A) Northern Ireland is not a country
B) When most people refer to Ireland, in my experience, they refer to the Republic of.
A) I never said Northern Ireland is a country. I said Ireland is an island comprising two countries. It contains he Republic of Ireland and part of the UK - therefore there are two countries in the island.
Plus it's thought of and refered to as a country in the same way that Scotland is thought of and refered to as a country. Maybe technically they're not countries because of being within the UK, but they both have their own parliament, legal system, laws and economies and budgets that are separate from Englands (although THE budget and some laws affect Northern Ireland too). And wikipedia says "it is variously described as a country, province or region of the UK, amongst other terms."
And try telling a Scotsman that Scotland isn't a country and see how long it is before he breaks your nose with his forehead.
B) Yes, but it's still like when people say "Korea" - there are two, which one are you talking about? Be more specific. And I feel it's important that people understand the difference. I mean, there was a spot of bother about the issue after all that only resulted in the murder of a member of the royal family, the attempted murder of the the Prime Minister and the murders of hundreds of civilians, soldiers and police officers, some of whom I knew (albeit indirectly - friend of a friend type thing). So I'm sorry if I feel strongly about it.