USE OF SHAMROCK

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 May 1929, Page 10

USE OF SHAMROCK

A DECLINING FASHION.

Is the shamrock doomed as the national emblem of Ireland? asks a Dublin correspondent of a London newspaper. Each year sees a diminution in its use, and last St. Patrick’s Day found fewer Irishmen than ever “wearin’ the green.”

The correspondent says:—“Almost a knock-out blow was dealt to the shamrock when the Irish Free State Government refused to countenance it on the coins or postage stamps. According to the Ministry of in fact, ‘the shamrock has no dignity of age behind it, being not more than a hundred years old.’ Recent researches into Irish history prove that he is right, and that the shamrock is largely a sham. “Grave doubts have risen as to the claims of the shamrock to be considered as Ireland’s national emblem at all. It has even been hinted that, since the Irish some centuries ago could not get any music from their native bagpipes, they foisted them upon Scotland, the Scots retaliating by planting the shamrock in Ireland.

“Against all allegations of the connection of Ireland's patron saint with the shamrock is the remarkable fact that it is conspicuously absent from all the relics where one might mostly expect to find it.”