 On stamps , the name of the state has always been written in Irish and rarely also written in English . The overprints were stamped first Rialtas Sealadach na hÉireann ( " Provisional Government of Ireland " ) and later Saorstát Éireann ( " Irish Free State " ) . Subsequent stamps nearly all used the name Éire ( " Ireland " ) , even though this was not the name of the state until the 1937 Constitution took effect . The exceptions were issued in 1949 and 1950 , and used POBLAĊT NA hÉIREANN or Poblacht na h @-@ Éireann ( " Republic of Ireland " ) . This phrase is the official description of the state specified in the Republic of Ireland Act , which came into force in April 1949 ; the state 's name was not changed by the Act . Fianna Fáil defeated the outgoing government in the 1951 election and abandoned the use of the description , reverting to the name on stamps and elsewhere . Originally , Éire was written in Gaelic type ; from 1952 to 1979 , many stamps had the name of the state in Roman type , usually in all caps , and often written EIRE rather than ÉIRE , omitting the síneadh fada accent over the initial ' E ' . In 1981 the Department of Posts and Telegraphs recommended the inclusion of the word " Ireland " along with " Éire " on stamps but the Department of the Taoiseach vetoed the idea on the basis it could cause " constitutional and political repercussions " and that " the change could be unwelcome . " 
