to ask everyone to get the name of my country right?

[runnybottom]

Its not "Eire" unless you are speaking/writing in Irish, its Ireland. Its definitely not Southern Ireland. Its not even "Republic of Ireland"

Its just Ireland.

PS> Yes I do realise there a bigger things to worry about, just bugs me a teeny bit is all.

I have in the past called it "Southern Ireland"

Do you know that Gerry Ryan died today!!!

Right! Ill correct DH.

His whole family live in Ireland apart from a brother and sister, due to divorce laws and attitudes in the 60s. He always writes Eire on envelopes.

And yet he has never been corrected by his very large family

Lots of people from Northern Ireland call it the 'Free State' or 'Down South'. Or maybe that is just my dh's family! (Poor Gerry, it is sad).

I quite like "the Free State".

Saying Eire is like saying Deutschland or Umbuso weSwatini, its not the name of the country in English.

Poor auld Gerry. RIP. (Or, may the sod lay gently on him, if you want to be a bit more too-ra-lay about it. )

I can't believe Gerry is dead.

Southern Ireland does annoy me. Look at the map, fgs! It's a hell of a big chunk of a country to relegate to "Southern".
Re Gerry, I feel like a family member has died. I will miss him terribly.

(Apart from Terry Wogan, is there a BBC star who everyone would miss? RTE stars are like family).

I've always been told/corrected that it is Eire and I always thought it was a republic....ooops...will try to get it right from now on

well I have always known it as Eire, taught that in school akshally.

To me it is Ireland and the other part is N. Ireland.

oh and YABU

'Southern' upsets the Donegal yins somewhat,since they are partly more northern than Northern Ireland.

How about South Western British Isles?

Another one whose family and friends in Ireland tell me to write Eire and do it themselves.
Am afraid I shall continue to do so

Surely 'Ireland' is an English word not an Irish one. I always put Eire as it pisses me right off when French people put Anglaterre on things they post to me. I think the address should always be written in the language of the country it's being sent to and not in the senders language.

(British Isles will cause a row - hundreds of years of oppression and famine...)

Oh dear ... tell that to my dad whose family proudly claim to be from Ireland.

The Northern bit, that is.

yeah but that's called Norn Iron!

Personally, I use 'Republic of Ireland' as I am usually writing the rest of the address in English. If I have to address an envelope with the rest of the address in Irish I use the county name, but not the country as I live here. If I am sending mail to Northern Ireland I use that name. Not Ulster, as that would annoy many people in this state. If I am sending mail to the bigger island to my east, I put the post code and United Kingdom. If I need to use Eireann I ask my dd how to spell it in case it needs an h.

(We just call Norn Iron 'the province' like the weathermen do on UTV or the ladies on BBC NI!)

Chipmonkey it is!!
I am from 'Norn Iron' and I refer to Ireland as 'Down South'.

YABU
The way I see it Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland are all part of Ireland (as they both are on the same island, not intending to kick off a political discussion) so in order to specify the difference between north and south some people are fully entitled to use Eire which indicates down south!

You should always write the name of the country in the language of the country you are sending it from. It's just common sense - the postman in this country needs to see the name of the country it's going to written in English. He can then forward it to the relevant country, so the rest of the address can be written in the language of that country. Simple. Therefore, if writing from England, you should say Ireland.

'Republic of Ireland' to be sure. (Sounds like leprechaun speak to be sure).

I just say Ireland as well. I'm Irish.

I'm not sure, could be wrong, but Eire means the whole of Ireland, not the republic of ireland so if people in the uk want to say the republic ireland, as in NOT belfast etc!!! then Eire is wrong.

or am I wrong?

hmmm.