Centenary of the Government of Ireland Act » Mícheál Mac Donncha The centenary of the passing of the 1920 Government of Ireland Act falls on 23 December, the day 100 years ago when the legislation received ‘royal assent’ and became law, setting the British legal framework for the Partition of Ireland. The British government plot to divide Ireland was long in the making and it was accomplished by a combination of deception and terror. The principle of Partition was first introduced by British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith in the House of Commons when he proposed “county option with a time limit” by which any of the nine counties of Ulster might vote out of Home Rule for a period of six years. Irish Party leader John Redmond accepted the principle of Partition as a temporary measure, leading James Connolly to write that such a scheme “would mean a carnival of reaction both North and South, would set back the wheels of progress…” and it should be fought “even to the death”. From the beginning nationalists of all shades, as well as republicans and socialists, expressed their opposition to it.