alternatehistory.com

The boundary commission sent to draw the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland represented both sides... except that some of the Irish members decided to put a lot of pro-independence regions into Northern Ireland to give it a substantial anti-British minority which would continue agitating and hopefully reunify the whole island. Of course, their plan half-worked: violence continued, but Northern Ireland is still British.

So what if they didn't? I know almost everyone in the Third Dail supported all-Ireland union, but suppose they appointed people to the Boundary Commission who recognized it was almost impossible and decided to settle for keeping the British portion as small as possible? Would that forestall the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and what effects would it have on the UK and Ireland?
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