Arms of Ireland - Green Flag of Ireland

Green Flag of Ireland

As well as the coat of arms, which shows the harp on an Azure (blue) field, Ireland has long been associated with a flag also bearing the harp. This flag is identical to the coat of arms but with a green field, rather than blue, and is blazoned Vert, a Harp Or, stringed Argent (a gold harp with silver strings on a green field).

The earliest-known record of the green flag is attributed to Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill, a 17th century exile and soldier in the Irish brigade of the Spanish army. His ship, the St. Francis, is recorded as flying from her mast top "the Irish harp in a green field, in a flag" as she lay at anchor at Dunkirk en route to Ireland. Ó Néill was returning to Ireland in order to participate in the Irish Confederate Wars (1641—1653), during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (a series of civil wars engulfing England, Ireland and Scotland), where he would contribute as a leading general. Variants of the green flag were flown by United Irishmen during the 1798 Rebellion and by the Irish émigré in foreign armys, such as the Irish Brigade of the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and Saint Patrick's Battalion in the Mexican Army during the Mexican-American War (1846–1848).

Although the Kingdom of Ireland never had an official flag, this flag is recorded as the flag of Ireland by 18th and 19th century sources. It was used as a naval jack and as the basis for the unofficial green ensign of Ireland, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries. The flag is identical to the arms of the province of Leinster. It is believed that the Leinster arms are derrived from it, rather than the other way around.