Sir, Mr M. M. Delmonte (letters, December 27th) alludes to "most continental weather forecasters" using the term "The British Isles" when referring to the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. TV5, the international French language channel, has to admit that it did use the expression in weather forecasts until a detailed submission was received from a regular TV5 viewer, Mr Anthony Collins of Athlone.
Mr Collins asked us in late 1993 to "take the sensibilities of the Irish" into consideration before TV5 became generally available in the bigger cities of Ireland on cable. He enclosed documents from the Department of Foreign Affairs and from the Professor of Geography in UCG to back up his claim that Ireland was not in the British Isles.
Mr Patrick Imhaus, president of TV5, immediately gave instructions to weather forecasters to ensure that they referred to Ireland and Great Britain in lieu of the incorrect "British Isles". This has been, and continues to be the policy in our Meteo des Cinq Continents, shown five times daily. Full credit was given to Mr Collins on screen, one day in February 1994, to emphasise this change. Occasional human errors do occur, however.
TV5, the third most available satellite channel in the world (after MTV and CNN), now in 85 countries planet-wide, has an obligation to its viewers in Ireland, where nearly 300,000 households may access our 24-hour service. It will continue trying to get it perfectly, politically correct.
Yours, etc.,
Correspondant, TV5 En Irelande, Clontarf Road, Dublin 3.