Limerick gets its 1916 flag back – thanks to Sinn Féin Councillor Maurice Quinlivan and Queen Elizabeth

LIMERICK CITY has its 1916 Eater Rising flag back thanks to a year-long campaign by Sinn Féin Councillor Maurice Quinlivan – and with the approval of Queen Elizabeth of England.

The flag (pictured) was captured by the British Army’s 4th Battalion of the Leinster Regiment in Limerick on 5 May 1916 following the Easter Rising in Dublin. It had been on display in the Imperial War Museum in London.

Councillor Maurice Quinlivan contacted the Imperial War Museum in July of last year and said it would be fitting for the Tricolour to be returned in time for the 1916 centenary (see our story from 2014). At the same time, he enlisted the support of British Labour Party MPs in his battle to have the standard returned to Ireland – and now he has been victorious.

Maurice told the Irish Examiner:

“There was no uprising in Limerick but there was a mobilisation of Volunteers in the city who made this Tricolour. While the flag was in the Imperial War Museum, it was on loan to the museum from the Royal Collection, which is the property of the queen.

“A member of the Limerick City Museum staff here in Limerick told me about this very symbolic Tricolour and I worked on trying to get it back. I contacted a number of Labour MPs in London who helped put through a request to the Imperial War Museum for the flag to be brought back to Limerick for next year’s 100th anniversary.

“I had put in place a campaign for the return of the flag but this was not necessary as the museum in London were very helpful.

“They have agreed to give the flag back to us on a long-term loan, which effectively means we can have it as long as we want.

“To give us the flag back on loan, the Imperial War Museum had to get permission of the Royal Collection, which is owned by the queen. So she is the one giving us back the flag.”

A condition of the loan is that the flag is kept in a display case, and work is currently being carried out on this.

The Limerick City Museum is currently housed in Istabraq Hall in Limerick City Hall. 

The Sinn Féin councillor added:

“If she’d give us back the Six Counties now, I’d be very happy with her.”