British plans revealed to expel Catholics from Northern Ireland.

(From Agence France Presse)

Britain in 1972 secretly considered making Northern Ireland a Protestant-only province and evicting hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics to an area to be ceded to the Irish Republic.

A hitherto top secret file said officials had discussed the feasibility of redefining the border, "and compulsory transfers of population within Northern Ireland between the Six Counties (Northern Ireland) and the (Irish) Republic."

The province could be partitioned into two zones, one Protestant and one Catholic. The Catholic area could then be integrated into the mainly Catholic Irish Republic in the south, independent since 1921.

The scheme was never implemented, but was considered an option at a time when prime minister Edward Heath's government faced one of the worst points in the then four-year-old crisis between the Protestant majority and Catholic minority.

Under it, more than 300,000 Northern Irish Catholics would have been forcibly evicted from their homes, and 200,000 Protestants would have had to evacuate the area ceded by Britain to the Irish Republic.

"About one third of the population...would be on the move," a document said: "Such a massive movement would not be peacefully accomplished; great resistance could be expected from many of those who should move.