Leader of Sinn Féin joined opposing sides with De Valera leading the Anti-Treaty faction, while Griffith joined the Pro-Treaty faction, which later became Cumann na nGaedheal. De Valera’ successor John J. O'Kelly was one of four leaders who served for brief periods of time as Sinn Féin’s party membership declined in favour of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. In 1937, Margaret Buckley became the first female President of Sinn Féin. During her thirteen years as leader, she vastly improved the relations between the IRA and the party. She was succeeded by Paddy McLogan and Tomás Ó Dubhghaill who both helped rebuild party support in
Fianna Éireann been an outstanding Fianna officer for years. After internment he got married and eventually fell on hard times. In his own words, he was compromised by the Free State Special Branch and agreed to become an agent for them within the republican movement. He was eventually exposed by the Fianna Intelligence Officer, Frank Sherwin in 1926. Two former Fianna members made an attempt on his life in 1928, but Harling escaped and actually shot dead one of his attackers, Tim Coghlan of Inchicore. Harling was secreted out of the country by the Special Branch and ended up in the US