The National Flag of Ireland, a tricolour of green, white and orange, is intended to symbolise the inclusion of and the aspiration for unity between people of different traditions on this island.
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 flown from 33 The Mall, Waterford on 7 March 1848 by Thomas Francis Meagher who, in April that year stated:
"The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between Orange and Green and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood."
It was flown over the GPO during the 1916 Rising and was adopted as the flag of the Irish Free State in 1922, and formally confirmed as the National Flag in the 1937 Constitution.
