Modern Use
While green is now the usual national colour of Ireland, St. Patrick's blue is still found in symbols of Ireland.
The coat of arms of Ireland and the Standard of the President of Ireland are a gold (or) Irish harp with silver (argent) strings on a field of blue (azure). The standard was introduced at the end of Douglas Hyde's term in 1945; contemporary news reports describe the blue as "St. Patrick's Blue". The arms were granted by the Chief Herald of Ireland on 9 November 1945. Horses owned by the Irish National Stud are regarded as owned by the President and entitled to run in the Presidential colours. The colours are "Saint Patrick's blue with gold sleeves, and a St Patrick's blue cap with gold tassel". One such horse is Suailce, which won the 2008 Irish Cesarewich.
The official sporting colours of University College Dublin are "St. Patrick's Blue and Saffron", adopted in 1910. The blue is commonly interpreted as 'light' or 'Dublin' blue; the GAA county colours of County Dublin include light blue jerseys. In the National University of Ireland's academic dress code, "Saint Patrick's Blue" is the colour of the faculty of Science; Veterinary Medicine has a darker "Celtic Blue". The academical dress of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland also features St Patrick's blue. The Trinity College Dublin fencing club specifies that the azure in its colours is "St. Patrick's Blue (Pantone 295 as the Presedential Pennant)".
Among Irish regiments of the British Army, a hackle of St. Patrick's blue is worn in the bearskins of the Irish Guards and in the caubeens of the London Irish Rifles. The Guards' blue was chosen in distinction to the Royal Irish Fusiliers' green hackle. St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin commemorates its historic association with the Order of Saint Patrick with St Patrick's blue on the cassocks of the choristers and under the clerical collars of the Dean and the Vicar.
A cross-border flag for Ireland may be required where a sporting team combines athletes from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The arms of the four provinces of Ireland on a background of Saint Patrick's blue has sometimes served this purpose.
Read more about this topic: St. Patrick's Blue
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