In late September, a notorious far-right agitator shared a video of Cork Street in Dublin city centre showing newly erected Irish Tricolours fluttering on almost every lamp-post.
“That’s Cork Street done now. All the way down, we went,” the video’s narrator can be heard saying.
As of this week, only nine Tricolours remain on the 800m thoroughfare, not including the one flying from the flagpole outside St Brigid’s primary school.
Some of those that remain are in poor condition, hanging from a single cable tie or wrapped, soaking wet, around lamp-posts.
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It is a similar story in areas of Rialto, not far from Cork Street, and Clondalkin in west Dublin. Flags that appeared overnight during the summer recently disappeared just as suddenly.
The removal of the Tricolours on Cork Street was carried out last week by a team of antiracism activists who dressed up as council workers to avoid unwanted attention. They even carried a tripod of the type often used by workers engaged in surveying work.
The secretive collective is part of an increasing number of groups and individuals working around the country to remove Irish flags erected by anti-immigration campaigners or erect other symbols intended to spread a more inclusive message.
In some areas, this activity has led to tit-for-tat battles with far-right activists. In Clondalkin last month, a Tricolour was removed from a lamp-post and replaced with a Pride flag. This was then removed and replaced with a new Tricolour, according to videos shared on social media.
Irish flags began appearing on lamp-posts in large numbers in Dublin around mid-August, with the trend soon spreading around the country.
Several Irish far-right groups and individuals claim to have started it. It appears to be modelled on the Raise The Colours campaign, spearheaded by British far-right activist Tommy Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) in which the union flag and St George’s Cross flags were erected on lamp-posts throughout England.
Both the Irish and UK campaigns claim the flags represent patriotism and pride. Opponents say the erection of the Tricolour on lamp-posts disrespects the flag and is designed to send a message to immigrants that they are not welcome.
In some ways this is nothing new. Despite its inclusive symbolism, groups have fought over the Tricolour’s meaning since the foundation of the State.
“Take it down from the mast, Irish traitors / ‘Tis the flag we republicans claim,” goes an anti-treaty song written in 1923. “It can never be owned by Free Staters / Who shed nothing upon it but shame.”
During the Troubles, the use of the flag by the IRA drew frequent criticism from officials in Dublin. At the same time, there was sometimes a reluctance to fly the flag in the South, lest it be mistaken for support for the Provisionals.
Today, the division over the flag is centred on immigration, not partition.
Authorities, including Dublin City Council (DCC), have been unsure how to act. Removing the flags would hand the far right a propaganda victory and may also endanger council workers. Leaving them up would be ignoring a blatant breach of planning laws. Official permission is needed to erect anything on a public lamp-post.
“You can’t just erect a flag on every lamp-post or pole,” Minister of Justice Jim O’Callaghan said in September, while conceding a need “to be sensitive about how we deal with it”.
Officials in DCC recently met senior gardaí to discuss what approach it should take. It has decided that removal of the flags at this time “would be counterproductive”, a spokeswoman told The Irish Times this week.
Instead, the council intends to take a “positive and proactive approach” that will celebrate the “collective sense of belonging to this city”.
It will work with local communities to “promote a deeper understanding of the Irish flag – its history, its meaning and its enduring message of inclusion, equality and respect”.
However, flags that pose a safety risk will be removed during the normal course of council operations.
“Dublin is a city for everyone – a city where community, respect and belonging remain at the heart of all we do,” the spokeswoman said.
The lack of action by authorities is the main motivating factor for antiracism activists removing the flags.
“We want the council to do it instead of us risking our necks,” said one campaigner involved in the removal of flags in south Dublin.
“They’re sending a message to the far right that their views are normal and fine. And they’re sending a message to immigrants that they are not welcome.”
Another activist, who asked to go by the initials JB due to safety concerns, has formed an ad-hoc group called Dublin Community Standing Together.
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The group does not remove Tricolours, he said. It complements them with other flags, such as Brazilian, Indian and Ukrainian ones, designed to make immigrants feel welcome.
The goal is to “neutralise” the anti-immigrant message and “link the Tricolour with its traditional meaning of inclusion and tolerance”, JB said.
These flags are often removed after a few days but during that time images of them are widely shared on social media, he said.
“That perhaps offers some relief for those who need it most,” said JB.
JB says most Tricolours in south Dublin are being hung by a small number of organised groups rather than coming organically from local communities. In particular, he cites far-right activist Paul Nolan, who has posted multiple videos of Tricolours being erected around Dublin.
Earlier this month Nolan, who has 47 convictions, including for public order and drug offences, posted a video of a Pride flag being taken down from a post in Longford and set alight. “RIP these paedophile flags down and dispose of them whatever way possible,” he wrote.
In response to Nolan’s activity, JB’s group have also started painting stencils on walls reading: “No to drug dealing, hate criminal Paul Nolan from D18 raising our Tricolour on our streets.”
JB says his group has experienced an overwhelmingly positive response: “People are coming out in their pyjamas to say thank you.”
However, there have also been several occasions when videos of the group have been shared online, leading to threats on social media.
Some incidents elsewhere in Dublin have also led to physical confrontations. In Donabate, a small number of Green Party activists took down several Tricolours, leading to a confrontation with another group and a tussle over their ladder.
Given DCC’s decision to take no action over the Tricolours, these flag wars look set to continue in Dublin. So who is winning?
In some areas, the Tricolours remain ubiquitous, although many look worse for wear.
In south Dublin city, it is a “scoreless draw”, JB says, “where there are no flags of any description in the area.
“From where I live and into the city centre there were about 34 flags in a 2km stretch. Now there are about four.”
