100 years Ago Today Partition Was Imposed.

Opening of the Parliament in Belfast City Hall 1921

Today marks the 100th Anniversary of the opening of the Parliament in the North of Ireland. Designed to serve a gerrymandered state and be a "Protestant parliament for a Protestant People". From its inception, it was marked by anti-catholic pogroms and killings.

Those days are gone and are not coming back.

The Assembly and Executive that now sits in the north are founded on equality, partnership, and respect. Today we look forward to undoing the mistakes of history and replacing division with unity.

Speaking today, Sinn Féin deputy President said,

“One hundred years ago partition changed Irish history forever. It divided our island, our people, and our economy. It created an exclusionary northern state, built on discrimination and maintained by repression.

Deputy President Sinn Féin Michelle O'Neill MLA

“The peace process, the Good Friday Agreement, power-sharing, and all-Ireland political institutions have transformed the landscape of politics across the island. Today the Unionist political majority is gone.

"During this decade we will have the freedom to decide our own constitutional future.

"One hundred years on from the folly that was partition people across Ireland are thinking about their identity and their future. They are looking for a better future and considering new options.

“The conversation is well underway on a new Ireland where all identities are valued, protected, cherished, and reconciled as people look beyond Brexit and the partition.

“That is the new Ireland Sinn Féin wants to see and it is the new Ireland I am committed to working to build and achieve.”