Sir It a rather disappointing to read Mr McAughty's response (December 12th) to my contention that elements of the British Establishment were implying that the Republic of Ireland, occupied part of a "British" isle.
Given the evidence, it was hardly so outrageous a claim as to merit all that abuse. However what a welcome contrast was provided by correspondents such as Dr Delmonte (December 27th), who sought to approach the issue from a more objective standpoint.
I wish to have my intrinsic Irishness recognised now in common, may I say, with the vast majority of the citizens of this Republic. It's not that we are anti Brit rather, that we are positively pro Pat. You see, we like being Irish and we don't want to be taken for some other crowd, be they British, French, German not even American. Surely we should not be denied such a basic citizen's right?
As we are Irish, we like others to show their recognition, and respect, by the name they give our island home. Most certainly, we are not pleased by any suggestion that ours is a British, any more than a Greek or Spanish, etc., territory.
No less than Mr McAughtry, we too can become terribly annoyed over that label "The British Isles" a euphemism used to cover the military domination of several islands by one island, and contrived in an age of imperialism. An important example of colonial nomenclature, it is typically neither value free, nor ethnically neutral.
It was, also, an important part of a process of exploitation, which treated the indigenous Irish as non persons and attempted to smother their property, religious, cultural and political rights. Hence, to the greater number of citizens of this Republic, it remains a pejorative metaphor.
Having done something about that foreign domination, asserted our Irishness, and gained freedom as an independent republic, we find that this objectionable label is still being used by the agencies of a neighbouring state a sister nation within the European Union, no less as a form of intellectual colonialism. And, most often, being done in the name of such a normally neutral activity as weather forecasting.
Mr McAughtry smugly declares that nothing can be done about this misrepresentation of our Republic simply because it has been written on a map. Presumably he would have offered somewhat similar advice to our forefathers who were moved to did force themselves front the British Empire.
And if this colonial label is still written on British maps even on those of Mr McAughtry's whole literate, English speaking world" or, again is regularly used by non English, continental weather forecasters" (to quote Dr Delmonte), does that mean that our neighbours, knowing our objections, are obliged, daily, to repeat it?
Dr Delmonte, raises the question of alternatives. I have none to suggest, but the EU could possibly help to find one. Personally, I don't see any need either for the present ethnically and politically biased anachronism, or for any replacement. Will not the individual island names suffice?
However, if weather forecasters must have a cover all term for this archipelago, then, until consensus can be achieved between the peoples of these islands, perhaps "The British and Irish Isles" might serve as an acceptable alternative. Yours, etc. Dundrum, Dublin 14.