Éamon de Valera on a formal coalition agreement, something de Valera was unwilling to concede. However, while Fianna Fáil was six seats short of a majority, it was still by far the largest party in the Dáil, with 37 more TDs than the next largest party and rival, Fine Gael (the successor to Cumann na nGaedheal). Conventional wisdom held that de Valera would remain Taoiseach with the support of independent deputies. However, this was brought undone when the other parties realised that if they banded together, they would have one seat fewer than Fianna Fáil, and would be able to form a government
Sinéad de Valera and Irish. Among her works were plays such as "Cluichidhe na Gaedhilge" (1935) and story collections such as "The Emerald Ring and Other Irish Fairy Stories" (1951), "The Stolen Child and Other Stories" (1961), "The Four-leafed Shamrock" (1964) and "The Miser's Gold" (1970). Sinéad de Valera died on 7 January 1975, at the age of 96, the day before what would have been the de Valeras' sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. Éamon de Valera died just under eight months later, on 29 August 1975, aged 92. The couple are buried together, along with their son Brian, at Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery. Sinéad de