23-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
How ‘inertia, incapacity and appalling ineptitude' stymied attempts to redraw the Irish border
In 1925, the Boundary Commission collapsed amid rancour, spying and an absent-minded Irish representative
One hundred years ago, the Irish Boundary Commission collapsed in acrimony after the proposal by the three boundary commissioners suggesting a new border in Ireland was shelved and the border remained as it was, as it still is.
Under the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, which provided for the prospect of a boundary commission to decide the contours of the border, three commissioners were to be appointed to carry out the task. The chairman was to be appointed by the British government, with the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland governments appointing one representative each.
