Creation of Northern Ireland
PRONI Reference: D1415/D/4
The Government of Ireland Act of 1920 provided for the establishment of a devolved government for Northern Ireland.
Although largely modelled on Westminster, this had to be put together from scratch and PRONI holds a number of valuable archives illustrating how this was achieved. Foremost among these are the official files of the early government departments, especially the Cabinet Conclusion files. A separate file exists for each meeting of the Cabinet and the discussions and decisions recorded reflect the wide range of problems and activities involved in putting the machinery of the new administration into motion.
PRONI also holds the correspondence files of the Prime Minister which include important letters from Lloyd George, Michael Collins, Eamon De Valera and Arthur Griffiths relating to the negotiations between the British Government and the Irish Delegation which led up to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921.
PRONI also has in its custody the records of the newly created ministries in Northern Ireland and of several individuals, such as Sir James and Lady Craig who played key roles in the establishment of Northern Ireland
