Cumann na Poblachta Cumann na Poblachta Cumann na Poblachta (; "League of the Republic" in English) was an Irish republican political party. The party was founded on 15 March 1922 by Éamon de Valera. It opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and was composed of the anti-Treaty wing of Sinn Féin. The party did contest the 1922 Irish general election but, in accordance with the Collins/De Valera Pact, under the Sinn Féin banner like their opponents. The party commonly appended the title "The Republican Party" to its name. This subtitle was later adopted by the Fianna Fáil party at its foundation in 1926. Its headquarters
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