Editing Names of the Irish state (section)

==Constitutional name==
Article 4 of the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that "[t]he name of the State is ''Éire'', or, in the English language, ''Ireland''".<ref>The wording of Article 4 has been criticised. Early criticisms are discussed [[#Éire (Irish language name since 1937)|elsewhere in this article]] More recently, in its report, the [http://www.constitution.ie/constitutional-reviews/crg.asp Constitution Review Group] ({{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721123405/http://www.constitution.ie/constitutional-reviews/crg.asp |date=21 July 2011 }}) in 1996 stated that Article 4 was unnecessarily complicated and should be amended to read ''"The name of the State is Ireland"'' with an equivalent change in the Irish text.</ref>
Hence, the Irish state has two official names, ''Éire'' (in [[Irish (language)|Irish]]) and ''Ireland'' (in [[English (language)|English]]). For official purposes, the Irish government uses the name ''Éire'' in documents written in Irish, while using ''Ireland'' where the language of the documents is English, including in international treaties and other legal documents. The name of the state is reflected in its institutions and public offices. For example, there is a ''[[President of Ireland]]'' and a ''Constitution of Ireland''. The name ''Ireland'' is also used in the state's diplomatic relations with foreign nations and at meetings of the [[United Nations]],<ref>United Nations Member States, http://www.un.org/en/members/</ref> [[European Union]],<ref>European Union Member States, http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/index_en.htm</ref> [[Council of Europe]],<ref>Council of Europe Member States, http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/country-profiles</ref> [[International Monetary Fund]],<ref>IMF Countries, http://www.imf.org/external/country/index.htm#I</ref> and [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]].<ref>OECD Countries, http://www.oecd.org/#countriesList</ref>

The Constitution gives the Irish language formal precedence over English, and a reflection of this is that ''Éire'' is the only name of the Irish state to feature on a range of national symbols including the [[Seal of the President of Ireland|Seal of the President]], [[Postage stamps of Ireland|postage stamps]] and [[Irish euro coins]]. In 1981 the [[Department of Posts and Telegraphs]] recommended the inclusion of the word "Ireland" along with "Éire" on stamps but the [[Department of the Taoiseach]] vetoed the idea on the basis it could cause "constitutional and political repercussions" and that "the change could be unwelcome", as the name "Ireland" was considered by [[Unionism in Ireland|Unionists in Northern Ireland]] to refer to all 32 [[counties of Ireland]].<ref>{{cite news |title=1982: 'Ireland', 'Éire' and why both aren't written on postage stamps |work=1982 State Papers |publisher=[[TheJournal.ie]] |date=30 December 2011 |url=http://jrnl.ie/734358 |access-date=18 February 2014 }}</ref>
The spelling "Eire", with an ''E'' rather than an ''É'', is not correct [[Irish orthography]] despite being preferred for many years by British government and media and others.