Fresh Flags: Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Ireland

I was directed to this website via Facebook and thought I'd share it. Its principally concerned with a new Northern Ireland flag, but also has ideas for a new Republic of Ireland flag, and All Island flag for sporting events and cross border bodies.
The website FreshNI can be found here.
I would like to share the designs, which are interesting and generally rather good, and offer some comments.

Northern Ireland

First off is the Northern Ireland (or Ultonia from the latin for Ulster as the website thinks is a more distinct name, I will continue to use Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Ireland for the island so as not to overtly complicate things) flag proposal:

All these designs are attributed to Palomca, who is responsible for a number of NI flag designs, but
this is what he considers his best. It is rather good in that it is simple and not at all complicated, with minimal colours. The only suggestion I would make is to colour the central hexagon (a reference to both the six counties and the Giant's Causeway) possibly gold (red and gold are colours associated with the province of Ulster):

The change is minimal but it really emphasizes the central emblem better, but that is only my own personal tastes.
As well as a flag a coat of arms is also proposed:

As seen in the image its really a modified variant of the former Northern Ireland coat of arms but with the design changed on the shield, and a few other modifications. I particularly like the compartment with the arrangement of six shamrocks and six flax flowers. I like the Ulster-Scots reference in the flag staffs, something I have also alluded to in one of my NI coat of arms designs, although more directly with a St Andrew's Saltire:

too much! My design

The supporters in my design featured a lion representing the British identity bearing a St Andrew's Cross for the Ulster-Scots, and an Irish elk with the historic green harp flag representing the Irish identity, of course both supporters are working together to support the shield. However my arms are very complicated with too many different symbols. Where as the above mentioned proposal is rather simple which works. I am not quite sure with replacing the cross of de Burgh with the lion rampant (a royal banner) however the fact that it is not the complete banner but the lion only alleviates my concerns around using a royal flag. Originally my arms had a motto in both Irish and Ulster-Scots but it is probably better to leave such text out for political ease .
Overall I approve.

Republic of Ireland

It is suggested that the Republic of Ireland change its flag to a gold saltire on green field defaced with the harp from the state coat of arms:

The rational behind this is that the tricolour is not a distinctive design the same way the stars and stripes or Union Jack is. Where as this is, change the colours to black and white and this is still a recognisable flag.

At first I was sceptical about a gold saltire. I have seen various flag design including a saltire to mimick St Patrick's cross, including blue, white and green crosses. This is not really how heraldry works, and I was fearful that this flag might be another example of these poorly planned designs. St Patrick's Cross specifically a red saltire. 

However this design is a rather effect combination of symbols, including the harp, the tricolour and St Patrick's Cross. The gold colour of the saltire comes from mixing the orange of the tricolour with the red saltire to make gold, which fixes the problem of a meaningless saltire. 

Green and gold are also distinctive colours in Irish nationalism.
The only problem I have is that the coat of arms in the middle belong to Leinster. The Irish arms are a blue shield:

I would change the colour again which emphasises the central emblem and it keeps the colours to a minimal of three.

Ireland

There is no universally accepted formal flag flag for the island of Ireland. This has lead to sporting organisations and other all island and cross boarder bodies using a variety of flags often unique to their organisation.  

According to the website  Palomca's main influence in this design were souvenirs from the Catholic Eucharistic Congress of 1932, when they celebrated 1500 years since St Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. Both feature St Patrick's Cross but on one the field is green, and he simply improved upon it by observing the rule of tincture:

What I really like about this design in conjunction with the other two, is that it looks like a combination of the Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland flags. I don't know if that was intended but nonetheless its an effect I really like, and if these two flags were adopted would make this design a perfect all island flag.

  

Ulster-Scots

The design of a Ulster-Scots flag features a St Patrick's Cross combined with that of St Andrew, a theme that has appeared on other flags from Ulster. Being from that proud stock of people myself I am sympathetic for an ethnic flag. The design in question also features a red hand of Ulster and red lion of Scotland:

I think the positioning of the red hand and lion is a little odd, personally I would place them on the top and bottom quarters so that they have a more central position:

 I personally think this is a better variant of the design but I still think it looks odd. The combination of Scottish and Ulster symbols is not an easy one, and the flag would look quite distinctive without the hand and lion so I would suggest dropping them and sticking with the saltires. Or if you want to reinforce the Ulster symbolism just drop the lion. I think most Ulster-Scots my self included have a deep attachment to the red hand (which is odd if one considers its history) that we don't have to the same degree for the lion rampant.  

