The “Irish Eye,” its corona set to the colors of the Irish flag, looks longingly from Ireland to the Irish Diaspora, casting its watchful gaze over Irish men and women scattered all over the world.

 

 

The national flag of Ireland (Irish: bratach na hÉireann) – frequently referred to as the Irish tricolour (trídhathach na hÉireann) – is a vertical tricolour of green (at the hoist), white, and orange. A tricolour, with three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white and orange; (the green symbolizes Nationalism, the white Peace and the orange Unionism, therefore the flag  Gaelic tradition while the orange represents the supporters of William of Orange. The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the ‘Orange’ and the ‘Green’.”

 

The flag was adopted in 1916 by the Easter Rising rebels and subsequently by the Irish Republic during the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921). Its use was continued by the Irish Free State (1922–1937) and it was later given constitutional status under the 1937 Constitution of Ireland.