Eirean

English

Alternative forms

• Eireann

Etymology

Eire +‎ -an. "Éire" is the official Irish-language name of the state under its 1937 Constitution. In the United Kingdom "Eire" was used in English, officially until 1949 and unofficially for decades longer. The adjective "Eirean" was invented accordingly. See w:names of the Irish state.

Adjective

Eirean (not comparable)

1. (British, obsolete, deprecated) of the state called Eire or the Republic of Ireland, as distinct from the island of Ireland
   • 1947 June 13, George Oliver "NORTHERN IRELAND BILL" Hansard HC Deb vol 438 c1468

     Clause 1 of this Bill enables the Parliament of Northern Ireland to make legislative provisions for hydro-electric, drainage, water and other schemes to be operated on both sides of the border in conjunction with the Eirean authorities.

   • 1957, “Lifeboats and Lifesaving”, in Encyclopaedia Brittanica, volume 14, page 26:

     Since Eire was a neutral country the Air Force could not place its own rescue-launches on her coasts, but the life-boats in Eire were part of the single life-boat fleet of the British Isles, and the Institution was able, with the consent of the Eirean Government, to do what the Air Ministry asked of it.

   • 1967 November 30, James Hamilton [later Duke of Abercorn] "NORTHERN IRELAND (MEAT INDUSTRY)" Hansard HC Deb vol 755 c797

     At the outset I must make it plain that I have no objection to the principle of the Anglo-Eirean Free Trade Agreement. On the contrary, I am in favour of full co-operation with Eire in trade, commerce and tourism from which both countries can derive considerable economic advantage.

   • 1982 December 16, "NORTHERN IRELAND RESIDENTS AND EIREAN PASSPORTS" Hansard HL Deb vol 437 c834WA
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Eirean.

Noun

Eirean (plural Eireans)

1. (British, obsolete, rare, deprecated) A citizen of Eire
   • 1945 November 30, St. John Ervine, letter to The Spectator:

     Adjectives become missiles when used by an Eirean. The word “elegant,” for instance, is used by Mr. O'Casey as if it were a synonym for unmentionable crimes. It is applied to every non-Eirean he mentions.

   • 1956 July 21, “Was Ulster Right?”, in The Economist‎^[1], page 215:

     As things are, Ulstermen are being kept more successfully in Ulster than Eireans are being kept in Eire.

   • 1996, Robert McLiam Wilson, Eureka Street‎^[2], Arcade, published 1997, →ISBN, page 163:

     The tragedy was that Northern Ireland (Scottish) Protestants thought themselves like the British. Northern Ireland (Irish) Catholics thought themselves like Eireans (proper Irish).

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Eirean.

Usage notes

• The use in English of Eire, and even more so Eirean or Eireann, was deprecated in the state of Ireland. See Names of the Irish state.

Synonyms

• Eirish