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and that ‘Northern Sinn Feiners would never enter the Ulster Parliament’.64 One observer, Godfrey Fetherstonhaugh from Dublin, claimed that ‘by way of reductio ad absurdum that Donegal, the most northern county of Ireland, is to form part of “Southern” Ireland’ with ‘a narrow strip only a couple of miles wide, near Bundoran, being the connection’ between Donegal and the rest of ‘Southern’ Ireland.65

      The Irish Times, in an article written in February 1921, revealed the level of confusion surrounding partition at the time. Partition, it contended, would ‘have old-established bodies to be broken up and destroyed, but, in most cases two new ones put in place of each old one. The heads of departments are called upon to decide what portion of their duties is concerned with Southern Ireland, and what with Northern they have to allocate their various staffs in the same way.’66

      Many in the civil service, which was administered in Dublin, were reluctant to move to Belfast and uproot their families and homes, even in instances where their work solely related to the area that would become Northern Ireland.67 George Chester Duggan, a civil servant who did move to Belfast, claimed that everyone in the civil service in Dublin ‘seemed to believe that the Government of Ireland Act in its present form would never become law, that something would happen to prevent the partition of Ireland’.68 Martin Maguire also asserts:

      For the civil service itself ‘the nightmare of transfer to Belfast’ as it was described in Red Tape, the civil service journal, seemed remote. Such was the conviction within the civil service associations that partition would not happen or, if it did, would not work, that they several times repeated their determination that they would remain as all-Ireland associations.69

      Members of the old RIC from throughout Ireland did move to Northern Ireland in large numbers to join the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) when it was formed in 1922, perhaps not surprising considering their unpopularity in most parts of Ireland at the time.70 The leadership of the civil service trade unions worked to prevent the forced movement of civil servants to Belfast. They also secretly maintained contact with the revolutionary forces in Dáil Éireann, just in case Sinn Féin would be in power one day.71

      The breaking up of the Department of Agriculture was particularly bemoaned, as it was seen as a great success since its formation twenty-one years earlier. However, two of its functions – namely, fisheries and the administration of the Diseases of Animals Acts, were reserved for the Council of Ireland.72 There was a sense of nostalgia at the last all-Ireland Council of Agriculture meeting on 15 March 1921. At the meeting, T.P. Gill, council secretary, made the following resolution:

      That this Board, representative of all parts of Ireland, desire to place on record the fact that for twenty-one years they have worked together in unbroken harmony, in discharging the responsible duties entrusted to them, and they venture to express the hope that under some arrangement or other, this useful and gratifying co-operation will not be wholly dispensed with in the future.73

      The Council of Agriculture had seen close cooperation between unionists and nationalists throughout its existence, as had other all-Ireland bodies, such as the Association of Municipal Authorities, where ‘Southern Sinn Feiners and Northern Unionists’ were known to work comfortably with each other.74 The Royal College of Science, the Albert Model Farm in Glasnevin, the Royal Veterinary College at Ballsbridge, the National Museum and the Metropolitan School of Art were all administered by the Department of Agriculture, all based in Dublin. It was unclear how those institutions could be split in two, it not being an option to move half of them, in situ, to Belfast.75 There was also confusion surrounding art treasures. Would the National Gallery in Dublin also be expected to be split in two, with half of its valuable contents shipped to Belfast and the other half remaining in Dublin?76

      The Freeman’s Journal posed the question, ‘Will anyone even adduce a single fact to show that such breaking up is not ruinous from every point of view?’77 Teachers met in Belfast in March 1921 to prepare for the impending six-counties education bill, where it was advised that ‘individual representatives of the various organisations whose ramifications extend throughout all Ireland to keep in sympathy and close touch with the general ideals of those associations’ until a proper Department of Education for Northern Ireland was formed.78 As the body that controlled primary education in Ireland, the National Board, was not established through an act of parliament (the advisory committee members were nominated by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland instead) there were doubts about whether the Government of Ireland Act was capable of breaking it up and establishing two education departments.79 Insurance companies envisaged that they would be disastrously affected by partition. To illustrate the complications that ‘the sea of confusion’ of partition would bring, the Freeman’s Journal provided a breakdown of health insurance holders in Ireland in April 1921:

      There are approximately 750,000 insured persons in Ireland who are members of Approved Societies. Of these about 474,000 reside in Southern Ireland and 276,000 in Northern Ireland. Of the 474,000 who reside in Southern Ireland it is estimated that 357,000 belong to societies with headquarters in Southern Ireland, 13,000 to societies with headquarters in Northern Ireland, and 94,000 to societies in Great Britain. Of the 276,000 who reside in Northern Ireland it is estimated that 119,000 belong to societies with headquarters in Northern Ireland, 50,000 to societies with headquarters in Southern Ireland, and 107,000 to societies with headquarters in Great Britain.80

      The transfer of the National Health Insurance to the governments of Northern and Southern Ireland, it was believed, would seriously affect the ability of insurance companies to operate, considering the geographical composition of their membership.

      Despite the substantial opposition to the Government of Ireland Act, the British government continued with its implementation. Elections for the two new parliaments were set for May 1921. The Manchester Guardian summed up what it saw as the seriously flawed nature of the government’s actions:

      To-day is the ‘appointed day’ under the Government of Ireland Act … The date of the elections must be fixed, the machinery for election under the novel system of proportional representation must be provided, and many other arrangements for the division of the administration and judicial machinery at present common to the whole of Ireland into separate parts must be begun. It is an extensive and a critical process, and will take place under conditions the most adverse imaginable. The grant of self-government to Ireland should have been an occasion full of rejoicing and hope, and so with a consenting Ireland it would have been. But Ireland has not consented; four-fifths of it has refused. The proffered gift is not welcomed; it is rejected, and rejected with anger and with scorn. An act which should have been an act of conciliation and friendship has taken on the guise simply of another exercise of power. It postulates calm and peace; it takes place in presence of the extremes of violence and in an atmosphere of hate. It forebodes not the cessation but the continuance of strife. Such are the fruits of a policy which has substituted force for statesmanship, which plants thorns and bids us gather grapes. It has brought us nothing but suffering, failure, and disgrace. Is there not yet some remnant of sense and courage among our governing men which shall suffice to put an end now, at long last, to this travesty of justice, this mockery of the very elements of wise statesmanship?81

      The Government of Ireland Act came into effect on 3 May 1921. Three weeks later, elections were held for the two parliaments. Known as the ‘Partition Election’, it determined the make-up of the first parliament of the new entity that was Northern Ireland.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      Northern Ireland is Born

      Although nationalists vehemently opposed the Government of Ireland Act, the nationalist parties still contested the election for Northern Ireland. Áine Ceannt, widow of executed Easter Rising leader Éamonn, disagreed with this decision, claiming that as Dáil Éireann was the only government she recognised, ‘no one else would order a general election’, and certainly not the British government whip.1 Some commentators have contended that ‘by participating in the Home Rule elections, Sinn Fein recognised partition and assisted in the establishment of a separate government for the six counties’.2 Sinn Féin leader Éamon de Valera

      recognised the danger of contesting if Republicans and Nationalists couldn’t

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