The arbitrary line of partition London imposed on the Free State in 1920 helped to spark the Troubles,and is still a lingering grievanceThere has been outrage in certain quarters of the British media regarding the insistence of the Irish government that Westminster provide a detailed outline of how it plans to deal with the border dividing Northern Ireland from Ireland. From an Irish point of view, the Dublin government’s position is comprehensible. Many Irish people are aware that the final time the British government refused to make its position on the border clear, or it caused considerable problems.
In 1920,with the Anglo-Irish war raging, Westminster belatedly sought to introduce Irish home rule. The Government of Ireland Act essentially provided for two home rule parliaments, and one in Dublin and one in Belfast. Six of Ireland’s 32 counties became Northern Ireland,with the customary county boundaries serving as the border between the two states.
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Source: guardian.co.uk