Your argument is dead in the water. I'm not an Irish nationalist yet I object to the term - I am entirely stisfied for Northern Ireland's constitutional status as an integral part of the UK to remain in perpetuity. It's non-usage in Ireland is certainly not determined by political stance, it is determined by the fact that Ireland is not British. This is due to our understanding of the English Language. The Pretannic Isles is not the same as 'British' Isles which you have great difficulty comprehending; 'British' refers only to the island of Great Britain, 'Pretannic' refers to Great Britain, Ireland and surrounding Islands excliding the Channel Islands.  

 Irish is not spoken by a tiny minority either, up to 40% of the population claims to speak it to some degree. The ignorance of Britons is bewildering at times; it is not a neutral term and to believe that ot has no geo-political connotations is at best naive and ignorant, at worst arrogant and stupid. To believe taht this is an English encyclopedia is just plain bizarre - this is the English LANGUAGE version of an internet Encyclopedia. The English language is not yours either, you do realise that English has been 'bastardised' to a huge extent over the centuries already, don't you? To claim that, 'Islands of  the North Atlantic laden with political judgements' and 'bastardising' the language is just absurd. Iolar