James Joyce (1882 – 1941) is one of Ireland’s most influential and celebrated writers. His most famous work is Ulysses (1922) which follows the movements of Leopold Bloom through a single day on June 16th, 1904.

The power of the flag as symbol was recognised even in James Joyce’s Ulysses, set in Dublin in 1904. During a discussion in Barney Kiernan’s, the nationalist known as the citizen looks forward to the day, “when the first Irish battleship is seen breasting the waves with our own flag to the fore, none of your Henry Tudor's harps”.