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
History of Sinn Féin Ireland in the early 2000s. This is a summary of the splits and mergers from the initial Sinn Féin party and the IRA and their successors. History of Sinn Féin Sinn Féin (""We Ourselves"", often mistranslated as "Ourselves Alone") is the name of an Irish political party founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. It subsequently became a focus for various forms of Irish nationalism, especially Irish republicanism. Its splits during the Irish Civil War in 1922 and again at the beginning of the Troubles in 1969 had dramatic effects on politics in Ireland. Sinn Féin today is a republican, left-wing