Policing and internal security in Northern Ireland 1920-1939

Abstract

In 1920, at the height of the Anglo-Irish War, the British Government made a lastditch attempt to stave off a blood bath between Catholics and Protestants by partitioning the island. Six ofthe nine counties of Ulster were to form the province of Northern Ireland, an area rougWy the size of Yorkshire, where Protestants were in the majority. Its affairs were to be run by a home rule government based in Belfast, while , a similar administration in Dublin would become responsible for the other twenty-six counties ofwhat was soon to be known as the Irish Free State.Although there were a number of fairly large cities within the new province it was, for the most part' of a ,rural nature with a complex border that weaved from the north Donegal coast, running ro~gWy south and then cut its way along the northern boundaries of Counties Monaghan, Cavan' and Louth to the Irish Sea. The creation of this border and of a Northern Irish state threw up problems which needed solving rapidly in order to stabilise the province and to establish the authority of the new Northern Government. This, resulted in draconian legislation and the creation of a security system which has caused controversy ever since.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo