.
A Chairde,
The 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Ireland and the State’s departure from the then British Commonwealth of Nations in April 1949 went unmarked by any official ceremony earlier this year.
However, despite all the new arrangements brought about by the 1998 Belfast Agreements that utterly transformed the often fractious relationship between the peoples and nations of this archipelago, it appears that some unfinished heraldic business remains.
Although this transformation has been very positive and indeed, excellent political relations now exist between the sovereign governments in London and Dublin, and on the island of Ireland, the enormous problems caused by political symbolism and official nomenclature in the past must be fully appreciated by all concerned.
For example, royal, civic or official heraldic symbolism is generally reflective of a claimed position of governance, sovereignty or territorial integrity. Therefore, in Northern Ireland a great deal of effort and thought has successfully created a shared or neutral symbolism for the insignia of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The political focus over the past two decades has been on the resolution of the northern conflict and rightly so, including the ending of the Republic’s territorial claim over the North. Only now in these more enlightened times can some attention be paid to the unresolved heraldic matter between London and Dublin.
Independent Ireland adopted the ancient heraldic symbol of Ireland—Azure a Harp Or Stringed Argent and indeed, just over two decades later in 1945 it was registered with the Chief Herald of Ireland as the Arms of Ireland.
The [British] Royal Arms remained unchanged after Irish independence in 1922 as the King remained constitutionally Ireland’s head of state until 1949, however, without any domestic function in Éire after 1936. A point which has cast some doubt over the legality of the functions of Ulster King of Arms between 1936 and 1943.
However, a provision of the Ireland Act, 1949 enacted by the UK Parliament has not been given heraldic expression even after sixty years. Section 1 (1) of that Act states ‘It is hereby recognised and declared that the part of Ireland heretofore known as Eire ceased, as from the eighteenth day of April, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, to be part of His Majesty’s dominions.’
But the [British] Royal Arms still contain the Harp representing dominion or sovereignty over the island of Ireland. A cynic might suggest that such heraldic tardiness smacks of irredentism, however, with the devolution of powers to Stormont almost complete, maybe the time is right to replace the Harp with the above agreed symbol of the Northern Ireland Assembly—a flax plant with six flowers representing the six counties of Northern Ireland.
There are, of course, legislative, historic, political and heraldic precedents for such a change in the [British] Royal Arms with the dropping of the claim to the sovereignty over France in 1801 and the removal of the Arms of France, and the removal of the Arms of Kingdom of Hanover in 1837.
A good neighbourly gesture now by the UK perhaps?
Michael Merrigan, MA, FGSI
The 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Ireland and the State’s departure from the then British Commonwealth of Nations in April 1949 went unmarked by any official ceremony earlier this year.
However, despite all the new arrangements brought about by the 1998 Belfast Agreements that utterly transformed the often fractious relationship between the peoples and nations of this archipelago, it appears that some unfinished heraldic business remains.
Although this transformation has been very positive and indeed, excellent political relations now exist between the sovereign governments in London and Dublin, and on the island of Ireland, the enormous problems caused by political symbolism and official nomenclature in the past must be fully appreciated by all concerned.
For example, royal, civic or official heraldic symbolism is generally reflective of a claimed position of governance, sovereignty or territorial integrity. Therefore, in Northern Ireland a great deal of effort and thought has successfully created a shared or neutral symbolism for the insignia of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The political focus over the past two decades has been on the resolution of the northern conflict and rightly so, including the ending of the Republic’s territorial claim over the North. Only now in these more enlightened times can some attention be paid to the unresolved heraldic matter between London and Dublin.
Independent Ireland adopted the ancient heraldic symbol of Ireland—Azure a Harp Or Stringed Argent and indeed, just over two decades later in 1945 it was registered with the Chief Herald of Ireland as the Arms of Ireland.
The [British] Royal Arms remained unchanged after Irish independence in 1922 as the King remained constitutionally Ireland’s head of state until 1949, however, without any domestic function in Éire after 1936. A point which has cast some doubt over the legality of the functions of Ulster King of Arms between 1936 and 1943.
However, a provision of the Ireland Act, 1949 enacted by the UK Parliament has not been given heraldic expression even after sixty years. Section 1 (1) of that Act states ‘It is hereby recognised and declared that the part of Ireland heretofore known as Eire ceased, as from the eighteenth day of April, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, to be part of His Majesty’s dominions.’
But the [British] Royal Arms still contain the Harp representing dominion or sovereignty over the island of Ireland. A cynic might suggest that such heraldic tardiness smacks of irredentism, however, with the devolution of powers to Stormont almost complete, maybe the time is right to replace the Harp with the above agreed symbol of the Northern Ireland Assembly—a flax plant with six flowers representing the six counties of Northern Ireland.
There are, of course, legislative, historic, political and heraldic precedents for such a change in the [British] Royal Arms with the dropping of the claim to the sovereignty over France in 1801 and the removal of the Arms of France, and the removal of the Arms of Kingdom of Hanover in 1837.
A good neighbourly gesture now by the UK perhaps?
Michael Merrigan, MA, FGSI
