`EIRE' (my Irish friends never tire of telling me) is
the Irish far Ireland, all Ireland : it should not properly be applied to the twenty-six-county unit which comprises the Republic. But hog' many people, I wonder, outside Ireland realise this? Ironically, its use here as a synonym for the Republic arose through an accident. The original name given to Southern Ireland after the treaty of 1921 was 'The Irish Free State'—a title which was the sub-editor's bane, because its length made it difficult W fit into headlines. So when reference was made to 'Eire' in e constitutional revision in the Thirties, the newspapers here, pricked up their ears and pounced on it; and it has been used in this technically incorrect sense ever since. To add insult to injury, it is also commonly mispronounced here. I have fro,' quently heard references to 'Ire'; occasionally, to `Eyrie'; and a reader of the BBC news last Sunday provided yet one more version : 'Area.'
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