Editing Government of Ireland Act 1920 (section)

=== Northern Ireland ===
The [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]] came into being in June 1921. At its inauguration, in [[Belfast City Hall]], King [[George V]] made a famous appeal for Anglo-Irish and north–south reconciliation. The speech, drafted by the government of [[David Lloyd George]] on recommendations from [[Jan Smuts]]{{efn|Jan Smuts was one of the best Boer commanders of the [[Second Boer War]]. His deep Commando raids into [[Cape Province]] caused considerable embarrassment and difficulties for the British Army. After the war he decided that his future and that of South Africa lay in reconciliation between [[Afrikaner]] and the British. In 1914 at the start of [[World War I]] the Boer "bitter enders" rose against the government in the [[Boer Revolt]] and allied themselves with their old supporter Germany. General Smuts played an important part in crushing the rebellion and defeating the Germans in Africa, before fighting on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. The South African establishment, of which Smuts was a part, in contrast to the British establishment in 1916, was lenient to the leaders of the revolt, who were fined and spent two years in prison. After this revolt and lenient treatment the "bitter enders" contented themselves with working within the system. It was his experience of the Boer–British rapprochement which he was able to bring to the attention of the British government as an alternative to confrontation.}} Prime Minister of the [[Union of South Africa]], with the enthusiastic backing of the King, opened the door for formal contact between the [[British Government]] and the [[Irish republicanism|Republican]] administration of [[Éamon de Valera]].

Though it was superseded in large part, its repeal remained a matter of controversy until accomplished in the 1990s (under the provisions of the 1998 [[Good Friday Agreement]]).{{sfn|Jackson|2004|p=368–370}}