Letter to the Editor: Government of Ireland Act the mother of all gerrymanders

The creation of the six-county state (as opposed to the historic nine of Ulster) is a textbook example of gerrymandering

In December 1920, the partition of Ulster and Ireland was pushed through the Westminster parliament creating the border with the six counties. Picture: Margaret McLaughlin 

The Government of Ireland Act (GOIA) was enacted 100 years
ago this month; the enactment followed the sweeping democratic victory for republican separatists in the general election of December 1918.

The more immediate context, however, which prompted the unionists and their British backers to act decisively, was the two local election results of 1920.