Foreign flags in Ireland

Flags of other countries are a common sight in Ireland: at embassies and consulates, at hotels and conference centres, at multinational companies with headquarters in Dublin or Cork, at sporting events and on homes with family ties abroad. There is no Irish law that restricts flying a foreign flag. The guidelines “The National Flag” of the Department of the Taoiseach describe how the tricolour and the flags of other nations are placed together.

Same size, same height

When the National Flag is flown with the flags of other nations, each flag has the same width and flies from a separate flagpole of the same height. The guidelines explain why: international protocol prohibits flying any nation’s flag higher than another in peacetime. If one flagpole happens to be higher than the rest, the National Flag is flown from that pole, and no additional National Flag can then be flown.

National flags come in different proportions. The tricolour is twice as wide as it is high, while many other flags are 3:2. Flags of the same width can therefore differ in depth. An Irish flagpole supplier notes that an oversized flag can look wrong and may cause offence to the country concerned.

The place of honour

The basic rules of Irish flag protocol also apply to foreign flags:

• no flag flies above the National Flag
• only one National Flag is displayed in each group of flags
• the National Flag is in the place of honour: first on the right of a line of flags, which is the observer’s left, or on the central staff when that staff is higher than the others

The full order of flags is explained in the guide to flag protocol.

The European Union flag

As a member of the European Union, Ireland often flies the EU flag beside the tricolour on public buildings. In a line of flags on staffs of equal height, the EU flag flies immediately to the right of the National Flag as seen by an observer. When the flags of all member states are flown, the EU flag is on the first flagstaff from the observer’s left, followed by the member states in alphabetical order of their names in their own languages, with Éire/Ireland between Eesti and Greece. An alternative order begins on the left with the National Flag and places the EU flag on the far right.

Carrying flags

In a parade, the National Flag is carried on the marching right, which is on the left of an observer towards whom the flags are approaching. With the EU flag, the EU flag is carried immediately to the right of the National Flag as seen by the observer. In a display of crossed staffs, the National Flag is to the right and to the fore, its staff in front of the others.

Half-mast and mourning

Where the National Flag is flown at half-mast, the guidelines state that no other flag is flown. On a day when State buildings lower the tricolour, the foreign flags on the same site also come down. More in the guide to half-mast.

Businesses and hotels

Hotels, conference venues and international companies often fly the flags of visiting delegations or of the countries they work with. The guidelines give the frame: separate poles of equal height, flags of equal width, and the tricolour in the place of honour when it flies in the same group. Company flags and the planning rules for business flagpoles are described in the guide to flagpoles for businesses.

Emblems of other countries

According to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Article 6ter of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property aims to protect the armorial bearings, flags and other State emblems of the states party to it, and Ireland notified its own emblems – the harp, the shamrock and the heraldic arms – under it in 1985. The rule concerns trade marks and use in business, not flying a flag on a flagpole.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, and flags on government buildings there follow UK rules. They are covered in the guides to the United Kingdom. The flag days in Ireland are listed in the guide to flag days.