change could be unwelcome", as the name "Ireland" was considered by Unionists in Northern Ireland to refer to all 32 counties of Ireland. The spelling "Eire", with an E rather than an É, is not correct Irish orthography despite being preferred for many years by British government and media. Official description Since 1949, the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 has provided that the Republic of Ireland (or Poblacht na hÉireann in Irish) is the official description for the state. However, Ireland remains the constitutional name of the state. The constitutional name Ireland is normally used. However, the official description Republic of Ireland is sometimes used when disambiguation is desired between the state and the island of Ireland. In colloquial use this is often shortened to 'the Republic'. This distinction between description and name was and remains important because the Act was not a constitutional amendment and did not change the name of the state. If it had purported to do so, it would have been unconstitutional. The distinction between a description and a name has sometimes caused confusion. The Taoiseach, John A. Costello introduced the legislation with an explanation of the difference in the following way: Many republics, including the French Republic and the Italian Republic reference the institutional form of the state in their long form names, but others, such as Hungary (since 2012) and Ukraine (since 1991) do not. "Republic of Ireland" was used on the state's version of the 2021 EU Digital COVID Certificate, which a Department of Health official said was an "oversight" that would be "corrected going forward". European Union The state joined the European Economic Community (now the European Union) in 1973. Its accession treaty was drawn up in all of the EU's then-official treaty languages (including English and Irish) and, as such, the Irish state joined under both of its names, Éire and Ireland. On 1 January 2007, Irish became an official working language of the EU. This did not change the name of the Irish state in EU law. However, it has meant for example that at official meetings of the EU Council of Ministers, nameplates for the Irish state now read as Éire – Ireland, whereas previously they would simply have read as Ireland. The Inter Institutional Style Guide of The Office for Official Publications of the European Communities sets out how the names of the Member states of the European