IRISH FREE STATE.+ Northern Ireland.Inset Belfast;Dublin.BARTHOLOMEW 1924 map'Ireland; Inset maps of Belfast; Dublin' The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstt ireann; 6 December 1922 29 December 1937) was the state established in 1922 as a Dominion of the British Empire under the Anglo Irish Treaty signed by British and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand. On the day the Irish Free State was established, it comprised the entire island of Ireland, but as expected Northern Ireland almost immediately exercised its