There was something quite emotional about the raising of the Tricolour on the Mall in Waterford City on Sunday afternoon last to commemorate its first public unveiling in 1848. It was out of a second floor window at 33 The Mall that Thomas Francis Meagher showed it to the assembled crowd on March 7th and John Mitchell proposed that one day this would be our national banner. While Thomas Francis Meagher had grown up at 19 The Mall, number 33 was the Wolfetone Confederate Club at the time. The Tricolour was also raised over the GPO in 1916 but it wasn’t officially adopted as the Irish flag until 1937.
On Sunday there was a distinct feeling of pride and maybe even a realisation of the importance attached to it.