Taoiseach: 'Offensive and just wrong' that anyone would use Irish flag as instrument of exclusion

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said diversity is at the core of Ireland’s national flag and it is “offensive and just wrong” that anyone would use it as an instrument of exclusion.

Mr Martin was speaking to The Echo yesterday, following his remarks at the annual Fianna Fáil Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown in Co Kildare, in which he had said those who claim to solely represent Irishness dishonour our national flag.

“If you use our flag to try and claim that there is a fixed national identity, it shows that you do not understand our history and you do not understand that our identity has survived because we have been willing to evolve and be more inclusive,” he had told the gathering on Sunday.

In recent months, right-wing activists have erected flags in prominent areas across the country, in apparent imitation of a campaign by British nationalists who have flown the Union Flag and the flag of St George in an attempt to intimidate immigrants.

Mr Martin said that Ireland’s national flag belongs to every Irish citizen, should be respected, and should never be attached to any particular political perspective.

“The flag must always be treated with dignity, the flag speaks about the unity of the Green and Orange tradition in Ireland, and the idea of diversity was core to it and to the philosophy that led to that flag becoming the Irish flag,” he said.

“It is offensive and just wrong to use the flag as an instrument of exclusion.” 

He added that he has met several people who are Irish but whose parents were not from Ireland, and “they sense that some of the comments about ‘Ireland for the Irish’ and flags is meant to exclude them”.

“But also, the idea of the national flag was that it would be hung on special State occasions, special moments, particularly with the military, with public buildings, City Hall, Government Buildings,” Mr Martin said.

“The original concept of the flag was never that it would be on every single flagpole or pole, and I think we must continue to respect our flag, which is belonging to the nation.”