The Irish tricolour was raised for the first time in Waterford.
In 1848 at number 33, The Mall, Waterford, the green, white and orange flag was raised for the first time.
Mayor of Waterford Sylvester Phelan sent intelligence reports to Dublin Castle stating that the tricolour had been hoisted for the very first time.
Thomas Francis Meagher, a Waterford man, had the honour of raising the flag. 1848 was the year when the Young Irelander Movement preached revolution in response to events in Ireland and uprisings across Europe. The movement took a lead from the French who had raised their tricolour just a few weeks earlier. The Young Irelander Movement tried to practice the philosophy of a unity of all creeds.
Historian Dermot Power says The Young Irelanders had a message of,
A lasting peace and brotherhood between orange and green, Catholic and Protestant.
The Young Irelanders were led by a protestant gentleman William Smith O'Brien. While the most militant of their members was John Mitchell, the son of a Unitarian minister. Thomas Francis Meagher, known as Meagher of the Sword because of his fiery speeches, was a staunch Roman Catholic.
People in Enniscorthy, County Wexford also say that the tricolour was raised in their town on 7 March 1848.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 6 March 1998. The reporter is Damien Tiernan.
