Quote:
And nobody uses the term "Eire" anymore
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Is that right?
At the risk of provoking further thread drift on what is an intereting discussion and at being labelled a pedant ....
There is no such country as "the Republic of Ireland" (or one called the Irish Republic for that matter) except, perhaps, in the deluded and confused mind of FIFA.
The two states that exist on the island of Ireland are
a) Northern Ireland (part of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and
b) Ireland (plain and simple).
Don't beleive me ... check out an Irish Citizen's passport ... it says Ireland or have a look at the Irish Constitution "Article 4-The name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland.". Or maybe you'd prefer the name of the State officially recognised internationally, by perhaps the UN say ... look, there we are between Iraq and Israel (that must be a fun place to sit at meetings!)
United Nations Member States
Eire, or to be correct Éire (note the accent on the first E) is also acceptable, but only in so far as you would refer to Germany as Deutschland, Austria as Österreich or Spain as España.
JAS