Sir, - I am not an expert on flags, but have a general interest in this topic and would like to pose the question: should we have a new national flag for this State?
Before the adoption of the tricolour, the generally accepted flag of Ireland among nationalists, regardless of their religion or ethnic origin, was the green flag with a gold harp in the centre. The late Professor Gerard Hayes-McCoy, who wrote a book on Irish flags, considered this to be the most beautiful and distinctive of the various flags this country has had down the centuries, an opinion with which I agree. Surely the abandonment of such a distinctive national banner in the years following 1916, while to some extent understandable in the light of the circumstances of the time, was regrettable?
On both aesthetic and political grounds, I think the green flag would make a most suitable flag for modern Ireland. It is in no way sectarian, as I believe any study of history will show, and is as unique in its own way as, for instance, the flags of Israel, Canada and Japan. - Yours, etc.,
Castletown, Athboy, Co Meath.