Cormac Moore

FORMER DUP leader Peter Robinson intervened last week on the party's continued boycott of Stormont, criticising its strategic approach.

THE Ulster unionist opposition to home rule which ultimately led to the partition of Ireland was based not just on religious differences and concerns but also on real and perceived differences and concerns over issues such as identity, the economy and language.

IT is almost forgotten that the DUP boycotted the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) in 2021 before it withdrew from Stormont in February 2022, also over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

IN the years of Ireland’s partition, the Anglo-Irish War of Independence and subsequent civil war, Irish nationalism was riven with division and rivalry.

Being under siege, or at least the perception of being under siege, has been the default position of Ulster unionism for some time.

This Friday, the 10th men’s Rugby World Cup begins when hosts France take on New Zealand.

ONE hundred years ago, on July 20 1923, the president of the Irish Free State executive council, WT Cosgrave, announced in Dáil Éireann that he had appointed Eoin MacNeill as the "best person to represent the Saorstát [Free State] as our Nominee on the Boundary Commission".

MOST people would agree that there will be a border poll in the not-too-distant future.

In May 1923, Armagh-born and newly appointed anti-Treaty IRA chief of staff Frank Aiken issued an order to republicans to dump their arms, thus bringing an end to the hostilities of the 11-month long civil war.

Smuggling was a feature of the land border in Ireland the moment it came into being this month 100 years ago, in April 1923, as people used all means at their disposal to avoid paying duties or to escape higher prices