Talk:Ireland

Ireland is not a "British" isle

the term is a colonial and outdated one having been dug up from (by even then) archaic sources by one John Dee - an advisor to Elizabeth I of England, and who advocated for the colonisation of Ireland. Today it has no official standing and has no more relevance to Ireland than the term British East Africa has to modern day Kenya. And as such needs to be be kept in the dustbin of history where it belongs 109.78.105.250 (talk) 12:17, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

It is a geographical term for a group of islands. Nothing colonial here. The Banner talk 12:34, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

The now archaic term as detailed is colonial both in origin and use from the 1600s onwards. Denial doesn't change that regardless 51.37.111.212 (talk) 10:57, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

Denial doesn't change the fact that it's absolutely a common geographical term, still in use in Ireland and elsewhere. Bastun^{Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ!} 11:04, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

Best we keep using it. GoodDay (talk) 13:23, 8 June 2024 (UTC)

yes 2402:E000:60A:656B:0:0:0:1 (talk) 19:15, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

Best according to whom exactly - the same small number of self serving editors? 64.43.20.57 (talk) 01:42, 17 July 2024 (UTC)

No, these people. Bastun^{Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ!} 12:41, 17 July 2024 (UTC)

Best we keep using it. Denisarona (talk) 06:14, 17 July 2024 (UTC)

British Isles is an internationally recognised geographical term. It is used in educational textbooks in Canada, United States, Australia, New Zealand etc.

It's also in common use in Ireland, ignoring those whose lives revolve around politics

Celebrity Cruises.IE

https://www.celebritycruises.com/ie/destinations/european-cruises/british-isles-cruise

AirBnB Ireland

https://www.airbnb.ie/british-isles/stays/islands

I could go on but I can't be bothered.

It's common use in Ireland and ubiquitous use outside of Ireland. And, mind you, the 'revolt' against the term hasn't begun until Sinn Fein's recent electoral successes. 145.40.150.167 (talk) 22:28, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Republic of Ireland which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 13:34, 18 August 2024 (UTC)

"Island"

This article is very clearly about the Irish nation as a whole, not merely the largest island of Ireland (the Irish mainland), so the lede's current wording of "Ireland is an island" is obviously incorrect. I fixed this with this edit, but @Canterbury Tail: reverted the edit, claiming that the fix was "confusing" with no explanation as to how, and suggested discussing it on the talk page.

So I have to ask- if not "nation", then what other term should be used to describe the whole nation of Ireland, consisting of all 32 Irish counties (including areas both on the Irish mainland and offshore islands)? Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 18:03, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

The article is about the island and what is on it (plus subsidiary islands as is normal with any large island). It's not about the people, they're secondary. This isn't about the counties, it's about the landmass and all that exists and has existed on it. If it was about a nation we'd need to excise half the article as the concept of Irish as a nation is relatively new in historical terms and the geography, flora and fauna of it don't subscribe to this nationhood. Canterbury Tail talk 18:20, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

I think this is missing the point- this article is about all of Ireland, not just about the Irish mainland, so beginning the article with "Ireland is an island" is factually incorrect. It would be correct to say "Ireland has hundreds of islands"; it would not be correct to say "Ireland is an island consisting of hundreds of islands".

By contrast, the Great Britain article makes it clear in the lede that Great Britain is an island but also that the term "Great Britain" can also refer to the political territory of England, Scotland and Wales, which includes their offshore islands. Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 19:16, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

And this article also makes it clear that is also refers to the political territory of Ireland (Republic of) and Northern Ireland. But the article is pretty clear it's about the island and that there are other surround islands. It's perfectly normal in the world to discuss small islands surrounding larger ones in the same context, or those in rivers, lakes etc. Are we disputing that Ireland is an island now? Canterbury Tail talk 19:29, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

And mention of other islands can be removed if we feel necessary. Canterbury Tail talk 22:01, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

Languages

BSL is also used in NI 81.98.11.143 (talk) 21:24, 4 September 2024 (UTC)

Population

As of 2024, population of island would be just over 7.3 million with 5.38m in the Republic and 1.92m in the north. 2A02:8084:1A1:D600:7409:BB4D:E074:6AC5 (talk) 23:50, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

How do you know that? Bazza 7 (talk) 12:05, 28 September 2024 (UTC)

official CSO estimates. https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-pme/populationandmigrationestimatesapril2024/keyfindings/ Ire619 (talk) 16:59, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

That's just an estimate, keep to actual official census figures. Canterbury Tail talk 17:02, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Why? It’s an official estimate which are included in many other country wikipedia articles. I also don’t remember talking to you Ire619 (talk) 17:12, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Um anyone can post on a talk page. You posted on a public talk page of a public article. Canterbury Tail talk 17:51, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 8 November 2024

Please do not use “the British isles”. It is not a geographical term. It is an outdated geopolitical term. The Irish government has explicitly stated that it should no longer be used to refer to Britain and Ireland as a whole in any capacity. 2001:BB6:287C:8E00:59B9:484D:25A7:6015 (talk) 08:27, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

 Not done. You didn't specify an exact replacement, this had been discussed above (#Ireland is not a "British" isle) and wider changes could be implemented also which is out of scope of a simple edit request (eg are you suggesting a rename of the article British Isles, Category:British Isles etc?). There is a note in the article about the use of "British Isles" and a link to Names of the British Isles.--Commander Keane (talk) 12:23, 8 November 2024 (UTC)