Where was the Irish tricolour first flown?
Thomas Francis Meagher first flew it at 33 The Mall in Waterford on 7 March 1848, according to the Department of the Taoiseach.
Flag of Ireland
Ireland’s green, white and orange tricolour has a place in the Constitution. Official guidance sets out its proportions and traces its journey from Waterford in 1848 to national status.
Current flag
Flag emoji 🇮🇪
Ireland
Flag facts
Information about the flag’s design, colours and proportions.
- Proportion
- 1:2 height: width
Flag design
Three equal-width vertical bands.
- Layout
- Vertical bands
- Number of bands
- 3
- Details
- Equal-width bands
- Colours
- Green, white, and orange
Sources
- Proportion: Department of the Taoiseach – The National Flag
Flag comparisons
Green, white and orange: Ireland’s tricolour
Ireland’s flag has equal vertical bands of green, white and orange, with green at the hoist. The official explanation describes the white as a lasting truce and a union of people from different traditions on the island.
Green is commonly associated with the Irish nationalist tradition and orange with the Protestant community linked historically with William of Orange. These associations explain the design’s intended bridge between traditions; they do not mean that every person in either community is represented by a single colour.
What Ireland’s Constitution says
Article 7 of the Constitution identifies Ireland’s national flag as the tricolour of green, white and orange. It gives the colours in their official order, while the government’s flag guidance provides the practical description of the design.
The Department of the Taoiseach says the flag is intended to express inclusion and the aspiration for unity between people of different traditions on the island. That is the government’s stated interpretation of the flag’s message.
Three equal bands in a 2:1 flag
The official guidance describes a flag twice as wide as it is high, divided into three vertical bands of equal size. The green band belongs next to the flagstaff, followed by white and then orange.
This order matters when the flag is raised: the green stripe is at the hoist, not the orange one. The official description specifies the layout and proportions without prescribing a particular shade for each colour.
From Waterford to national flag
Thomas Francis Meagher first flew the tricolour at 33 The Mall in Waterford on 7 March 1848. It was later flown over Dublin’s General Post Office during the 1916 Rising.
The Irish Free State adopted it as its flag in 1922. Article 7 of the 1937 Constitution then formally confirmed the green, white and orange tricolour as Ireland’s national flag.
Frequently asked questions
What are the proportions of Ireland’s flag?
The official guidance says the flag is twice as wide as it is high, with three vertical bands of equal size.
When was the tricolour confirmed as Ireland’s national flag?
It was adopted as the flag of the Irish Free State in 1922 and formally confirmed as the national flag in the 1937 Constitution.
Sources
Country facts
- Type
- Country
- Name
- Ireland
- Continent
- Europe
- Capital
- Dublin
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
- IE
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
- IRL
- ISO 3166-1 numeric
- 372
- Top-level domain
- .ie
- Area
- 70,280 km²
- Population
- 5,484,367 (2025)
- Currency
- EUR
- Calling code
- +353
Flags with a similar layout
These flags come from the same region and share one or more design characteristics.
Historical flags: Ireland (1542–)
Images are ordered by the years listed in the collection. A listed year may not be the flag’s official adoption year.
About historical flags
Vexilla's historical flag collection includes former flags associated with present-day countries and territories, as well as flags of states, empires, and other authorities that historically governed them.
A flag's inclusion in a country's historical collection does not necessarily mean that the country was independent at the time or that the flag was its own national flag.
The years shown are based on historical records in the dataset and do not always indicate the date of official adoption. The collection is not exhaustive, and historical usage, territorial coverage, and interpretations may vary.
Neighbouring countries and their flags
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