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[edit] Irish saltire

RE: "The Irish saltire is arranged counterchange with the saltire of St Andrew"

Does anybody know why this was done?

Unknown Unknowns (talk) 12:20, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Speculation: so that neither would be "on top" (of course the Cross of St. George, on the other hand ...) ... that and graphically it does adds vertical balance. --sony-youth^pléigh 12:58, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

They had to be counterchanged in order that the Scottish saltire was not seen simply as a fimbriation (separating area, as with the white stripe around the St George's Cross) of the Irish saltire. As such, the narrow white strip on the saltire part is a fimbriation, and only the thick strip is considered part of the Scottish saltire. As to the differing order (high on the left, low on the right), I can only speculate. With the top left being the superior position in a flag, it was intended to demonstrate a superiority of sorts between Scotland and Ireland, with the former being the larger and older constituent country.--Breadandcheese (talk) 13:22, 14 March 2008 (UTC)