IONA (Islands of the North Atlantic) is an acronym suggested in 1980 by Sir John Biggs-Davison to refer to a loose linkage of the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey), Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales), Ireland (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), and the Isle of Man, similar to the present day British–Irish Council. Its intended purpose was as a more politically acceptable alternative to the British Isles, which is disliked by some people in Ireland.Marc Mulholland, Northern Ireland at the Crossroads: Ulster Unionism in the O'Neill Years, 1960–9 (Macmillan, 2000), p. 169.; Stephen Oppenheimer, Origins of the British, Constable and Robinson (London, 2007), p.xvi; Martyn Bennett(2003). "What's in a Name? the Death of the English Civil War: Martyn Bennett Examines How the Terminology We Use about the Great Conflict of the Mid-Seventeenth Century Reflects and Reinforces the Interpretations We Make"; Nicholas Canny, "Writing Early Modern History: Ireland, Britain, and the Wider World" in The Historical Journal, 46, 3 (2003), pp. 723–747.
IONA (Islands of the North Atlantic) is an acronym suggested in 1980 by Sir John Biggs-Davison to refer to a loose linkage of the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey), Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales), Ireland (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), and the Isle of Man, similar to the present day British–Irish Council. Its intended purpose was as a more politically acceptable alternative to the British Isles, which is disliked by some people in Ireland.Marc Mulholland, Northern Ireland at the Crossroads: Ulster Unionism in the O'Neill Years, 1960–9 (Macmillan 2000), p. 169.; Stephen Oppenheimer, Origins of the British, Constable and Robinson (London, 2007), p.xvi; Martyn Bennett(2003). "What's in a Name? the Death of the English Civil War Martyn Bennett Examines How the Terminology We Use about the Great Conflict of the Mid-Seventeenth Century Reflects and Reinforces the Interpretations We Make"; Nicholas Canny, "Writing Early Modern History: Ireland, Britain, and the Wider World" in The Historical Journal, 46 3 (2003), pp. 723–747.