enable both communities to be represented on our new Standard.
Carring on from a new Standard and in acordance with the Peace Process we in Northern Ireland should consider being compleatly independant from both Great Britian and Eire.
This could be achieved because our politicians have proved that they can work together. I would welcome any comments on this.
Northern Ireland already has its own flag. It is a yellow background with a red cross and guess what in the middle is the Red Hand.
This is the original flag of the kingdom of Ulster. Both sides in Ulster seem to forget this.
I prefer the St Patrick’s Cross/Red Hand with the star. The hexagon just doesn’t look as “flag-like” as a star.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Patrick's_flag_for_Northern_Ireland.svg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Patrick's_flag_for_Northern_Ireland.svg
Maybe that’s better?
Or not, sorry.
I agree we need a new Northern Ireland flag so we can cheer on our N.I. sports teams without feeling like a loyalist bigot
Richard, the whole “official” vs “unofficial” issue is a red herring started by someone on Wikipedia. For example, before Scotland or Wales had their own assemblies there was no “official” flag of Scotland or Wales, but that did not mean that there was no Scotland or Wales flag! There is no British written constitution therefore the word “official” is usually meaningless in British contexts. In British tradition things usually gain a “de facto” status. For example, there is no “official” language of the UK – English is only the *de facto* language of the UK. This whole argument also applies to the England flag. Northern Ireland DOES have a flag regardless of whether the assembly uses it or not – The Ulster Flag / Ulster Banner.
However, having said all that, I do actually think that Northern Ireland could do with a flag refresh. The proposals from Palo here are excellent and either would do the job!
Beano, I think I prefer the hexagon. So many flags have stars in them – the hexagon seems more fresh, original and unique to Northern Ireland.
Hi folks,
If you’re interested in this debate, then please visit and “like” our facebook page – and share your ideas and suggestions there!
http://www.facebook.com/newniflag
Apologies – it didn’t include that link automatically…
This is the FB page I meant in my reply above. Steering clear of controversies the St Patrick’s cross on page 2 (photos) with the Red Hand in a shield is a “goer” for a good simple recognisable design IMO.
I think you’re right, Northern Ireland needs to begin to generate cross community national pride. However the former flag known as the “Ulster Banner” which is upheld by the unionist community but was scrapped as the official flag at the breakdown of the Northern Irish parliament in 1972, is not the St. Georges flag with a red hand and a crown. It is based on the provincial flag of Ulster.