Parading the Irish flag at far-right demonstrations is “disrespecting our country,” according to a former Irish ambassador to the EU and UK.

On The Hard Shoulder today, Bobby McDonagh said those who bring the Irish flag to such protests are “not patriots” and are instead mocking the country's values.

Mr McDonagh said national flags are being used in similar ways worldwide.

“With Trump in America, the [national] flag appears at tall his rallies and people chant ‘USA, USA’ and yet he is a man who disrespects his countries courts and mocks its values,” he said.

“Similarly, Boris Johnson was a great man for the Union Jack.

“His love of the UK was so overwhelming that he flouted public health rules and lied to its parliament – Ireland is no exception to that.”

Disrespect

Mr McDonagh said those most inclined to wave the national flag in Ireland “are most inclined to disrespect it”.

“It is striking to see our flag at far-right demonstrations or at the violent riots in Dublin last November or at anti-immigrant protests," he said.

“None of these things have anything to do with a love of Ireland, a knowledge of our history, or an appreciation of our values.

“We also in our country remember the darker days, not that long ago, when the tricolour was paraded by people who refused to recognise our courts, the state, or respect our democracy or its institutions.”

An Irish Tricolour flag fluttering in the breeze. Picture by: loren file / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr McDonagh said we have fortunately moved past The Troubles and urged people to be proud of their national flag – despite perceived misuses.

“We can’t allow extremists who misuse our flag to somehow take ownership of it," he said.

“We should now hold back in any way from being proud of our flag.

“I think in terms of stopping people from using it in inappropriate circumstances – we should point out they are not patriots in any sense and hope the message gets through.”

Mr McDonagh said misusing the Irish flag will “always be around,” but that doesn’t mean we should ignore it.

You can listen back here:

Main image: Irish flags being paraded at an anti-immigration protest, 5-2-24. Image: Sasko Lazarov/© RollingNews.ie