Since 1949 a part of the United Kingdom

Does the highlighted section mean "Northern Ireland which would be a part of the UK since 1949"?

Context:

After the end of the Irish civil war in 1923, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) began an on-off guerrilla war against the British in Northern Ireland, since 1949 a part of the United Kingdom. In 1969, civil rights demonstrations by the Catholic minority in Ulster, one of the six Northern Ireland counties, led to the outbreak of hostilities between
Catholics and Protestants.