Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that answer the question.
Query: When did Ireland and Northern Ireland separate?
The partition of Ireland (Irish: críochdheighilt na hÉireann) divided the island of Ireland into two distinct jurisdictions, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. It took place on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Today the former is still known as Northern Ireland and forms part of the United Kingdom, while the latter is now a sovereign state also named Ireland and sometimes called the Republic of Ireland.
Danske Bank's Irish subsidiary was formerly known as the National Irish Bank, and was originally the Republic of Ireland branch network of Northern Bank, one of the oldest banks in Ireland (dating back to 1824). National Irish Bank was created as a separate entity in 1986, at first under the name Northern Bank (Ireland) Limited, when its then owners, UK-based Midland Bank, separated Northern Bank's operations in the Republic of Ireland from its Northern Ireland business.
The government of Northern Ireland is, generally speaking, whatever political body exercises political authority over Northern Ireland. A number of separate systems of government exist or have existed in Northern Ireland. 
Northern Ireland has competed in eighteen of the twenty Commonwealth Games beginning with the second games, held in 1934. Northern Ireland did not compete in 1930 (when there was a single team from Ireland) and in 1950. It differs from the Olympic Games where although it officially competes with England, Scotland and Wales as part of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, many athletes have represented the Ireland team. 
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 was intended to produce a lasting solution to the demands of Irish nationalist leaders for political autonomy, known as "Home Rule", by giving Ireland limited regional self-government within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Act provided for separate self-governing parliaments for Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, with both remaining within the United Kingdom and both parliaments being subordinate to the Westminster parliament. The parliament and governmental institutions for Northern Ireland were soon established, but the overwhelming majority of MPs returned in the election in the 26 counties gave their allegiance to Dáil Éireann, unrecognised by the British government, thus rendering "Southern Ireland" moot as a political entity and leading to an intensification of the Irish War of Independence. The Anglo-Irish Treaty that ended the war in January 1922, and the laws that implemented the treaty, established a new Irish Free State in place of "Southern Ireland" and allowed Northern Ireland to opt out of the new Free State. The Houses of the Parliament of Northern Ireland duly did so on 7 December 1922, the day after the establishment of the Irish Free State, thus partitioning Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Office represents the UK government in Northern Ireland on reserved matters and represents Northern Ireland's interests within the UK Government. Additionally, the Republic's government also has the right to "put forward views and proposals" on non-devolved matters in relation to Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Office is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who sits in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland is a distinct legal jurisdiction, separate from the two other jurisdictions in the United Kingdom (England and Wales, and Scotland). Northern Ireland law developed from Irish law that existed before the partition of Ireland in 1921. Northern Ireland is a common law jurisdiction and its common law is similar to that in England and Wales. However, there are important differences in law and procedure between Northern Ireland and England and Wales. The body of statute law affecting Northern Ireland reflects the history of Northern Ireland, including Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the former Parliament of Northern Ireland and the Parliament of Ireland, along with some Acts of the Parliament of England and of the Parliament of Great Britain that were extended to Ireland under Poynings' Law between 1494 and 1782.
The Irish Football League was originally formed as the football league for all of Ireland (although initially all of its member clubs were in fact based in what would become Northern Ireland). It became the league for Northern Ireland in 1921 after partition, with a separate league and association (the Football Association of the Irish Free State – now called the Football Association of Ireland) – being formed for the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland). The league's records from its days in operation as the league for all of Ireland stand as the records for Northern Ireland (as is the case for the Northern Ireland national football team).
Homosexual acts began to be decriminalised in the United Kingdom in 1967 in England and Wales, under the Sexual Offences Act 1967. This change in law did not apply to the separate legal jurisdictions of Northern Ireland and Scotland. In 1975 the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association was established to campaign for equivalent legislation for Northern Ireland. In response to the government's proposal to consider law reform, Paisley launched Save Ulster from Sodomy, a campaign given a further boost when decriminalisation was extended to Scotland in 1980. The campaign was based on his belief that the Bible condemns homosexuality as a sin, which should therefore not be legally acceptable in a state founded on Christian principles.
