The green pale of the flag symbolizes Roman Catholics, the orange represents the minority Protestants who were supporters of William of orange. His title came from the Principality of orange, but his power from his leadership as Stadtholder of the Netherlands, a Protestant bastion from the 16th century. The white in the centre signifies a lasting peace and hope for union between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. The flag, as a whole, is intended to symbolize the inclusion and hoped for union of the people of different traditions on the island of Ireland, which is expressed in the Constitution as the entitlement of every person born in Ireland to be part of the independent Irish nation, regardless of ethnic origin, religion or political conviction.(Green was also used as the colour of such Irish bodies as the mainly Protestant and nonsectarian Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick, established in 1751.)

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