There is dispute and disagreement over the term the British Isles, particularly in relation to Ireland. The term British Isles is defined as "Great Britain and Ireland and adjacent islands".[1] However, the term British is defined as "of or pertaining to Great Britain or its inhabitants" or "relating to, denoting, or characteristic of Britain or any of the natives, citizens, or inhabitants of the United Kingdom"[2], thereby appearing to incorporate Ireland into the British state[3]. For this reason, the term is regarded as objectionably or inappropriate by some Irish people.[4][5][6]
The dispute over usage is partly semantic: to some the term is a value-free geographic one, while to others the term can be a value-laden political one.[7]
No branch of the Government of Ireland officially uses the term British Isles,[8] and although it is on occasion used in a geographical sense in Irish parliamentary debates, it is often used in a way that excludes Ireland. A spokesman for the Irish Embassy in London has said use of the term would be discouraged.[9] Its use is also avoided in relations between the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom, who generally employ the term these islands.[10][11]
- ^ Definition of British Isles from Dictionary.com
- ^ Definition of British from Dictionary.com
- ^ Walter, Bronwen (2000). Outsiders Inside: Whiteness, Place, and Irish Women. New York: Routledge. p. 107.
A refusal to sever ties incorporating the whole island of Ireland into the British state is unthinkingly demonstrated in naming and mapping behaviour. This is most obvious in continued reference to 'the British Isles'.
- ^ Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology by Judith Jesch 2003
- ^ Kevin Myers,"An Irishman's Diary" The Irish Times, (subscription needed) 9 March 2000: "millions of people from these islands — oh how angry we get when people call them the British Isles"
- ^ "Geographical terms also cause problems and we know that some will find certain of our terms offensive. Many Irish object to the term the 'British Isles';..." The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland: Power, Conflict and emancipation. Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd. Cambridge University Press. 1996
Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490-1700. (London: Penguin/Allen Lane, 2003): "the collection of islands which embraces England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales has commonly been known as the British Isles. This title no longer pleases all the inhabitants of the islands, and a more neutral description is 'the Atlantic Isles'" (p. xxvi). On 18 July 2004, The Sunday Business Post questioned the use of British Isles as a purely geographic expression, noting:
Retrieved 17 July 2006[The] "Last Post has redoubled its efforts to re-educate those labouring under the misconception that Ireland is really just British. When British Retail Week magazine last week reported that a retailer was to make its British Isles debut in Dublin, we were puzzled. Is not Dublin the capital of the Republic of Ireland?. When Last Post suggested the magazine might see its way clear to correcting the error, an educative e-mail to the publication...:
"...I have called the Atlantic archipelago – since the term ‘British Isles’ is one which Irishmen reject and Englishmen decline to take quite seriously." Pocock, J.G.A. [1974] (2005). "British History: A plea for a new subject". The Discovery of Islands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 29. OCLC 60611042.
"...what used to be called the "British Isles," although that is now a politically incorrect term." Finnegan, Richard B.; Edward T. McCarron (2000). Ireland: Historical Echoes, Contemporary Politics. Boulder: Westview Press, p. 358."In an attempt to coin a term that avoided the 'British Isles' - a term often offensive to Irish sensibilities - Pocock suggested a neutral geographical term for the collection of islands located off the northwest coast of continental Europe which included Britain and Ireland: the Atlantic archipelago..." Lambert, Peter; Phillipp Schofield (2004). Making History: An Introduction to the History and Practices of a Discipline. New York: Routledge, p. 217.
"..the term is increasingly unacceptable to Irish historians in particular, for whom the Irish Sea is or ought to be a separating rather than a linking element. Sensitive to such susceptibilities, proponents of the idea of a genuine British history, a theme which has come to the fore during the last couple of decades, are plumping for a more neutral term to label the scattered islands peripheral to the two major ones of Great Britain and Ireland." Roots, Ivan (1997). "Union or Devolution in Cromwell's Britain". History Review.
The British Isles, A History of Four Nations, Second edition, Cambridge University Press, July 2006, Preface, Hugh Kearney. "The title of this book is ‘The British Isles’, not ‘Britain’, in order to emphasise the multi-ethnic character of our intertwined histories. Almost inevitably many within the Irish Republic find it objectionable, much as Basques or Catalans resent the use of the term ‘Spain’. As Seamus Heaney put it when he objected to being included in an anthology of British Poetry: 'Don’t be surprised If I demur, for, be advised My passport’s green. No glass of ours was ever raised To toast the Queen. (Open Letter, Field day Pamphlet no.2 1983)"
(Note: sections bolded for emphasis do not appear bold in original publications) - ^ Marsh, David (2010-05-11). "Snooker and the geography of the British Isles". London: The Guardian newspaper. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
- ^ "Written Answers - Official Terms", Dáil Éireann - Volume 606 - 28 September 2005. In his response, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs stated that "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."
- ^
Sharrock, David (2006-10-03). "New atlas lets Ireland slip shackles of Britain". The Times. News International. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
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 useage (sic).'
[spelling "useage" is from the original article] - ^ Bertie Ahern's Address to the Joint Houses of Parliament, Westminster, 15 May 2007
- ^ Tony Blair's Address to the Dáil and Seanad, November 1998
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