Cost of a United Ireland and the GFA

No idea what you are on about now

NI is basically the residue of Ireland that joined in the act of union 1800 so is represented by St. Patricks cross. That is what is superimposed onto the union jack along with St George's cross for England and St. Andrew's cross for Scotland.

There was no new act of union in 1921. The name Ireland was replaced by Northern Ireland in 1921 and that was about it. Alot of unionists then wanted the name Ireland to remain for what we call NI now and for the south to find a different name anyway. If that had happened i dont think there would have been any confusion about what the flag is that represents the jurisdiction.

@downcow If there is a referendum and the result is in favour of a United Ireland, then this would be the flag.

The DUP has democratic in the name. This is how that democracy works. The tricolour represents the green and orange traditions coming together. The unionists seem to be having a meltdown about their future. I don’t think they have anything to fear. They won’t be disenfranchised or made second class citizens.

Sorry. Mistaken identity

The flag of the former kingdom of Ireland — the one that merged into the UK in 1801 — was a gold harp on a blue field. There was often a crown superimposed on the the harp but there was no official warrant for that.

That didn't really fit into the union flag, so instead they added a red saltire, which fitted much better. That had never been the national flag but it did have some established Ireland-related use, e.g. in the badge used by the Order of St. Patrick.

People in the UK nowadays are used to seeing the English and Scottish flags, but in the nineteenth and for much of the twentieth century they were rarely or never seen in the wild; their use was entirely supplanted by the union flag. The same was true in Ireland; the harp-on-a-blue-field disappeared more or less completely. But other suggested national flags were proposed and were flown, mainly by nationalist separatists of one flavour or another. The tricolour, as we know, dates from the 1840s. The Fenians used several flags, but mainly a gold harp on a green field. The tricolour didn't become the dominant flag used by nationalists until 1916 and beyond.

The tricolour was of course adopted by the Iish Free State. North of the Border, Stormont adopted a flag as the flag of the government of Northern Ireland, but did not adopt a flag for NI itself — I think they saw no need since there was at the time no practice of using flags for the different parts of the UK.

I don't think it's right to say that, in 1922, they wanted NI to be called "Ireland" — that would have been too obviously silly. They were happy with "Northern Ireland", and they continued to use "Southern Ireland", the name which had been proposed for the 26 counties when it was proposed that it, too should remain part of the UK, but with home rule.

In 1922 the 26 counties became the "Irish Free State", and then "Eire"/"Ireland" in 1936. When the Republic of Ireland Act 1949 was passed, declaring Ireland to be a republic, there was a suggestion in Stormont that NI should become "Ulster", but the government in Westminster squashed that idea fairly quickly.

Out of curiosity, should Unification occur would you object to the gold harp on a blue field being (re)adopted as the flag of this island?

I do understand that many from your community wouldn't feel comfortable with a tricolour regardless of the original intent of the flag. I'm not particularly wedded to specific flags or anthems, though I'm sure that some ideas exist that I would object to also.

dont be getting carried away, it’s not happening, but if you want to dream :)

There is an option for any other, which would include Irish.

Wanting to be in the EU does not equate to wanting a united Ireland.

Ah now, let's not play silly buggers. There's not a hope in hell that you actually believe that is how the average person would read that question.

I don't think wanting to be in the EU directly correlates with wanting Unification. It does however create a new demographic who didn't exist pre-Brexit; those who were content with the status quo but who value EU membership over being part of the UK. How large or small that demographic is, I have no idea.

My key takeaway was that the figures presented were about as much use as chocolate teapot with regards to the discussion around Unification, and attempting to interpret them to imply support either way is f*cking stupid.

They the bottom two are a bit. I think the top one looks well but I’d like blue in a flag.

I think if we're moving away from a tricolour, moving towards a Union flag inspired design is unlikely to be the compromise we land on.

I'd prefer that we ended up with symbolism that is shared by all, hence my question about the harp on a blue field; I haven't met anyone who would have the same reaction to it as you would to a Tricolour or I would to a Union flag.

I agree with your last paragraph. It was another poster who was drawing attention to the low number for British affiliation as some sign of a boost for unification. A very silly notion.

If anything, those findings boost my analysis of a group in the middle, knowing they are Northern Irish, knowing that they are modern and European, and not finding any home in the sectarian nonsense of either of the two main parties.

Lighten up. Not at all what I said. I said I would like green and blue as the main colours on a flag. I simply cut and pasted a few blue a green union flags that were on the internet. No I didn’t really like them. Nor do I like anything that harks back to ancient Ireland. Let’s look forward not back.

Jamie's buddies on the sniff.

So the default flag for a United ireland is clearly the st Patrick’s cross. Makes you wonder why some think it’s a good idea to use the tricolour at all-island sports and events. I think you are saying it was never the official flag of 32 county ireland?