Before 1920, there was no separate Bar of Northern Ireland: barristers were called either to the Irish Bar or the Bar of England and Wales. After the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland called members of the Bar to the Inner Bar in Northern Ireland as King's Counsel. 
Upon the partition of Ireland in 1921, separate revenue stamps began to be issued for both Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. The latter were withdrawn soon afterwards upon the establishment of the Provisional Government, but the former continued to issue revenue stamps until the late 20th century. The need for separate issues for Northern Ireland came about since taxes raised there were meant to remain in the country. Most Northern Irish revenue stamps were British key types with appropriate inscriptions, but there were a number of different issues as well.
In August 1969, for example, Home Secretary James Callaghan approved the sending of British Army soldiers to Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales were represented by the Secretary of State for Scotland and Secretary of State for Wales from 1885 and 1965 respectively but Northern Ireland remained separate, due to the devolved Northern Ireland Government and Northern Ireland Parliament.
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1920, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA). In 1921, the jurisdiction of the IFA was reduced to Northern Ireland following the secession of clubs in the soon-to-be Irish Free State, although its team remained the national team for all of Ireland until 1950, and used the name "Ireland" until the 1970s. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) organises the separate Republic of Ireland national football team.
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association (IFA). The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) organises the separate Republic of Ireland national football team.
Originally intended as an internal boundary within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the border was created in 1921 under the United Kingdom Parliament's Government of Ireland Act 1920. Prior to this, a separatist Irish parliament had been established in Dublin, which did not recognise the Government of Ireland Act, and was actively engaged in the Irish War of Independence. The Act was intended to deliver Home Rule in Ireland, with separate parliaments for Southern Ireland (which included three of the nine counties of Ulster) and Northern Ireland. Six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland were assigned to Northern Ireland, and the rest of Ireland comprising 26 counties to Southern Ireland.
The state's ambiguous status ended in 1949, when the Republic of Ireland Act stripped the King of his role in external relations and declared that the state may be described as the "Republic of Ireland". The decision to do so was sudden and unilateral. However, it did not result in greatly strained relations between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The question of the head of the Irish state from 1936 to 1949 was largely a matter of symbolism and had little practical significance. The UK response was to legislate that it would not grant Northern Ireland to the Irish state without the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (which was unlikely to happen in unionist-majority Northern Ireland).
When Ireland was partitioned into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland in 1921, separate revenue stamps were issued for both entities. Southern Ireland stamps saw little use since that political entity was quickly superseded by the Provisional Government of Ireland and later the Irish Free State (both of which applied overprints on various British and Irish revenue stamps). However, Northern Ireland continued to use separate revenue stamps until the 1980s. Northern Irish revenues include Civil Service, Dog Licence, Excise and National Insurance stamps, among many others.
The PCB did not cover Northern Ireland, which was the responsibility of a separate body, the Police Complaints Board for Northern Ireland also set up under the Police Act 1976. Nor did it cover Scotland, which retained the mechanism set up by the Police (Scotland) Act 1967.
Although everyday matters under direct rule were handled by government departments within Northern Ireland itself, major policy was determined by the British Government's Northern Ireland Office, under the direction of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland; and legislation was introduced, amended, or repealed by means of Order in Council. Direct Rule did not mean that the people of Northern Ireland had no democratic say in how they were governed; like other parts of the United Kingdom, they elected (and still elect) members of parliament to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, to which the Northern Ireland Office is responsible. But it did result in the existence of an administration specific to Northern Ireland which did not have a specifically Northern Irish mandate.
It also refuses to recognise the validity of the Good Friday Agreement as it argues that the referendum on the agreement did not offer the people of Ireland the choice of living in a united Ireland, and that the referendum was invalid since separate polls were held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It also opposes the Northern Ireland Assembly as it believes that this further entrenches British presence in Ireland, and that "those nationalists who took their seats in the new Stormont" were "guilty of treachery to the Irish Republic".
