Michael O'Flanagan States in April 1925 to help Sinn Féin contest a number of by-elections. That summer he was suspended from clerical duties and forbidden to say mass because of his nationalist activities and anti-clerical speeches he had made in America. In March 1926, the Sinn Féin ard fheis narrowly defeated de Valera's proposal to enter the Free State Oireachtas if the Oath of Allegiance were removed. O'Flanagan sided with the majority. De Valera left to found Fianna Fáil, which eclipsed Sinn Féin at the June 1927 election. O'Flanagan remained with the reduced Sinn Féin. Bishop Coyne died in July 1926, but
Fianna Éireann until his return in 1933 to Ireland. Fianna Éireann survived the Civil war period intact, they had sided with the Republic. The organisation was decimated then, and further disintegration occurred in 1926 when Fianna Fáil was founded. Markievicz was a founder member of that party but she died in 1927. In 1930 Fianna got the use of the Hardwicke Hall in Dublin as a headquarters as George Plunkett was nominated by the IRA as Chief Scout. This was a nominal position and the organisation was run by the HQ staff. At this time, Fianna expanded in proportion to the rest