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Flying a Flag on St Patricks Day There has been much attention drawn to what flag to be flown on St Patricks Day. Some people say Irish Tricolour some say St Patricks satire but It begs the question why is there a flag to be flown and why do we need one? Does Northern Ireland really need another flag issue to be brought up on St Patricks Day. Fig A. is the St Patricks Satire used on the Union Flag to represent Ireland at the 1801 Union of Ireland Act and subsequently used on St Patricks Day to represent both communities. Fig B is the Down District Flag used to represent the Down District at council level, the area of Down has historical links with St Patrick seeing that St Patrick is reportedly buried near the Down Cathedral and one of the oldest churches in Ireland built by St Patrick is located nearby. The problem that people have the Fig A. is that it is viewed not as neutral flag, as some people like it to be, but as a unionist flag, constructed to fit into the union Flag at 1801 and does not truly represent the whole community. Some would see it to be changed. Also may I add that on St Patricks Day, an occasion that is celebrated around the world, the St Patricks Flag is not flown anywhere else in the world apart from the Down District so hardly a popular flag is it? The Solution I think is to flag no flag at all because there really can be no flag to represent St Patrick and it is neutral. The people in Northern Ireland love their history and constantly use this as argument for including anything. Politicians democratically elected to the council have no problem sitting in office with Fig B so if we already have a council flag that is accepted we should be flying that flag instead of the satire. Seems a bit non-sensical to be flying a flag that some people have an issue with whenever we could fly a flag to represent the district from which he started his missions. After all very few places if any fly the satire on St Patricks day so why bother if it causes any amount of trouble.