Éamon de Valera Irish independence. He was arrested, sentenced to death but released for a variety of reasons, including the public response to the British execution of Rising leaders. He returned to Ireland after being jailed in England and became one of the leading political figures of the War of Independence. After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, de Valera served as the political leader of Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein until 1926, when he, along with many supporters, left the party to set up Fianna Fáil, a new political party which abandoned the policy of abstentionism from Dáil Éireann. From there, de Valera would
Sinn Féin Bank founding council comprised George W. Russell, Arthur Griffith, and P. T. Daly. In 1910 it purchased headquarters at 6 Harcourt Street for £575, leasing the upper floors to the Sinn Féin party, from where the "Sinn Féin" newspaper was edited. A contemporary wrote, "we do not envy the man who has the job of persuading [nationalists] that the new Sinn Fein bank (which we take it will be established without complying with the requirements of British law) is a secure nest for his savings as the Bank of Ireland". When the First Dáil proclaimed an Irish Republic in 1919, it