From: dwilkins@maths.tcd.ie (David Wilkins)
Subject: Re: This Favorite Lie Again (clarification)
Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 19:43:24 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.212631.7232@news.nd.edu> ulick@michaelangelo.helios.nd.edu (Ulick Stafford) writes:
>By my reckoning 5% of voters in Ireland (Eire) voted for Sinn Fein in the recen
>elections in the UK and Free State.  In the Free State the vote was up 
>slightly on the last election, while support in the North was unchanged.
>Much ado was made of the fact that Gerry Adams lost his seat in Westminster
>in the Northern elections but this fact so blantely spun by British 
>Propagandists was due entirely to OUP supporters voting for the SDLP
>candidate.  Like it or not, Sinn Fein support is steady and is not diminishing.

I think Ulick's paragraph deserves a certain amount of textual
analysis, bringing us round to the perennial question as to the
correct name/description for the state governed from Dublin.

It appears from the context that Ulick is using "Ireland (Eire)"
to refer to the "national territory" of the Irish nation, which
according to Article 2 of de Valera's 1937 constitution, "consists
of the whole island of Ireland, its islands and the territorial
seas".

However "pending the re-integration of the national territory",
the laws enacted by the Irish Government are declared by Article 3
of that constitution to have "the like area and extent of application
as the laws of Saorsta/t E/ireann" (i.e., the former Irish
Free State).

It should be pointed out that, according to Article 4 of the
1937 constitution "the name of the State is E/ire, or in the English
language, Ireland".  (The wording of this article surely reflects
the fact that English version of the constitution is a translation
of Bunreacht na hE/ireann, the Irish language version.)

The existence of the Irish Free State was terminated with the
adoption of the 1937 constitution.  So Ulick's references to
the Free State as a state currently in existence are
anachronistic and/or incorrect.

To continue the theme of the correct way of referring to the
state governed from Dublin, one needs also to consider the
Republic of Ireland Bill of 1948.  Article Two of that act
declares that "the description of the State shall be the
Republic of Ireland."  The Taoiseach of the time, John A.
Costello, pointed out that the act does not conflict with
the 1937 constitution since one specifies the `name' of the
State, while the other specifies the `description' of the state.
Costello went on to say that "tremendous confusion has been
caused by the use of that word E/ire in Article 4.  By a
misuse by malicious people of that word, `E/ire', they have
identified it with the Twenty-Six counties and not with the
State that was set up under this Constitution of 1937."

One does not have to look far for the "malicious people"
here referred to.  The British government adopted the name
`Eire' as the official name, for British government purposes
and for British legislation, for the state consisting of the
26 counties in the period from 1937 till the passing of
the Ireland Act of 1949.

People in Britain continue to use the word Eire to refer
specifically to the 26 county state.  I believe this is
to be interpreted not as an insult to the people of that
state, but rather reflecting their belief that it is the
preferred name of the people of that state, as evidenced
by its postage stamps!  (British people can surely be
excused knowing that the Irish Republic regards as its
first official language a language which is the mother
tongue of a tiny minority of its population.)  This
lamentable confusion extends even to government ministers.
I heard Peter Brooke, former Secretary of State for
Northern Ireland, refer to the South as the
"Republic of Eire"!

The official position of the British Government is
however expressed in Section 1 of the Ireland Act
of 1949.  It is perhaps worth quoting that article
in full:

   Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty,
   by and with the advice and consent of the Lords
   Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this
   present Parliament assembled, and by the authority
   of the same, as follows:-

   1.-(1) It is hereby recognized and declared that the
   part of Ireland heretofore known as Eire ceased, as
   from the eighteenth day of April, nineteen hundred
   and forty-nine, to be part of His Majesty's dominions.

   (2) It is hereby declared that Northen Ireland remains
   part of His Majesty's dominions and of the United Kingdom
   and it is hereby affirmed that in no event will Northern
   Ireland or any part thereof cease to be part of His Majesty's
   dominions and of the United Kingdom without the consent of the
   Parliament of Northern Ireland.

   (3) The part of Ireland referred to in subsection (1) of this
   section is hereafter in this Act referred to, and may in any
   Act, enactment or instrument passed or made after the passing
   of this Act be referred to, by the name attributed thereto
   by the law thereof, that is to say, as the Republic of Ireland.

(Subsection 2 has had to be modified, since the Parliament of
Northern Ireland is no longer in existence; the amended version
requires the consent of the people of Northern Ireland as expressed
in a referendum to be held once every ten years.)

The rest of the act goes on to consider the position of Irish
citizens in the U.K. and laws relating to Irish manufactures.
Essentially, Irish citizens in Britain, while no longer commonwealth
citizens, are according to this act to be treated on an equal
footing with commonwealth citizens (enabling Irish citizens to
vote in U.K. elections, for example).

DRW

Xref: sparky soc.culture.celtic:8285 soc.culture.british:17751