Revenue stamps of Northern Ireland
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 The latter were withdrawn soon afterwards upon the establishment of the Provisional Government, but the former continued to issue revenue stamps until the late 20th century.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.
Partition of Ireland
In May 1949 the Taoiseach John A. Costello introduced a motion in the Dáil strongly against the terms of the UK's "Ireland Act 1949" that confirmed partition for as long as a majority of the electorate in Northern Ireland wanted it, styled in Dublin as the "Unionist Veto". This was a change from his position supporting the Boundary Commission back in 1925, when he was a legal adviser to the Irish government. A possible cause was that his coalition government was supported by the strongly republican Clann na Poblachta. From this point on all the political parties in the Republic were formally in favour of ending partition regardless of the opinion of the electorate in Northern Ireland.