People in glass houses …
How quickly people forget conflicts over a few counties that were described as Irish by some and British by others. Unlike Ireland, the Greek/Macedonian disagreement has not resulted in bombings and assassinations and I sincerely hope it doesn’t.

The government of Macedonia wants Greece to focus on a name. I hope that the new government would focus on their economy instead.

Names can be very contentious issues and I think we in Ireland should be aware of that given our history. There are still people here who don’t know officially what the name of our country is.

However the Greeks would be wise to engage and solve this debate though, because slowly but surely the name “Republic of Macedonia” is becoming the de facto recognised name over Greek objections to it. Over 130 UN members now use the name in direct engagement (including Ireland) and that number is growing all the while. The longer the Greeks stall on this issue the more they will be isolated over it and at some point international organisations will start to use the name.

Where’s Alexander the Great when you need him?

How ridiculous, in the states there is at least 9 cities/towns called Dublin, does that mean they are Irish, NO.

I submitted a comment more than an hour ago, which so far i haven’t – for some reason – seen posted.
I was more or less saying that i agree with IrishCCCP that for a Balkan country their identity is very important given their history, and that he would then definitely agree with me that that name should not be a forged one.

I also had a youtube link with the man that declared their independence and practically responsible for the fact that they exist as a state today, Kiro Gligorov, saying – when asked after a visit to the Albanian president, if they descend from ancient Macedonia and Alexander the Great – that they are Slavs, there is no connection between them and Alexander the Great, and that they came to the area in the 6th century after Christ.

IrishCCCP, if you have any solid facts that things are different from what i mention and event though in ancient times Macedonians spoke Greek, worshiped the same gods, had Greek names, fought on the same side at wars, claimed themselves to be Greek, took part in the Olympics where ONLY Greeks were allowed to take part and yet they were something else, I’d be more than happy to see them and admit i am misled.
Also, even though i don’t claim to be an expert on Irish history, i don’t remember the Irish ever claiming to be something they are not.
If my previously made comment is just pending and appears later, whoever wants to can click on the link and see for themselves the video.
If not, you can just search youtube for “we are not Macedonians”, and see Gligorov with your own eyes.
So then, even if someone never even heard the word “history” in his/her life, would be in a position to make the appropriate conclusions.

Anyway, for me, the “FYROMians” should try to tame this megalomania a bit, and deal with their actual problems, the biggest of which is how to live in peace with the Albanians that are about a third of the population and not very happy with their status.
Or, instead of spending all their money on statues of Alexander and other ancient Greeks, try to create any jobs and lower that unemployment rate that is officially 32%+

@Paddy: As odd as it might sound to you, actually not everything has a price…

I apologize for the length of my post, and i hope it is not offensive to anyone in any way.
Things can easily get out of hand, as the matter is pretty sensitive (to the people it concerns anyway)

maybe they could try buy the rights to the use the name if greece? :)

Ah just call it New Yugoslavia FFS!

..a rose by any other name would smell as sweet..

everything has a price, they are dealing with greece ffs!!!

Why not just call the province something,I wouldn’t care if they re named Connacht