Rarely has a flag possessed such lasting relevance as that of the “Tricolor,” the national flag of the Republic of Ireland. Its three equal stripes illustrate the Irish political landscape as accurately today as in 1848, the year when the flag was first unfurled.

- orange – standing for Irish Protestants.

- green – signifying Irish Catholics and the Republican cuase

- white – representing the hope for peace between them

 Why Orange？

  The color orange is associated with Northern Irish Protestants because of William of Orange (William III), the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland who in 1690 defeated the deposed King James II, a Roman Catholic, in the fatefull Battle of the Boyne near Dublin. William III’s victory secured Protestant dominance over the island, to the enormous benefit of the 17th-century colonizers of Northern Ireland – the English (mainly Anglicans) and Scots(mostly Presbyterians). Sometimes called “Orangemen,” Protestants in Northern Ireland celebrate the anniversary of the batter each July 12th.

 Green for the Emerald Isle?

Green as the color standing for the Irish Catholic nationlists of the south may have something to do with shamrocks and verdant landscapes, but more importantly, green symbolizes revolution. An earlier unofficial Irish flag – the gold harp on a green background – served from 1798 until the early twentieth century as a symbol of nationalism.