There is no Southern Ireland

[Needeyebrows]

So sick of hearing people say say Southern Ireland when referring to anywhere outside of Northern Ireland. Any place outside of Northern is the Republic of Ireland. We do not have southern Ireland..

No one in the Republic of Ireland refers to Southern Ireland…including not in Dungarvan. I have heard relatives in the UK say it though.

If I’m going to Dungarvan, Cork or anywhere in that direction I would refer to going “down the country”, or “down to Dungarvan” “down to Cork” etc.

If someone foreign asked me where that is I would say in the south of the country, not in Southern Ireland.

To me, Ireland in Irish is Éireann.

I have a colleague living in the North and he refers to the RoI as “down south”. We refer to Northern Ireland as “the north”. If going to Donegal I would not say I was going to the north, I would say I was going up to Donegal.

Is it? Gosh I had no idea. When/why did that come about?

Given the kind of stuff that's happening right now because of intransigent ideologies I'd let this one go.

Given the stuff that's happening right now, it shows how important this is.
This stuff matters to people.
What ireland is called matters to irish people.
Will we start a war over it? No. But we won't be told it doesn't matter either.

You don't need to live outside the UK to meet people who don't understand GB, UK and the British Isles!

To me, Ireland in Irish is Éireann.

No, the name of the country in Irish is Éire @Shopgirl1. It's on passports and stamps. Éireann is the genitive case, so 'people of Ireland' is 'Muintir na hÉireann' etc.

It's not a slur @Whataretheodds not when used correctly anyway.

I think pp may have been referring to Eire without a fada? Fadas are very important. While Éire is the name of the country (named after a goddess), eire means burden.

Also for years the British establishment ( government, newspapers) refused to use Ireland as the country's name, instead using Eire (no fada) and later ROI. This was for political reasons only resolved with the GFA. So the use of Eire can still be seen as loaded ( even when innocently used). Maybe that's what pp was referring to?

Totally agree op. Lived in Ireland most of my life. Irish mother, Arab father.

If people ask me where in Ireland i live, i name my county.

There is Ireland and there is Northern Ireland. End of.

As teenagers this is how we decided all the letters in Just 17 and the like were fake - every now and then one would come from "Jane, Eire".

(The Jane Eyre pun was unintentional but I'm enjoying it so going to leave it!)

That makes sense about Éire, I was just thinking of phrases and they probably are all in the genitive case. I’d never use it speaking English though, in English this country is Ireland.

Well, apologies to anyone I've offended by saying Eire rather than Ireland or ROI!

I'm in NI and people of all persuasions and beliefs here often refer to someone from the Republic of Ireland as being from 'down south' or a 'southerner'. I always feel a bit weird just saying someone is from Ireland because NI, or 'the North of Ireland' if you like, is part of the whole island of Ireland and I live on that land mass. So maybe it depends where you are geographically when you say it. Doesn't work too well if we're talking about Donegal, but we seem to say it anyway😬😆

Apology accepted, on behalf of Muintir na hÉireann ;)

Think that’s an entirely normal usage. But I don’t think I’ve ever met someone from NI who would, in NI, habitually refer to the rest of the island as ‘Southern Ireland’.

And I absolutely agree with @LizzieAnt about Éire being a loaded term, and am appreciating @ColleenDonaghy ’s ‘Jane Eyre meets boybands’ wordplay.

Then why do you put it on your postage stamps????????

Sigh. Because it’s the official name of the country in Irish, its official language. If you are not speaking or writing in Irish, you should call it Ireland.

Brilliant!! Indeed she was!

People often ask so perhaps that's why some people automatically differentiate.

The Eire thing is odd it's Ireland that's what it means in Gealic

It's Éire on the stamps, not Eire.
It's in Irish.
Irish is still the first official language of Ireland even though most people speak English.

Éire is certainly not a slur but -
Firstly, it needs to be spelt correctly, ie with a fada on the first e. Without the fada the word has a different pronunciation and meaning. The meaning is 'burden' so this could be considered insulting if an intentional use.

Secondly, Éire is used when a person is speaking in the Irish language, not the English language.
Used in English (often spelt incorrectly as explained above) there are some historical, political connotations users may not be aware of. These have been very briefly explained upthread. It's mostly used innocently in English now of course, but probably still best avoided if you know to do so.

But that doesn't address the slur aspect which @IvorTheEngineDriver was responding to.

You personally might prefer people to use "Ireland" as opposed "Éire", but there is no should. You can request, but cannot demand. The Constitution doesn't demand it - simply states its dual names.

As for the bit about when not speaking in Irish Gaelic, it seems to me there is an inconsistent practice in that the word "Taoiseach" is a Gaelic word yet I often see the demand people use it instead of "Prime Minister" despite the fact they're speaking....English. its inconsistent and contradictory when compared to the demand people use "Ireland" and not "Éire" when speaking English.

Either people are expected to use an Irish Gaelic word when speaking English....or they're not.

After all, we say "Chancellor" and not "BundesKanzlerin(feminine)/BundesKanzler(masculine)" whilst speaking English. 🤔

Seems to me either one isn't disrespectful regardless of which language a person is speaking in.

Taoiseach is a title.

Does everyone who says Éire say Cymru and Alba as well as then? Or España, Italia, La France, etc.? I could go on.

You make a good point re Taoiseach to be fair @DownNative. As pp says Taoiseach is a title, but I think another problem with using Éire in English now is because of how it was used by the British Establishment in the past. Other Irish words don't have that history so their use in English isn't as loaded. And there was never a problem with using Éire in Irish of course.

Basically, because of the past, the use of Éire in English has connotations now, it's use in Irish doesn't. The same isn’t true of Taoiseach.

I do think people are requesting, not demanding, that others use the preferred name.

We dont.

It is on stamps

Also while the role of Taoiseach is very similar to the role of the PM in the UK, it doesn't translate as prime minister. It's chieftain or something like that isn't it?

No it isn't

The stamp had the fada.