Former DUP leader Peter Robinson. Picture by Niall Carson, Press Association 16 January, 2021 01:00 President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State W.T Cosgrave, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Sir James Craig at Chequers in 1924. Picture from Press Association Former first minister Peter Robinson has said that Northern Ireland was not initially intended to be a permanent state. The former DUP leader, widely regarded as one of unionism's most strategic thinkers, suggested that initial structures set up in the early 1920s showed partition was meant to be "short-term". Writing ahead of planned commemorations to mark the establishment of Northern Ireland later this year, he said: "It is clear from the structures that were fashioned at the birth of Northern Ireland that our forefathers did not envisage creating a permanent state."