Believe it or not, it’s the English language we are discussing – and corresponding in

Sorry, I always get confused about that. Thanks for pointing that out.

The OED is the arbiter of that language

Yes, it is, in England (or the UK). Funnily enough, its prescriptive power does not extent beyond the borders of the realm (even if its the most referred to source globally). The point remains that the term has fallen out of use everywhere except for the UK (and even then its been challenged-see earlier example), so, for you, it may be a ‘fact’, for many other people, its ‘history’.

Speaking as a British geography graduate …

The British Isles has been the geographical description of the entire group of islands, of which Great Britain is the largest, for centuries

I rest my case.

And just in case, I’d hesitate to describe myself as an Irish nationalist, by most definitions I’m probably not.

But describing the collection of Islands as being ‘British’ is offensive, outdated, and just plain obsolete. The fact that some people cling on to it does not make any more correct. Calling it a ‘geographical’ description is akin to a German including Austria in the term ‘Germany’; they’re close, they were once joined, they speak very similar languages. But they’re different countries.

Decry it as political correctness all you want, but official language has moved on. For example, one would hesitate now to describe the UK as a Roman Kingdom; does that mean that using any other term of description is mere political correctness in the face of non latin propaganda?

How can the government justify their status as a neutral nation with a position like this?

In truth? They can’t. But in practical terms the situation has always been like this (apart from maybe immediately after WWII).

As for overflights of other countries military aircraft, it happens all the time, with the consent of the Irish Govt. Alls that is required is permission from Dublin, which is almost always granted in any case. The fact that the state could do nothing to prevent these overflights has nothing to do with it … (it actually doesn’t, funnily enough).

Theres no strict legal requirement on neutral states to be able to police their airspace anyway (altitude, speed or weapons fit is not specified). As long as the AC can put any aircraft into the air, the outline ‘suggestion’ can be met.

Well, this sort of procurrment program looks more tailored to a NATO or EU defence participation rather than a “staying neutral” approach. This would probably make a lot more sense anyway. Is your neutrality debatable at all within Ireland?

Ireland is a participant member of the EU RRF, with a battalion of mech infantry (with MOWAG PIIIs) slated, along with transport and SOF contingents. The country is also a member of PfP, so in effect, its not neutral, its merely unaligned.

And neutrality is becoming less and less relevant in any case, the state was one of those that volunteered to send forces to Afghanistan (turned down because of lack of support infrastructure). See link posted below for more data. In the long term, I’d imagine you could foresee Irish membership (or partial membership) in an EU common defence pact. Will take a while though.

Or does the Republic allow RAF and other European aircraft to fly back and forth over Irish airspace whenever they feel like a shortcut?

In short, yes, but see above.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2004/0319/365893692HM1THELEAD.html

try a new start

Hey, some of us have been using both boards for years … (just not very much ;))

The only problem with FTD’s sudden appearance on the IMO board was the uninformed manner of his original posting, suggesting things that either:

A; Had been discussed before and to death,

B; Were completely unrealistic (See EH-101 as a CASA replacement),

C; were based on innaccurate information,

Plenty of other have arrived onto the board (or earlier versions of it) over the years, and have been welcomed with open arms (or what ever the equivelant is).

So relax FTD, and don’t take it personally. I suggest you try looking back through the threads in the Air Corps section, you’ll see that a lot of the things you’ve suggested have been covered at great length.