The Government of Ireland Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67) was the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which partitioned Ireland. The Act's long title was "An Act to provide for the better government of Ireland"; it is also known as the Fourth Home Rule Bill or (less accurately) as the Fourth Home Rule Act.
The Act was intended to establish separate Home Rule institutions within two new subdivisions of Ireland: the six north-eastern counties were to form "Northern Ireland", while the larger part of the country was to form "Southern Ireland". Both areas of Ireland were to continue as a part of the United Kingdom, and provision was made for their future unification under common Home Rule institutions.
Home Rule never took effect in Southern Ireland due to the Irish War of Independence, which resulted instead in the establishment in 1922 of the Irish Free State. The institutions set up under the Act for Northern Ireland continued until their suspension by the British parliament in 1972 as a consequence of the Troubles.
The remaining provisions of the Act still in force in Northern Ireland were repealed under the terms of the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
Read more about Government Of Ireland Act 1920: Background, Long's Committee, Developments in Ireland, Two 'Home Rule' Irelands, Structures of The Governmental System, Potential For Irish Unity
Famous quotes containing the words government, ireland and/or act:
“I am really sorry to see my countrymen trouble themselves about politics. If men were wise, the most arbitrary princes could not hurt them. If they are not wise, the freest government is compelled to be a tyranny. Princes appear to me to be fools. Houses of Commons & Houses of Lords appear to me to be fools; they seem to me to be something else besides human life.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“No people can more exactly interpret the inmost meaning of the present situation in Ireland than the American Negro. The scheme is simple. You knock a man down and then have him arrested for assault. You kill a man and then hang the corpse.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“The important thing is that when you come to understand something you act on it, no matter how small that act is. Eventually it will take you where you need to go.”
—Helen Prejean (b. 1940)