Irish terror aimed to create a border – but mistakenly thought it would be in the sea

Seanán Ó Coistín repeats the well known nationalist perspective that unionists sought the border in Ireland.
Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

No they didn’t. Unionists did not want a border anywhere. For them the political unit which they belonged to pre 1920 was the British Isles (including all of Ireland) and the prospect of a border anywhere within it horrified them.

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Republicans though did want a border but their terrorist campaign to break away from the United Kingdom miscalculated where that border was going to be.

Instead of wholly down the Irish Sea, it ended up partly within Ireland.

Unionists accepted an Irish border was drawn to protect their interests but felt that if nationalists wanted to secede from the rest of the British Isles then they had a right to secede from the rest of Ireland.

Nationalists created a border, unionists merely determined where it went.

Instead of simplistically blaming unionists for the Irish border, perhaps nationalism should take responsibility for their part in creating it.

Thomas Stewart, Belfast, BT4