Portlaoise Prison to mark 175th anniversary of the Tricolour

The Irish Prison Service and Irish Defence Forces are holding special events in Portlaoise to mark the 175th anniversary of the first raising of the Irish Tricolour in Co Waterford. 

The Tricolour, which was first raised on March 7, 1848 in Waterford, was designed to represent all of the people of Ireland. 

“The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the orange and the green, and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood,"  its designer Thomas Francis Meagher famously said. 

Now staff at Portlaoise Prison will commemorate the event with two ceremonies in the prison today. 

The first event today will see the Tricolour raised by members of the Portlaoise Prison Guard of Honour and simultaneously, the military detachment at Portlaoise Prison will raise the Tricolour from the roof of the prison at 2.30pm.

A second event will take place at the front of the prison at 7.30pm this evening. Members of the Local Portlaoise Scout Unit will present the Tricolour and help raise the flag at the main gate area with the assistance of the Prison Guard of Honour.

Both flagpoles have been specially fitted with lighting for the occasion to signify and acknowledge that the Tricolour first flew both day and night not alone in Waterford in 1848 but also at the GPO in 1916.

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Both flags will fly illuminated over the Prison and at the main gate area from this evening  until St. Patrick's Day. 

It’s hoped the event will become an annual tradition at Portlaoise Prison