#lemass

[naked0123]

[brianjohnspencer]

The Irish government was loath to use the term Northern Ireland, because it was seen as conferring official recognition on partition. They preferred the terms Six Counties or the North of Ireland (a term which is still used today by Sinn Féin politicians). In the 1960s, however, the Irish government gave instructions that Northern Ireland should be used by government ministers and officials: this gestures was part of Taoiseach Sean Lemass’ efforts to improve relations between the two Irelands. The Irish government also avoided referring to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and it is only in recent years that the term United Kingdom has been used by government ministers and officials. The term British Isles was equally anathema, and they sought to have it removed from various atlases and other international documents.

These ‘word wars’ had some practical implications – there were prolonged difficulties over the title President of Ireland in the letters of accreditation presented by UK or Commonwealth diplomats: the compromise was to refer to the President by name, without specifying the title, and likewise for Irish diplomats to present letters addressed to the British monarch, giving his/her name but without any descriptive title, but there was no exchange of ambassadors between Australia and Ireland for more than a decade because the Commonwealth of Australia refused to accept these arrangements. By the late 1960s, however, Britain was the only country not to refer to the state as Ireland, and in January 1973 Ireland became a member of the EEC and is called by that name by other members of the EU.

Professor Mary Daly

(Here:

http://www.these-islands.co.uk/publications/i279/ireland_the_politics_of_nomenclature.aspx#.WlMcT60TxEg.facebook)