Patrick Smith (politician) career, Smith being said to have shouted across the floor at Dáil Éireann, "They gave us stepping-stones, but they [state forces in 1922] would not walk on them." A play on the same quote by Irish revolutionary, Michael Collins. He entered the Dáil in September 1923, as a Republican candidate. In 1926, Éamon de Valera, the Leader of Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein, approached Smith and persuaded him to join his newly founded political party, Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fail abandoned the abstentionist policy of Anti Treaty Sinn Fein and its elected members took their seats in Dáil Éireann. De Valera and Smith
United Irishman (1948 newspaper) United Irishman (1948 newspaper) The United Irishman/An tÉireannach Aontaithe, first published in May 1948, under Michael Traynor, was the official monthly organ of Sinn Féin sold by its members. After the split in the Irish Republican Movement, the title continued as the organ of Official Sinn Féin, being published from the offices in 30 Gardner Place in Dublin, with the Provisional wing publishing An Phoblacht. The first editor was Seán G. O'Kelly based in an office in 38 South King Street in Dublin. The historian Éamonn MacThomáis edited the paper for a short while prior to the 1970 split in