After the partition of Ireland in the 1920s, although the IFA's administration of club football was restricted to Northern Ireland, the IFA national team continued to select players from the whole of Ireland until 1950, and did not adopt the name "Northern Ireland" until 1954 in FIFA competition, and the 1970s in the British Home Championship. In 1924, a separate international team, organised by the Football Association of Ireland, fielded a team called Ireland, which now represents the Republic of Ireland.
Formerly, there were separate Chancellors of England, Scotland and Ireland. When the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain under the Act of Union 1707 the offices of the Chancellor of England and the Lord Chancellor of Scotland were combined to form a single office of Lord Chancellor for the new state. Similar provision was not made when Great Britain and Ireland merged into the United Kingdom under the Act of Union 1800. Thus, the separate office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland continued to exist until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was abolished, and its duties transferred to the Governor of Northern Ireland, and later the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Thus, the Lord Chancellor remains "Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain", and not "Lord High Chancellor of the United Kingdom."
Northern Ireland law refers to the legal system of statute and common law operating in Northern Ireland since the partition of Ireland established Northern Ireland as a separate jurisdiction within the United Kingdom in 1921.
For the purposes of private international law the United Kingdom is divided into three distinct legal jurisdictions:Northern Ireland is a common law jurisdiction. Although its common law is similar to that in England and Wales, and partially derives from the same sources, there are some important differences in law and procedure between Northern Ireland and England and Wales. While influenced by English law, the Northern Ireland legal system is distinctive for a number of reasons: it has roots in Irish common law prior to Irish independence in 1921; following Irish independence, Northern Ireland became a devolved jurisdiction within the United Kingdom.
Each of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales has separate national governing bodies for sports and competes separately in many international sporting competitions. Each country of the United Kingdom has a national football team, and competes as a separate national team in the various disciplines in the Commonwealth Games. At the Olympic Games, the United Kingdom is represented by the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team, although athletes from Northern Ireland can choose to join the Republic of Ireland's Olympic team. In addition to Northern Ireland having its own national governing bodies for some sports such as Association football and Netball, for others, such as rugby union and cricket, Northern Ireland participates with the Republic of Ireland in a joint All-Ireland team. England and Wales field a joint cricket team.
The electricity sector in Ireland previously operated as two separate markets: Northern Ireland operated as part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland operated its own separate market. On 1 November 2007 the two Transmission System Operators (System Operator Northern Ireland and EirGrid) established the Single Electricity Market (SEM) for the island of Ireland. The SEM has created "a gross mandatory pool market, into which all electricity generated on or imported onto the island of Ireland must be sold, and from which all wholesale electricity for consumption on or export from the island of Ireland must be purchased." According to the Electricity Association of Ireland, in 2013 the Single Electricity Market had approximately 2.5 million customers; 1.8 million in the Republic and 0.7 million in Northern Ireland. The effect of Brexit on the SEM has yet to be defined.
Following partition some social and sporting bodies divided but others did not. Today in Ireland many sports, such as boxing, Gaelic football, hurling, cricket and rugby union, are organised on an all-island basis, with a single team representing Ireland in international competitions. Other sports, such as association football (soccer), have separate organising bodies in Northern Ireland (Irish Football Association) and the Republic of Ireland (Football Association of Ireland). At the Olympics, a person from Northern Ireland can choose to represent either the Republic of Ireland team (which competes as "Ireland") or United Kingdom team (which competes as "Great Britain"). Selection usually depends on whether his or her sport is organised on an all-Ireland, a Northern Ireland, or a UK basis. Sports organised on an all-Ireland basis are affiliated to the Republic of Ireland's Olympic association, whereas those organised on a Northern Ireland or UK basis are generally affiliated to the UK's Olympic association.