Éamon de Valera they were elected they would take the Oath of Allegiance. Forced into a corner, and faced with the option of staying outside politics forever or taking the oath and entering, de Valera and his TDs took the Oath of Allegiance on 12 August 1927, though de Valera himself described the Oath as "an empty political formula". De Valera never organised Fianna Fáil in Northern Ireland and it was not until 7 December 2007 that Fianna Fáil was registered there by the UK Electoral Commission. In the 1932 general election Fianna Fáil secured 72 seats and became the largest party in
Sinéad de Valera Sinéad de Valera Sinéad de Valera (née Ní Fhlannagáin; 3 June 1878 – 7 January 1975) was the wife of Taoiseach and the 3rd President of Ireland, Éamon de Valera. She was also the author of a number of children's books in English and Irish. She was born Jane O'Flanagan in Balbriggan. Her father, Laurence, was a carpenter and was a native of Kildare who moved to Balbriggan and married a local girl, Margaret Byrne. The couple emigrated to New York City where their daughter, Mary, was born in 1871. The family had returned to Balbriggan in 1873, and Sinéad