The genesis of Fianna Fáil

The quotation about history repeating itself has many variations, one of which originated with the Spanish philosopher George Santayana who wrote in 1905 that, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it”.
In this country you might sometimes wonder if maybe we are doomed to remember the past and then forced to repeat it
There have been many splits away from the original Sinn Féin of Arthur Griffith and his companions, many of which involved issues of principle. Each group then formed their own party with all, of course, claiming legitimacy in their ideals. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Clann na Poblachta, Workers Party and Democratic Left can all claim to have evolved from the original Sinn Féin. You could question whether the Sinn Féin party that sits in the Dáil at present are in fact a direct result of a split. They grew from Provisional Sinn Féin that came about as a result of an attempt to end the policy of abstentionism in 1970.
The first major split in Sinn Féin came when the Dáil – all Sinn Féin members – voted on the Treaty. The pro-treaty members went on to form Cumann na nGaedheal and the anti-treaty sides continued as Sinn Féin with an abstentionist policy.
The unfortunate Civil War ensued with no resultant change in the attitude of either side. In spite of winning 44 seats in the 1923 General Election, Sinn Féin were still determined not to take their seats in the Dáil. Their leader, De Valera, came to believe that the abstentionist policy would not succeed in the long term. He wanted the elected TDs to be allowed take their seats in the Dáil, try to gain power and change the Free State into a Republic.
He tried to persuade the party that, if the Oath of Allegiance was abolished, they should enter the Dáil. At a special ard fheis he proposed that the party accept the Free State Constitution but his proposal was defeated. He left the party and one week later founded Fianna Fáil.
The new party that DeValera founded went from strength-to-strength and dominated politics in this country for the rest of the 20th century. They were in power within six years and remained there uninterrupted until 1948, returning again in 1951. DeValera himself spent 21 years as Taoiseach and then 14 years as President. He dominated the Fianna Fáil Party, one of his sons became a TD and two of his grandchildren, Síle DeValera and Éamonn Ó Cuív were not just TDs but cabinet ministers.
Sinn Féin in the meantime lost most of their support. In 1926 most of its TDs joined Fianna Fáil; to such an extent, their abstentionist policy became irrelevant. At various times they attempted to adopt left wing policies but were largely ignored by the electorate. Only in recent years have Sinn Féin TDs actually entered and taken an active part in Dáil Éireann where they are definitely left of centre and seen to be challenging the Labour Party for that vote. 
Eamonn De Valera, Taoiseach, President and founder of Fianna Fáil and one time leader of Sinn Féin, left the Sinn Féin party on the principle of abstentionism on March 16, 1926 – 76 years ago this week.                                         n Michael Torpey