Many nationalists on both sides of the border felt that their country had been unjustly divided, and for many decades the Irish government claimed that Northern Ireland was rightfully its territory.

The Irish Republican Army, although split into pro-treaty and anti-treaty factions, continued to use armed force, aiming to end partition and compel the United Kingdom to withdraw from Northern Ireland.

The Act did allow that trial by jury could be superseded, inquests abolished and the death penalty and flogging could be imposed for the possession of arms.

[3] The Home Affairs Minister (Dawson Bates - in office 7 June 1921 – 6 May 1943) was empowered to make any regulation felt necessary to preserve law and order in Northern Ireland.

[5] The Home Affairs Minister was also permitted to forbid the holding of inquests if he felt this was required to preserve order and peace.

[citation needed] Despite rhetoric accompanying the Act which asserted that it was for the purpose of restoring public order, its provisions continued to be used for the entire period of the Northern Irish parliament's existence.

[10] Political violence had declined dramatically by 1925, and the government gradually shifted its emphasis from broad measures designed to return civil order to the province to more preventative regulations aimed at suppressing the threat posed by republican aspirations.

'[9] Regulations such as internment and the establishment of curfews were used far less, and those such as the banning of meetings and parades, and restrictions on the flying of the Irish tricolour became more common.

Labour MPs sent a telegram to the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Basil Brooke demanding the release of the internees.

Some British trade union branches protested against the Special Powers Act and demanded an official inquiry into the administration of Northern Ireland.

[citation needed] It helped to create political tensions which culminated in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike and the death of MP Bobby Sands.

[citation needed] The Act encountered further controversy in the 1970s due to the deployment of the Army in Northern Ireland and its role in maintaining order and similar policing-style duties.

This made it an offence to interfere with the display of the Union Jack on private property and enabled the police to remove any other flag if it was likely to cause public disorder.