Union Jack/Northern Irish Flag

Vexillology

The Union Flag, informally known as the Union Jack, is composed of the various flags of the regions of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). Saint George’s cross, a red cross on a white background, represents England and Wales. Saint Andrew’s cross, a white diagonal cross on a blue background, represents Scotland. Saint Patrick’s cross, a red diagonal cross on a white background and a traditional symbol for the entire Irish island, represents Northern Ireland.

The Northern Irish Flag, alternatively, has a background of the de Burgh cross, but the traditional gold coloring of the background is instead replaced with white. The use of white instead of gold makes the base of the Northern

Irish flag to appear strikingly similar to Saint George’s cross, which is closely associated with England. Additionally, in the center of the flag there is the Red Hand of Ulster, a traditional emblem for the Irish province of Ulster, with in a six-point star under the British crown. The six tips of the star represents the six counties in Northern Ireland.

1916

The Union Jack was the opposing force to the Provisional Government of the Irish Government set up during the Easter rising. The British forces flew this flag over their strongholds in Dublin including Trinity College. Eventually, after a week of fighting, the Union Jack flew victoriously over the flags of the uprising and a ruined Dublin.

File:Trinity College Dublin 2.jpg — Trinity College, Dublin

Also during this time, unionists in the north who identified more with the Union Jack than the Irish Tricolour were also gathering men under volunteer militias like the Ulster Volunteers in order to mobilize against home rule, republican forces, or in defense of the Protestants in Ulster. Ultimately, the unionism the Union Jack, and later the Northern Irish Flag stood for, became ingrained in the identity of Ulster for protection, to preserve national loyalties to Great Britain, and to validate their anti-republican ideology.

The Northern Irish Flag only became official in 1924, so it did not play a significant role in the Easter rising, but it most of the flags meaning is derived from 1916. Following the rising and resulting Irish War for Independence in the early 1920s, also known as the Anglo-Irish War, partition divided the island of Ireland into to distinct entities. Six counties in Ulster became Northern Ireland and remained under the British crown, as the flag might suggest, and the 26 remaining counties became the Republic of Ireland.

The Northern Irish flag, therefore, embodies the unionist push to remain in the British Empire following the push for Republicanism and self-determination, usually associated with the Tricolour and the Irish Republic Flag, in the Easter rising. The Northern Irish flag’s association with unionism and, by extension, Protestantism, which was the majority in the six partitioned counties, became a very politically charged emblem of unionism following partition.

Modern Day

Today, both the Union Jack and the Northern Irish flag are still closely associated with unionism and still fly from private residences and businesses in Northern Ireland. However, the Northern Irish flag was made unofficial in 1973 and is no longer used for government buildings. In fact, under the Flags Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000, no other flag than the Union Jack can be flown on government buildings at all, despite the common use among a large proportion of the people [1]. Likewise, the Union Jack was heavily limited in use on government buildings and can only be flown on 17 days out of the year.

The regulation of the government use of all types of flags, unionist or nationalist, expresses the desire for peace in Northern Ireland. Rather than flying one flag that could alienate large groups of people living in Northern Ireland, the government decided to simply stop displaying flags. Flags with such long histories of association with a particular ideology, in this case unionism, have connotations beyond just the ideals behind the flag. For instance, the Easter rising was partly fought in an attempt to expel what was believed to be an imperial force, Great Britain, and the imperialist connotations have remained. However, the Northern Irish Government, as a means for peace, decided neutrality was the best way to proceed and not have a political entity force a political ideology represented by a flag upon the people.

Though, the people are not neutral. For example, in 2012, the Belfast City Council voted to limit the number of days the Union Jack would be flown over Belfast City Hall. As one might expect, unionists were not pleased. A series of protests began urging the Belfast City Council to overturn the vote on the issue and continuously fly the Union Jack.

Events such as these elucidate the underlying loyalties that lie within the Irish people and how easily unrest can be sparked when a group of people feel their beliefs are underrepresented and not reciprocated by the government that leads them. In order to retain peace, the Northern Irish government chose impartiality as a compromise, yet dissociating from the society it governs, evidently, can cause the opposite of peace to occur, as well.