![\"Irish](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/taoiseach-rebukes-dishonour-of-irish-flag-by-using-it-to-divide-or-exclude.jpg\")
Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\nThe Taoiseach has criticised those who \u201cdishonour\u201d the Irish flag by \u201cusing it to divide or exclude\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking during a commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising, which contributed to Ireland becoming an independent state in 1922, Miche\u00e1l Martin said it was a tragedy that a \u201cnumber of groups\u201d disrespected the tricolour.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach told the Arbour Hill commemoration, organised by his Fianna F\u00e1il party, that the Proclamation read at the start of the Rising \u201cpromotes equality\u201d.<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe men and women who led the Rising were deeply modern and outward looking \u2013 even in their cultural nationalism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had experience of different parts of Europe and the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey respected other cultures and they sought out ideas for the Ireland they hoped to bring about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin went on: \u201cThe Proclamation expresses an open sense of Irishness.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt promotes equality. It seeks friendship between nations, and it rejects the idea that the end justifies the means.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough closely identified with the revival of Gaelic culture, the drafters of the Proclamation made it very clear that Irishness had to include different traditions.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey used the tricolour as our national flag specifically because they rejected the idea of it belonging to one group in Irish society.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor them, it was and should always be a profound symbol of inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin claims some groups treat the Irish flag as a \u201cweapon\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a tragedy that over recent years a number of groups have sought to disrespect the tricolour by making it a symbol of division and exclusion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGroups, often from radically different ideologies, have regularly treated it as a weapon to assert their superiority or their claim to be more Irish or more republican than others.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone who truly believes in the message of the Proclamation and the ideals of the men and women of 1916 should reject this abuse of our shared national flag.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing our flag to promote aggressive and exclusionary views is wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t understand that the flag belongs to everyone, including people you disagree with, then you don\u2019t understand the most basic things about what our flag stands for.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou also dishonour the people who made it the uniting symbol of a rising Irish people.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever forget that the Proclamation directly demanded that all who serve the Republic would do so with honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cSectarianism and division were seen as a threat to be confronted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Taoiseach has criticised those who \u201cdishonour\u201d the Irish flag by \u201cusing it to divide or exclude\u201d. Speaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-406726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}