Editing Gerrymandering (section)

=====Local authority elections=====
{{Unbalanced|date=April 2020|section}}
<!-- I coun't find a more appropriate or inline template. I have put a POV tag below to highlight the problem. The problem is that An Phoblacht is a publication whose sole purpose is to disseminate a separatist or republican viewpoint to readers, and which has close links to Sinn Féin and the IRA. Also, the section (including a selection at the top of the article) is unbalanced in terms of explaining any counter-argument to the claim of gerrymandering in Northern Ireland. -->

Gerrymandering (in {{Langx|ga|Claonroinnt}}) in local elections was introduced in 1923 by the Leech Commission. This was a one-man commission: Sir John Leech, K.C. was appointed by [[Dawson Bates]], Northern Ireland's [[Minister of Home Affairs]], to redraw Northern Ireland's local government electoral boundaries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bew|first1=Paul|last2=Patterson|first2=Henry|last3=Gibbon|first3=Peter|title=The state in Northern Ireland, 1921–72: political forces and social classes  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RXm7AAAAIAAJ&q=leech |pages=  |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-7190-0814-6|oclc= }}</ref>{{rp|68}} Leech was also chairman of the Advisory Committee who recommended the release or continued detention of the persons that the Northern Irish government was interning without trial at that time.<ref>{{cite book |last= McConville |first= Sean |title=Irish Political Prisoners 1920–1962: Pilgrimage of Desolation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=au_eDwAAQBAJ&q=Leech |pages= |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year= 2020 |isbn= 978-1-000-08274-6 |oclc= }}</ref> Leech's changes (gerrymandered electoral boundaries, abolishing proportional representation),<ref>McCluskey, Fergal, (2013), ''The Irish Revolution 1912-23: Tyrone'', Four Courts Press, Dublin, pg 126, ISBN 9781846822995</ref> together with a resultant boycott by the [[Irish Nationalist]] community, resulted in [[Irish unionism|Unionists]] gaining control of [[Londonderry County Borough Council]], [[Fermanagh County Council|Fermanagh]] and [[Tyrone County Council]]s, and retaking eight rural district councils. These county councils, and most of the district councils, remained under Unionist control despite the majority of their population being Catholic until the UK government imposed [[Direct rule (Northern Ireland)|Direct Rule]] in 1972.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Callanan |first1=Mark |title=Local Government in Ireland: Inside Out |last2=Keogan |first2=Justin F. |publisher=Institute of Public Administration |year=2003 |isbn=1-902448-93-6 |location=Dublin |pages=460–462}}</ref><ref name="Magill">{{Cite news |url=https://magill.ie/archive/north-crisis-realities-discrimination |date=1 September 1969 |title=The North in crisis-The realities of discrimination |work=[[Magill Magazine]]}}</ref><!-- <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/22187|title=Gerrymandering electoral boundaries {{!}} An Phoblacht|website=www.anphoblacht.com|access-date=29 August 2019}}</ref>{{POV statement|date=April 2020}}-->

Leech's new electoral boundaries for the 1924 Londonderry County Borough Council election reduced the number of wards from four to three, only one of which had a Nationalist majority. This resulted in election of a [[Unionists (Ireland)|Unionist]] council in every election, until the County Borough Council's replacement in 1969 by the unelected Londonderry Development Commission, in a city where [[Irish nationalism|Nationalists]] had a large majority and had won [[1920 Londonderry County Borough Council election|previous elections]].<ref name="Laffan">{{cite book |last=Laffan |first=Michael |title=The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbz6p-O39aoC&q=labour+ireland+1920+394+seats&pg=PA327 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=327 |isbn= 978-1-139-42629-9|year=1999 }}</ref><ref name="whyte">{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/discrimination/whyte.htm |title=CAIN: Issues – Discrimination: John Whyte, 'How much discrimination was there under the Unionist regime, 1921–1968?' |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=5 August 2009 |archive-date=16 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116023959/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/discrimination/whyte.htm }}</ref>

Some critics and supporters spoke at the time of "[[A Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People]]".<ref>See: Ferriter D. ''The Transformation of Ireland 1900–2000'' London: Profile Press 2004, p.281; {{ISBN|1-86197-307-1}}. Buckland P., ''The Factory of Grievances: Devolved Government in Northern Ireland 1921–1939'' New York: Barnes & Noble; Dublin: Gill & MacMillan 1979, p.72 {{ISBN|0-06-490752-X}}. Cronin S., ''Irish Nationalism: A History of its Roots and Ideology'' New York: Continuum, 1981; p.177 {{ISBN|0-8264-0062-0}}. Tierney M., ''Modern Ireland 1850–1950'' Dublin; Gill and Macmillan, 1978; p.230. {{ISBN|0-7171-0886-4}}.</ref><!-- No context. No reference to the fact that the phrase "Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State" was used in direct response to the claim made by Éamon Devalera that the Irish Free State was a "Catholic nation". --> This passed also into local government, where supporters of the elected majorities were given jobs and appointments.<ref name= Magill /> [[Stephen Gwynn]] noted as early as 1911 that since the introduction of the [[Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898]]:

<blockquote>In [[County Armagh|Armagh]] there are 68,000 Protestants, 56,000 Catholics. The County Council has twenty-two Protestants and eight Catholics. In [[County Tyrone|Tyrone]], Catholics are a majority of the population, 82,000 against 68,000; but the electoral districts have been so arranged that Unionists return sixteen as against thirteen Nationalists (one a Protestant). This Council gives to the Unionists two to one majority on its Committees, and out of fifty-two officials employs only five Catholics. In [[County Antrim|Antrim]], which has the largest Protestant majority (196,000 to 40,000), twenty-six Unionists and three Catholics are returned. Sixty officers out of sixty-five are good Unionists and Protestants.<ref>Gwynn S.L. ''The Case for Home Rule'' (1911) pp. 104–105. (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/E900030.html book text here; accessed August 2010)</ref></blockquote>

Initially Leech drew the boundaries, but from the 1920s to the 1940s the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland|province-wide government]] redrew them to reinforce the gerrymander.<ref name="whyte" />{{rp|1(c)}}<ref>{{Cite news |first=Robert |last=Kee |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zmfqhyc |date=17 February 1981 |title=Gerrymandering in Londonderry in the late 1960s |publisher=BBC Bitesize}}</ref>

[[Cahir Healy]], the long time MP for Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone highlighted the extent of gerrymandering in County Borough Councils elections of the 1930s: Fermanagh reported 30,196 Nationalists and 24,272 Unionists yet Nationalists retained only seven seats while Unionists retained 12. Similar results occurred in County Tyrone: 70,595 Nationalists retained 11 seats while 56,981 Unionists held 16 seats.<ref>Healy, Cahir (1945), ''The Mutilation of a Nation : The Story behind Partition in Ireland'', The Derry Journal Ltd, pg 40, JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.29825522. Accessed 24 July 2023.</ref>