The “Boundary Question”

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 28, 19 July 1923, Page 15

The “Boundary Question”

(By "Dungannon," in the Irish Weekly.)

HOW IT CAN BE "SETTLED."

So long ago as the end of November, 1922, a few editorial paragraphs worth resurrecting at this moment appeared in the Irish Review, a Dublin publication*. I think some passages can be usefully reproduced at the present time; the writer was prophetic to an extent not ordinarily vouchsafed to political "experts." He said: —■ "The question of Ulster meanwhile becomes more urgent. The day that will see a partitioned Ireland is almost here. There is a futile belief abroad that the provisions of the Treaty by which a Boundary Commission is to be set up will, if allowed to take their course, settle mUtters satisfactorily. Many people think there is no need to worrywe stand by our bond and the English Government, and the Northern Government must adhere to it, too. "This easy illusion will be shattered for anyone who will examine a map on which the distribution of population * politically is marked. So interspersed are the different populations in Ulster that no Commission, however evenly it hold the scales, could devise a boundary that will not place large masses of people under a. Government that they will bitterly resent. We are emerging from one civil war in Ireland; the boundary question—if we are to come to contains all the seeds of another." N Everyone who knows anything about Fermanagh and Tyrone to mention other areas in disputewill agree that the writer in the Irish Review had a sane and practical grip of the situationso long ago as November 25. He looked upon maps. I am a native-born Tyronian; I know my county; I know Fermanagh as intimately; with the exception of a- part of South Fermanagh. I hold it impossible to give back to the Irish Free State, or to annex for the Belfast Government, any area worth having in Tyrone, Fermanagh, Monaghan, or Donegal without inflicting on both "sides" an injustice more serious and stupid than even the wrongs done by the Partition Act against which there were only* six or seven Irishmen left to fight in the arena where it could have been defeated by 60 or 70. The writer in the Dublin organ went on to say: "If we are wise it will not come to that. We do not want a boundary to divide Ireland, but an understanding that" will unite Ireland. The Free State Government and the Northern Government should get into conference thus can a calamity equally dangerous to both of them be averted. If they cannot quickly reach agreement, Ttiey should take their time and remain in conference until they do reach agreement. "The present position can be maintained without difficulty and without prejudice to either side, and every effort should be made to dissuade either side from taking any irrevocable step. "As we have said before in this paper the Free State ' Government must take the initiative, because it alone can. The Northern Government must go out of the Free. State next month or forever stay in. No agreement can be reached within the time that is left; the time must therefore be exended to enable agreement to be reached. The Free State Government alone can arrange the extension of time." Well, the Northern Government have "gone out"—and things are between the two Governments —outwardly—as they were last November. - s Does any man amongst us Nationalists in the Six Counties, or any woman, now believe that the status quo can be disturbed after what has happened, and after what has not happened, since? I say— nonsense and face facts. We are here; we must stay here to live our lives in bur (own land. Get together—and make the best of it until better days come for all Ireland. \ "DUNGANNON." :'.>■• ;. P.S. —I think it worth noticing that some Ministers and officials of the Irish Free State, including the Minister of Education, are regular contributors to the Irish Review. —D.