In this chapter you will learn about: • The administration of Northern Ireland after partition • The divisions between nationalist and unionist communities • Steps taken by the Unionist government to establish law and order • The economic difficulties in Northern Ireland during the inter-war years
By the end of this chapter you will be able to: • Discuss the divisions in Northern Ireland’s society • Explain the efforts taken to restore law and order in the North • Discuss the problems facing the North’s economy during the inter-war years • Understand the shaping of Northern Irish identity following partition
The Northern Irish Parliament
The Northern Irish State was established under the Government of Ireland Act, 1920. The Act was introduced by the British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, as a way of solving the divisions between nationalists and unionists that had emerged since the Ulster Crisis that followed the Third Home Rule Bill in 1912. The Government
of Ireland
Act proposed the creation of two Home Rule parlia- ments, one in Belfast and the other in Dublin. Sinn Féin rejected this proposal. The Ulster Unionist Party in Northern Ireland accepted it. (SEE ALSO CHAPTER 2)
Belfast in the 1920s. 222 LEAVING CERTIFICATE HISTORY
