I will admit to being partly responsible (along with Romilly Squire, my erstwhile partner in crime) for the "Irish" claddagh clan badge.

The highland clan system in Scotland (and in the New World after 1746) developed along totally different lines than it did in Ireland. It wasn't until the 1980s that the Irish showed any serious interest in having tartan kilts and clan badges, and that desire came from Australia and North America, not Ireland.

By the late '90s it was obvious that the Irish diaspora were serious about "clans" in the same way the Scots diaspora were-- tartans had been invented and the Irish were clamouring for kilts, jackets, and clan badges. Unfortunately, the then Chief Herald of Ireland didn't want to know and, unlike Sir Thomas Innes of Learney half a century before, did not offer any guidance to those Irish men (and women) who came knocking at his door.

At this same time I was working with my friend Romilly Squire on several projects for Gaelic Themes in Glasgow. The Irish "clan badges" seemed a natural fit, Scott Chalmers liked the idea, and the result was the present Irish clan badge offered by that firm.

There were two over-riding reasons for not using the "buckle and strap" design. First and foremost the badge had to be different than that used by the Scots-- it had to be instantly recognizable as "Irish"-- hence the use of the claddagh. There was also the problem that not all "clans" had recognized chiefs, hence the decision to use the crest of the oldest recorded arms for each name, and to place the generic family name on the claddagh. Where no arms were recorded, the traditional shamrock/harp was substituted for the crest itself.

There are, I am sure, several of you reading this who are, at this very moment, reaching for your copy of Fox-Davis-- don't bother. First, "crests", unlike arms, are not personal. Second, Irish heraldry isn't the same as English or Scottish heraldry, although it borrows from both and, as well as embracing many continental heraldic traditions, it also incorporates many uniquely Irish symbols and charges. So while Scottish heraldry may be likened to a round peg, and English heraldry to a square peg, the Irish heraldic "peg" has a lot more sides to it.

As far as the "strap and buckle" being the device used to construe a "clansman", this only appertains, or so it seems, in Scotland. Certainly those Irish chiefs who have commented prefer the claddagh to the strap and buckle on the grounds that the claddagh is recognizably "unique" to Ireland.