Clann Éireann de Valera and his followers into the party failed. After de Valera created the Fianna Fáil party in March 1926, Clann Éireann grew closer to that group. The party attracted little support and it failed to win any seats in Dáil Éireann at the June 1927 general election. Its seven candidates only attracted a few thousand first preference votes. Seven of them were last in their constituencies and forfeited their deposits. On 28 August 1927, the party issued a statement supporting Fianna Fáil, and ceased political activity. Clann Éireann Clann Éireann (), also known as the People's Party, was a
Éamon de Valera under the name Edward de Valera) and Belvedere College. There were occasions when de Valera seriously contemplated the religious life like his half-brother, Fr. Thomas Wheelwright, but ultimately he did not pursue this vocation. As late as 1906, when he was 24 years old, he approached the President of Clonliffe Seminary in Dublin for advice on his vocation. De Valera was throughout his life portrayed as a deeply religious man, who in death asked to be buried in a religious habit. His biographer, Tim Pat Coogan, speculated that questions surrounding de Valera's legitimacy may have been a deciding factor in