Well thats it, please feel free to comment and make sure you visit the website for yourself. Many thanks to Palomca for allowing me to post and share his material. 

Ulster-Scots flag

Many ethnic groups and peoples have their own flags, such as the Australian aboriginal flag or the Irish-American flag and many others. This is a region of Vexillology I haven't really explored before and I think now is a good time to start. So to begin with I think I will start with my own ethnicity; Ulster-Scots (also known as Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irish in the Americas).
Ulster-Scots are people or descendants of people who came to the province of Ulster from Scotland, mostly during the plantations of the 17th Century although it can include emigrations from before then and since.
Ulster-Scots don't exactly have a lack of flags, but a lot of them could be inappropriate for some people to use:

First thing wrong with these flags is the use the former Northern Ireland flag/coat of arms, and while a lot of Ulster-Scots live in N.Ireland many also live in Counties Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan in the Irish Republic, so these flags could be seen as inappropriate by them. Secondly they are evidently unionist, and while many Ulster-Scots are Unionist, one does not need to be Ulster-Scots to be Unionist, or Unionist to be Ulster-Scots.
The Ulster-Scots Agency I think used this flag for while but it was never a formal flag of the Ulster-Scots people:

Likewise the Ulster Nationalist flag is also often used as an Ulster-Scots flag due to its combination of St Andrew's and St Patrick's Crosses:

But again due to the inclusion of the six pointed star this would be inappropriate for the three Ulster counties in the Republic of Ireland.
This lack of a flag is highlighted on the Wikipedia page on the topic, where the Royal Standard of the kingdom of Ireland, Ulster Flag and St Andrew's Cross are used as associated flags but these are not definitive Ulster-Scots flags.
Some people have had goes at designing one I found these on Wikis, based on the Ulster Flag and Royal Banner of Scotland.

I really like the first one although I think it is just a little too complicated, the other I like the idea but would reframe from using the lion rampant as it is technically a royal banner and while it is often used as a second flag of Scotland, people have often been caught out and fined for using it.

My proposal for an Ulster-Scots flag is a combination of the Ulster flag, St Patrick's Cross and St Andrews Cross combined in a way similar to the Union Flag:



On a personal note I think this is hideous, I don't like the contrast of blue and white that is created. So I decided to create a new design and drop the St Patrick's Cross from the design:

The St Andrew's Cross in invererted for two reasons, first it looks too much like a mock up Union Jack if it isn't, and secondly the inverted St Andrew's Cross is often used to demonstrate a close link or association with St Andrew or Scotland, but at the same time demonstrate something that is distinctively independent of Scotland or even not Scottish! Such examples include the Nova Scotia flag, and Russian naval ensign, another example is Leonardo Piccioni's flag design for an independent Northern Isles.
While this flag is supposed to be universal and can be used by Ulster-Scots or people of Ulster-Scots descent all over the world, I think that the Ulster-Scots of the United States deserve a special flag of their own due to the impact of the Ulster-Scots (or Scots-Irish as they are known as in the USA) had on modern day America. So here is my Scots-Irish-American flag:

Same principle behind the inverted St Andrew's cross. With the American bald headed eagle supporting the red hand of ulster, the three stars can symbolise a variety of things such as Scotland, Ireland, America or past, present, future etc.  The idea of using the eagle came from 1794 'Whiskey' Rebellion flag, which would have been used by Scots-Irish communities during that conflict.

Coat of Arms

I know most ethnic groups don't have, need or use a coat of arms, however fallowing some woeful attempts at heraldry by Ulster-Scots or people wishing to symbolise Ulster-Scots like this I think an exception is in order:

 My design very much inspired by the Nova Scotia coat of arms is this:

       

The shield itself features an inverted St Andrew's Cross deface with the arms of the Province of Ulster.

The supporters come from both the former Scottish and Northern Ireland coats of arms. The Unicorn symbolising the ancient Kingdom of Scotland and the Elk the historic Kingdom of Ireland. They both carry the flag of their respective kingdom and bear the arms of it.

The base has stones from the Giant's Causeway (a symbol of civic Ulster pride) as well as the Shamrock (of Ireland) and the Thistle (of Scotland).

The crest based on the Scots-Irish-American flag has an eagle supporting six stars in a saltire again represent the significant contribution of the Ulster-Scots to the USA.

The motto is Scots for "Born Fighting" which is taken from the title of a book by US Senator James Webb, himself of Ulster descent who wrote a history of the Scots-Irish from Roman times to modern day America. It reflects the often turbulent history and recognises that often the main contribution of the Ulster-Scots in world wide British Colonies and the nations that came after them was a military one.