Seán Lemass Irish Free State, the legitimacy of the Dáil, and its abstentionist policy of refusing to sit in the Dáil, if elected. However, the effort was unsuccessful and in March 1926, however, de Valera, along with Lemass, resigned from the party. At this point, de Valera contemplated leaving public life, a decision that would have changed the course of Irish history. It was Lemass who encouraged him to stay and form a political party. In May, de Valera, assisted by Gerald Boland and Lemass, began to plan a new party. This new party became known as Fianna Fáil – The Republican
Rúaidhrí de Valera 1947, de Valera became the Archaeological Officer for Ordnance Survey Ireland which permitted him to develop the Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland project. He went on to write significant papers on Irish prehistory which contributed to his doctorate, awarded in 1954. In 1957, de Valera was appointed Chair of Celtic Archaeology at University College Dublin where he worked to enlarge the department whilst continuing to publish on Irish chamber tombs, especially the Court cairns which he proposed first developed in the west of the country. De Valera later excavated at the Mound of the Hostages at Tara. He