Paul Francis McAuliffe

Heraldry of the World
Personal arms

PAUL FRANCIS MCAULIFFE, Lord Mayor of Dublin

Registration no.: 028/2021

Country of origin : Ireland
Place of origin : Dublin
Granted : Yes
Granted/officially recorded by : Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland

Official English blazon

Arms: Per fess wavey Or and Azure, in chief two mermaids of the last supporting a tower Proper and in base a bar wavey of the first.
Crest: A garb Or surmounted by a salmon naient Proper.
Motto: Semper anticus, semper apertus

Other language blazon

Origin/meaning

As with all Lord Mayors of Dublin, McAuliffe received a grant of arms from the Chief Herald of Ireland in 2019. The wavy lines represent the Rivers Feale (where the armiger's paternal grandfather is from in County Kerry), the river Fionnghlas where the family moved to in Finglas and the river Liffey representing their time as Lord Mayor. The Tower acts represents the city of Dublin and it is supported by two mermaids. The mermaids are taken from a previous grant of arms to Dermot McAuliffe of the McAuliffe Regiment of Spain. The arms were granted in 1709 when Dermot McAuliffe and many other Gaelic exiles sought to join armies in Europe. The arms provided proof of Dermot McAuliffe's status as a gentleman, which seems to have been a necessary qualification for officers in the Spanish army. The Mermaids were brought into Paul McAuliffe's grant of arms on the advice of the Herald at Arms as they are an uncommon charge in Irish heraldry and provided a historic reference.

The Crest which surmounts the helmet and wreath is a sheaf of wheat representing the generations of bakers in the armiger's mother's family and the salmon representing the generations of fishermen on the river Feale in their father's family. The motto Semper Anticus, Semper Apertus is translated as Always Forward, Always Open.