A History of Ireland in Song

Partition

Partition was one of the results of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922, which concluded the war between Ireland and Britain. Ireland was split in two. One part, the Irish Free State, consisted of 26 counties granted a measure of self-government within the Commonwealth. The other part, Northern Ireland, which remained part of the UK, was an artificial entity created from six of the nine counties of the ancient province of Ulster. It was initially planned to take all the counties of Ulster for the North, but it became clear that the north-eastern six was the largest size that had any prospect of being governable. Both new states were consolidated in a reign of terror against republicans.

Another provision of the Treaty established a Border Commission, whose purported goal was to examine and adjust the border between the two new states. This, indeed, was one of the placatory measures which persuaded the Irish delegates at the treaty negotiations to agree to partition at all. They assumed that any just settlement of border issues must result in a "Northern Ireland" so small as to be unviable. However, it had been privately agreed in advance between the British and the new Stormont regime in the six counties that the Border Commission could be so composed as to be unable to make any effective proposals; and so it proved.

Partition was designed to ensure the continuance of a pro-British majority in at least some part of Ireland, and thus aid in the continuation of British dominance over the island as a whole. Since the north-east was the most prosperous and industrialised part of the country, partition also had the effect of ensuring that the newly-"independent" part of the island would likely remain de facto a British dependency. One curious illustration of this fact is that the "Republic of Ireland" lacked its own currency until 1979, instead printing its own, unconvertable form of Pound Sterling.

Partition met its objectives satisfactorily for 40 years, despite a desultory IRA campaign. The resurgence of the national struggle in the late 1960s brought the whole arrangement into question.

The most important question one can ask in history or politics is, cui bono? Thus, those who baulk at some of the ideas expressed in this article might like to consider that the British Government is not some kind of benevolent society set up to look after poor old Ireland; indeed from Ireland's point of view it has always functioned rather as a kind of mutual trust fund set up with rape and pillage as the company aims and principles. The only hope of Ireland is that we will one day realise this.

[Home] [A History of Ireland in Song] [Links] [Support] [Contact]