ABSTRACT
Modern Anglo-Irish relations can be dated from the Government of Ireland Act of 1920. The 1920 Act created two new governments in Ireland, one in Belfast governing six counties of the northeast of the country and one in Dublin governing the remaining 26 counties. This situation pleased no group. Nationalists in Ireland had wanted one government to exercise control over the whole of Ireland (though disagreement existed as to whether this should be over an independent state or one exercising powers devolved from Westminster under Home Rule). Unionists in the North wanted to maintain the situation that existed between 1800 and 1920 with Ireland governed directly from Westminster. British politicians wanted to end the ability of the Irish issue to dominate the wider British political scene and felt this would be best served by Irish unity of some description. This tripartite separation of power between London, Dublin and Belfast was widely believed to be a temporary situation. The 1920 government of Ireland Act called for the creation of a Council of Ireland, which would help to pave the path to the eventual unity of the island. Yet events conspired to make such unity less rather than more likely.
