100 years ago, in April 1926, Fianna Fáil, which went on to become the dominant political party of independent Ireland, was founded.

It was established shortly after Éamon de Valera’s motion at an extraordinary ard-fheis of Sinn Féin was defeated, calling for the party to take its seats in Dáil Éireann if the oath to the British monarch was removed.

He left the party and founded Fianna Fáil weeks later.

De Valera’s move away from abstentionism was in many ways cemented by the ineffectiveness of that policy during the Boundary Commission saga in late 1925 that could have led to the fall of the Cumann na nGaedheal government.

Brian Feeney: Northern Ireland is neither a nation nor country and needs to stop comparing itself to the ‘rest of the UK’

Sophie Clarke: Sorry, but Rory McIlroy’s Champions Dinner menu is a missed opportunity for Irish food

Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin had performed surprisingly well in the August 1923 general election, winning 44 seats and 27.4 per cent of the vote, just months after the ending of the Civil War hostilities.

De Valera and others saw a clear political path but felt hamstrung by Sinn Féin’s abstentionist policy.

Seán Lemass remarked that there was “a feeling that we were up in the air – we hadn’t our feet on the ground at all”.

The spectacular collapse of the Irish Boundary Commission in late 1925, which retained the border in Ireland as it was, as it still is, demonstrated to many Sinn Féin members the impotence of its abstentionist position.

The London Agreement that brought the Boundary Commission saga to........

© The Irish News