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 Féin abstentionist policy, and the other aligned to the re-organized Provisional Sinn Féin and IRA movement who supported a continuation of the traditional policy. In 1986 there was a further split within (Provisional) Sinn Féin and the IRA due to the dropping of Sinn Féin's abstentionist policy. After this split the Fianna withdrew its support from the Provisional movement, citing republican principles. It now supports Republican Sinn Féin and the Continuity IRA. Vice News reported that in early 2015 the group had about 30 members. Fianna Éireann Na Fianna Éireann (The Fianna of Ireland), known as the Fianna, is an