Eire 34 - Scotland 13!

[McClef]

Been on the SA again chief??

What on earth could make you think that? I only drink any Brains' brew occasionally!

There's no such country as "Eire", mate. It's "Ireland". Look it up on the map, in the UN, in the EU, any international organisation or treaty you care to mention. Ireland - not "Eire", not "the Republic of Ireland", not "the Irish Republic", not "The Republic". Ireland, Ireland, Ireland, Ireland. One word. In English. Got it?

We particularly resent being referred to as Eire - only the British do it, mostly the well-meaning but basically ignorant ones. Eire is only used on our stamps and coinage - and that is only because the redneck Gaeilgeoir culture hegemonists who staff our Civil Service thought it would be a good idea to pretend, yes pretend, that we live in a Celtic paradise where everyone speaks Irish/Gaelic. In reality, fewer than 5% choose to speak it.

It's a more complex situation than that as all Irish stuff can be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89ire

True you won't hear it spoken much in Cork, just as you won't hear much Welsh spoken where I live, but when there are two official languages, irrespective of proportionality, there will be usage that spills from the minority language into the majority one. Not just banknotes and stamps but place names, and in Ireland car registration plates, etc etc.

And on the latter, where the name of the county is shown, it's always in Gaelic - the English clue is only given in the letters of the registration.

Our Canadian brethren can testify to how much French they see, even if they don't use it and don't live in Quebec.

Not everyone is an expert on subtle nuances of meaning and difference between what Gaelic usage and English usage represents. And it's not "only the British" - we would tend to use "Republic of Ireland" or "Irish Republic" these days just as we use "Northern Ireland" rather than "Ulster" or "The Six Counties."

The fact remains that the island of Ireland is still divided between two nations so differentiations between the two in how they are described are inevitable.