Oh wow, the dual meaning of Ireland/Eire for .ie is actually a really interesting take that I hadn't considered before. Thanks for the suggestion as well - it'

Oh wow, the dual meaning of Ireland/Eire for .ie is actually a really interesting take that I hadn't considered before. Thanks for the suggestion as well - it's a good one. I'll send them a message shortly. In the meantime, I actually reached out directly to ISO yesterday re: this and actually received the following reply last night: "Dear kaishiro, By way of reply, I'm bringing your query to the attention of the Secretariat for the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, which perhaps may have some historical information to offer on the subject. Best regards"