Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for her work in this regard. She is correct. I was working with the Taoiseach’s Department in the lead-up to 2016 commemorations. One of the issues that kept coming up was the issue of the flag flying overnight. Protocol comes from precedent, as we know. The precedent in relation to the flying of the national flag comes from Thomas Francis Meagher flying it for the first time on 7 March 1848, where it flew continuously, day and night. We know this from the records of Dublin Castle. It was flown continuously until it was removed by the authorities.

The second recording of it flying was in 1916, and the Senator can imagine that it was not taken down each night during the 1916 Rising because going onto the roof of the GPO would have been a life-shortening exercise. Again, that was one of the precedents that helped create a new protocol which, as the Senator outlined, has been adopted by the Taoiseach’s Department regarding flying the national flag by day and by night, following the precedent that was set by Thomas Francis Meagher, but also the during the 1916 Rising, where it can be flown at night where it is illuminated, preferably by spotlight, but not necessarily so. Street lighting will do. I hope Dublin City Council will respond favourably. I will engage with it on the Senator’s behalf on that matter.

The Senator said it is a small issue, but the national flag is flown every morning on the lawn of Leinster House, along with the Ukrainian flag.There are parts of Ukraine that can no longer fly their own flag, as Senator Ahearn and others know. Flying our national flag should be something we never take for granted. I call on Senator Carrigy.