In the 1970s, officials discussed redrawing the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, according to BBC.
The document was drawn up at the request of the Irish cabinet following the collapse of the Sunningdale Agreement and the nascent power-sharing government of Stormont in 1974. Reducing the size of Northern Ireland was one of the options proposed by Dublin civil servants in response to the escalating violence during the Troubles.
The 1975 discussion paper was first made public as part of the annual release of government papers.
The previously secret document was entitled “Negotiated Repartition of Northern Ireland” and contained a proposal to transfer vast areas and hundreds of thousands of inhabitants from north to south.
Officials also suggested that there would be a “tremendous economic burden” if the border were forcibly redrawn as a result of large-scale violence. In addition, the implications of possible Irish military intervention in Northern Ireland to “subdue Loyalist resistance” were also considered.
The Irish government wanted to prepare for all eventualities, including possible British withdrawal, widespread violence and even civil war. Under the maximum change option, two-thirds of Northern Ireland would become part of the Republic, with all of County Fermanagh and large parts of Counties Tyrone, Down, Armagh and Londonderry. Under this option, 486,000 residents (285,000 Catholics and 201,000 non-Catholics) would move from north to south, according to Irish broadcaster RTÉ.
In the end, Irish government advisors concluded that this option would be “beyond our military and administrative capabilities.”
The 1975 plan fell through, but it was not the first time the Irish government had put forward its own proposals to change the boundary line. For example, when the island of Ireland was partitioned in 1921, the Anglo-Irish treaty stated that a commission would be set up to determine the future boundary of the newly created Northern Ireland.
