It was ninety-seven years ago yesterday that the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, a treaty that led to the establishment of an independent Ireland. Sometimes it seems that the fact of independence has yet to be fully appreciated.

During the years I lived in Dublin, a friend worked in the Dublin office of a London-based British international aid agency. There was always a suspicion that the agency’s presence in Dublin owed more to the generosity of the Irish government in funding projects than to any genuine interest in having a distinct …