Partition was not part of the Treaty

IN his article on the Taoiseach’s meeting with Queen Elizabeth (May 19), Shaun Connolly makes reference to the picture of Michael Collins hanging overhead.

He goes on, “as a signatory of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty which partitioned the island, the threads of Mr Collins’s life work are woven tightly through the national story”.

In the interests of historical accuracy it must be stated that partition was not part of the Treaty as this had been done under the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 and the Northern parliament had been opened by the Queen’s grandfather long before the Treaty negotiations commenced.