Ever wondered which one was right, or what/where it meant? This may help a little. Grey's Blog (2,864 views)

Well said Jason. Ireland is Ireland. The north is Northern Ireland.
You tell someone in England you're Irish and they either think you're talking about the North, or ask whether you're from North or South. If you're from the the North you would have said that. We're from Ireland, simple as that. No need to state the obvious and say the it's a republic, we all know that!
(The English love to state the obvious, e.g. 'a carrier bag', instead of 'bag', 'engaged to get married', instead of 'engaged', or the worst of all 'rashers of bacon' instead of just 'rashers', I mean whoever heard of rashers of beef?!)

english people like me do not say 'rashers of bacon' we just say 'bacon'! and not 'engaged to get married' we just say they are 'engaged'