Twice in the past week the Irish Times has published stories (one syndicated, the other an indigenous journalist) which refer to the ‘British Isles’. We were under the impression that the embassy in London was busy correcting the British press regarding the term. Maybe we’re wrong, maybe it’s acceptable now.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2005 stated “The British Isles is not an officially recognised term in any legal or inter-governmental sense. It is without any official status. The Government, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, does not use this term. Our officials in the Embassy of Ireland, London, continue to monitor the media in Britain for any abuse of the official terms as set out in the Constitution of Ireland and in legislation. These include the name of the State, the President, Taoiseach and others.”
A spokesman for the Irish Embassy in London said: “The British Isles has a dated ring to it, as if we are still part of the Empire. We are independent, we are not part of Britain, not even in geographical terms. We would discourage its usage.”
SOURCE: Wikipedia
They obviously don’t monitor our own media.
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