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Flags Used in Northern Ireland. British Union Flag is sometimes
referred to as the 'Union Jack', although this name for the flag only correctly
applies when the flag is flown on a ship. The flag is made up of three flags:
St. George's Cross, St. Andrew's Cross, and St. Patrick's Cross. The design

was meant to reflect the 1801 Act of Union between Britain (England,
Wales, and Scotland) and Ireland (the Welsh flag was not incorporated into
the Union Flag). The Union Flag is, by custom and practice rather than by

any law, the official flag of the United Kingdom (UK), of which Northern
Ireland is part. However, since 1973 there has been no official Northern
Ireland flag. In the absence of such a flag, the Union Flag has been used.
Irish National Flag (Tricolour) has its origins in the French Revolution

and the French flag. The Tricolour was designed to signify the peace (white)
between Nationalists (green) and Unionists (orange). It was hoisted above
the General Post Office in Dublin during the 1916 Easter Rising, and has

since been used by Ireland's Nationalists and Republicans North and South
of the border.
Ulster Independence Flag (or Ulster National Flag) was unveiled on

'Ulster Day', 17 November 1988, when the Ulster Independence Committee
(now the Ulster Independence Movement; UIM) was formed. The flag is
made up of St. Patrick's Cross and St. Andrew's Cross, the six pointed star

and the Red Hand of Ulster. The UIM claims to break from traditional
Loyalist thought by promoting independence from both Ireland and Britain.
The Northern Ireland Executive is made up of the First Minister,
deputy First Minister, two Junior Ministers and 11 departmental ministers.

Governance. Northern Ireland was an integral part of the United
Kingdom, but under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act in 1920, it
had a semiautonomous government. In 1972, however, after three years of

sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics that resulted in more
than 400 dead and thousands injured, Britain suspended the Ulster
parliament. The Ulster counties were governed directly from London after an
attempt to return certain powers to an elected assembly in Belfast.

As a result of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, a new coalition
government was formed on Dec. 2, 1999, with the British government
formally transferring governing power to the Northern Irish parliament.

David Trimble, Protestant leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and
winner of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, became first minister. The
government has been suspended four times since then; it has remained

suspended since Oct. 14, 2002.

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