Partition again suggested as solution to the ‘Irish question’
London, 10 June 1916 - Groups from around Ireland have condemned the proposal to temporarily exclude six Ulster counties from the new Home Rule settlement.
Originally suggested in 1912, the recommendation has been reiterated at a series of conferences in London organised by the government minister David Lloyd George, who was asked to find a resolution to the ‘Irish problem’ by the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith in the aftermath of the Easter Rising.
The conferences have been attended by Sir Edward Carson, a leading member of the Irish unionist faction, and John Redmond, the leader of the nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party.
The proposals would see the immediate establishment of a Home Rule parliament in Dublin, with the exception of six north-eastern counties for the duration of the war.
A permanent solution for those six counties would be sought at a conference to be convened after the conclusion of the war.
Prof. Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh in conversation with RTÉ’S David McCullagh about the war, the rebellion, and John Redmond.
Opposition
The Church of Ireland Gazette said that the planned
partition of Ireland 'realises our worst fears':
‘We are expressing the opinion of all Southern Unionists and, we believe, the bulk of Nationalists and Ulster Unionists, when we invite the leaders of both political parties to call an instant halt to a hasty and ill-advised policy which is leading our country straight for disaster.’
The proposals, the Gazette said, would ‘set up in Ireland an utterly artificial system of government under partition which will stereotype existing political divisions, and stifle political and economic progress in our country for generations to come’.
A meeting of Tyrone nationalists said that partition would ‘mutilate’ Ireland. ‘The proposal is a monstrous one, and is certain to be rejected with scorn by Ulster Nationalists.’
The meeting heard a reminder that only two years previously, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John Redmond, had said that partition would be ‘an abomination and a blasphemy.’
Both the national press and provincial newspapers voiced their condemnation of partition. Articles described the proposals as ‘a fools’ paradise’: ‘The repugnant past or the military administration of the hour would be preferable to a bit of Home Rule for a bit of Ireland. This would breed anarchy instead of government.’
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
