'Saying the name of the country is about respect': Unionist hits back at Sinn Fein minister's call for people to tolerate official use of the term 'the North'
A unionist politician has insisted that calling Northern Ireland by its proper name is a matter of “basic respect”.
TUV chairman councillor Allister Kyle made the comments after the Sinn Fein economy minister told the News Letter people should show “respect and tolerance” towards the term “the North”.
It all comes after a News Letter report into Tourism Northern Ireland’s increasing trend of replacing the words “Northern Ireland” with the term “the North”.
The agency had responded to a press enquiry about the recent NW200 by saying it adds £9m to the economy of “the North”.
Upon investigation, it appears Tourism NI first began using the term in 2024, not long after Sinn Fein took over the Department for the Economy, its parent body.
For example, Tourism NI’s 10-year-plan refers to “the North” constantly, and “Northern Ireland” hardly at all.
The UUP and DUP had both criticised the trend, to which minister Caoimhe Archibald replied: “The diversity of language and terminology used by people across our society in this regard should be treated with respect and tolerance.”
Now councillor Kyle has said: “Tourism Northern Ireland exists to promote Northern Ireland.
"Not ‘the North’.
“Not some vague geographical expression designed to avoid using the country’s name.
"Northern Ireland.
“That is the official name of this part of the United Kingdom and taxpayers should not have to fund a quango which appears embarrassed to use it.
"This is not about intolerance.
"It is about basic respect for Northern Ireland’s constitutional position and the reality of the place Tourism Northern Ireland exists to promote.
“If Tourism NI cannot even bring itself to consistently say ‘Northern Ireland’, then many people will question if, under devolution, Sinn Fein’s ideological agenda is creeping into publicly-funded bodies which are supposed to serve everyone.”