The map (click to enlarge) shows the current state of the Gaeltachtaí (all-Irish speaking areas) in our country.

The ‘green’ areas will become even smaller if the current report into where Irish is and isn’t being spoken isn’t acted upon.

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It amazes me how little we know about our national flag.

Some facts about our national flag:

• Our flag is a tricolour of green, white and orange
• It’s twice as wide as it is high
• The three colours are of equal size and the green goes next to the flagstaff
• The flag was first introduced by Thomas Francis Meagher in 1848
• He based it on the French tricolour
• The green colour stands for the older Gaelic tradition and the orange stands for the supporters of William of Orange
• The white in the centre stands for a lasting truce between the ‘Orange’ and the ‘Green’
• It was raised above the General Post Office in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916
• The tricolour became our national flag after the Rising
• It is now enshrined in the Constitution of Ireland