THE IRISH TRICOLOUR is to be raised in a military flag raising ceremony in Waterford today, at the same spot where it was first unveiled 165 years ago.
This year will mark the third year of the The 1848 Tricolour celebration, which commemorates the first time that the national flag was unveiled by Thomas Francis Meagher at 33 The Mall.
The address still exists and, in a first for the ceremony, a Meagher will be there to preside over it. California-based Gilbert Meagher, the great great grandson of the Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders, is coming to Ireland for the event.
A spokesperson from the organising committee told TheJournal.ie that today’s ceremony it part of a celebration that saw the Australian, American, and Canadian ambassadors to Ireland make the trip to the city.
Australia and America are two countries that have a history with Thomas Francis Meagher. Having being convicted of sedition (insurrection against the established order), Meagher was sentenced to a life of hardship in modern-day Tasmania.
Before long, however, he had escaped and was bound for America.
Locating living relative Gilbert Meagher came as a bolt out of the blue, and a fortuitous one at that. “It was a member of the organising committee that traced him, after realising that he too was related to him,” the spokesperson said.
In addition to the flag raising ceremony, the naval vessel LÉ Ciara will be docked in the city for the weekend, and will be open for public tours.
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