Gerrymandering (Irish: Claonroinnt) in local elections was introduced in 1923 by the Leech Commission. This was a one-man commission: Sir John Leech, K.C. was appointed by Dawson Bates, Northern Ireland's Minister of Home Affairs, to redraw Northern Ireland's local government electoral boundaries. Leech was also chairman of the Advisory Committee who recommended the release or continued detention of the persons that the Northern Irish government was interning without trial at that time. Leech's changes (gerrymandered electoral boundaries, abolishing proportional representation),McCluskey, Fergal, (2013), The Irish Revolution 1912-23: Tyrone, Four Courts Press, Dublin, pg 126, ISBN 9781846822995 together with a resultant boycott by the Irish Nationalist community, resulted in Unionists gaining control of Londonderry County Borough Council, Fermanagh and Tyrone County Councils, and retaking eight rural district councils. These county councils, and most of the district councils, remained under Unionist control despite the majority of their population being Catholic until the UK government imposed Direct Rule in 1972.
