What do we call this place we live in? Writers to the letters page of The Irish Times this week have been exercised by President Michael D Higgins's objection to being referred to by unionists as President of the Republic of Ireland. "I am President of Ireland", he told our political correspondent Harry McGee.
As you would expect, the President is absolutely correct about his own job title. In 1937, the Constitution established the name of this country as Éire in Irish and Ireland in English, superseding the previous Irish Free State created in 1922. A decade later, legislation formally declaring Ireland a republic muddied the waters a bit by declaring that “the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland”, but was careful not to unconstitutionally rename it thus.
Since 1937, therefore, there have been two meanings for the word “Ireland”: a geographical one referring to the island as a whole and a constitutional one referring to the State that occupies five-sixths of that island. Seems straightforward enough? Not so fast. Up until the passing in 1998 of a constitutional amendment putting into effect the provisions of the Belfast Agreement, Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution defined the national territory as the entire island, while confining the State’s actual jurisdiction to the territory of the old Free State. So a third definition of Ireland was the claimed but as-yet-unachieved single unitary state on the island.
In sport, the DUP have been complaining for years to little avail about the branding of the UK's Olympics team as Team GB
The amendments of 1998 replaced that territorial claim with a more emollient aspiration to unity by consent on behalf of the “Irish nation”, defined as any citizen north or south of the Border who wishes to be part of said nation. But as critics have pointed out, various other bits and pieces scattered through the Constitution – such as defining who has the right to vote in elections – contradict any claim of direct equivalence between the Irish State and the Irish nation. The president’s unease with a ceremony marking partition might relate to this.
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Some will see all this as angels on the heads of pins stuff. But it offers rich pickings for the sort of people who are always looking for a reason to feel slighted.
When UK media refer to this State as Éire, it’s seen as an insult borne of arrogance or ignorance. They’re speaking or writing in English so they should use the English word, as they would for Germany or any other country. Quite so, but when the same UK media use the words “Irish prime minister” instead of “taoiseach”, that’s also an insult, apparently, even though they don’t call Angela Merkel bundeskanzler. President Higgins himself, in a rather unpresidential cat fight with John Bruton over the whole invitation controversy, tapped into that very sentiment by referring to Bruton as a “former prime minister”.
The fact is very few states have borders which conform exactly to where the national group (or groups) they purport to represent actually live. And history bequeaths us many organisations whose titles now seem anachronistic or worse. When the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party expressed his concern about the President’s decision, he presumably wasn’t claiming to speak on behalf of the people of Letterkenny or Castleblayney. His words were broadcast on UTV, a channel which, despite its name, doesn’t seem to harbour any irredentist claims to the three Ulster counties not in the UK.
Watch out Team GB, you're next. Unless Irish unity happens first, of course
In sport, the DUP, perpetrators of the original mistitling of the President last week, have been complaining for years to little avail about the branding of the UK’s Olympics team as Team GB (leaving out the very important last bit of the country’s official name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). In contrast, President Higgins, an avid soccer fan, seems never happier than when cheering on the Republic of Ireland team (as officially designated by Fifa).
Spare a thought for those of us who have to navigate our way through these choppy waters. The journalists trying to find yet another synonym (“this jurisdiction” only goes so far) when writing an article about North-South issues. The Sinn Féin politicians who are duty bound never to let the words “Northern Ireland” fall from their lips lest they spontaneously combust. Anyone attempting to make a point about The Nameless Archipelago Definitely Not Called The British Isles upon which we all live.
However, none of this is set in stone. From next Tuesday, September 28th, for example, the letters GB, used since 1911 as the internationally recognised symbol for cars registered in the United Kingdom, will no longer be legally recognised and must be replaced by the letters UK. Watch out Team GB, you're next. Unless Irish unity happens first, of course.
