Is flag burning illegal in Ireland?
Legal / protected speech
There is no specific criminal law against flag desecration, only advisory guidelines.
Ireland is one of 10 countries classified “Legal / protected speech” for flag desecration — 15% of the 67 with data. (Also searched as flag burning.)
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Flag desecration
- Last checked
- 17 September 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- United Kingdom
- Legal / protected speech There is no specific law making flag desecration a criminal offense.
- Belgium
- Legal / protected speech Flag desecration is not illegal in Belgium.
- Netherlands
- Legal / protected speech There are no laws banning flag desecration, which is protected under freedom of expression.
- Faroe Islands
- Criminal offense Desecrating the Faroese flag is prohibited by the autonomous territory's flag law.
- France
- Criminal offense Desecrating the national flag in public places is a criminal offense.
- Denmark
- Only foreign flags protected Desecrating the national flag is legal, but desecrating foreign flags is illegal under the penal code.
Other laws in Ireland
- Blasphemy Laws
- No blasphemy law
- Holocaust Denial
- No specific law
- Conversion Therapy
- No ban
Every law in Ireland → · Where is burning the flag illegal? →
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.