Were the 26 counties given?

the O Reilly connection

When I was in primary school down the country in the 90s, there was a family attending the school who were half English. The mother was from England and the father was Irish. They had relatives who had fought in the Great War. When it came to teaching the Tan War in school, the mother took the kids out of class and said they shouldn't be taught that subject. Another half English family agreed and they later picketed the school. She maintained that the Irish were given the 26 counties as a reward for the Great War and that the flying columns narrative is misleading. Other families countered protested and it ended in scuffles and I'm not sure what the outcome was.

Some people in the UK share this woman's views. So what do yee think, is the Tan War being made out to be bigger than it was and are we given credit to the wrong people?

Jellybaby_1

Any chance of a link for that information? Was it reported in newspapers? The 90's weren't all that long ago. I have family in England going back further than that and they certainly wouldn't have had that opinion at all.

the O Reilly connection

I would have to have a look in the archives when I get a chance. I doubt it's online now. But I don't think it would be fair to reveal these people's identities for the sake of a historical discussion.

RonanG86

They seem to be conflating the awarding of Home Rule under the 1920 Government of Ireland Act (which wasn't a 'reward' for the Irish Volunteers in World War 1. Bar partition, it was a done deal before hand) with the independence achieved by the War of Independence.

Either that or they're just sore English exceptionalists, which is quite possible too.

Whilst the UK could've militarily defeated the Irish during the War of Independence, to do so would've involved putting the entire country under Martial Law for an indeterminate period of time, and probably would've needed them to commit more of the British Army to suppressing the IRA than they would've liked. They didn't have the stomach for that, so they negotiated instead.

Without the War of Independence, Home Rule was as far as the Brits would've gone. So no, we're not giving credit to the wrong people.

ejmaztec

I've only ever heard of both English and Irish parents taking their kids out of religion lessons and have never heard of any taken out of history lessons, it seems more than odd.

Peregrinus

Parents have a legal right to withdraw their children from religious instruction, but not from any other aspect of the curriculum. That's not to say that a school principal might not exceptionally allow it, at least on a limited basis, but the core curriculum is mandatory.