I have felt for some time that this doctrine of mine ill fitted me to be leader of the republican party”. De Valera preferred “Fianna Fáil”; it had the advantage, he later recalled, of being difficult to translate; exactitude was not in his interests at that stage. To address the concerns of Lemass, as also recounted by de Valera, “we put the name ‘Republican Party’ in brackets”. He also denied, at the inaugural meeting of Fianna Fáil, that “entering a 26-county assembly would be an acceptance of partition ... to recognise the existence of facts, as we must, is not to acquiesce in them”. Trickier for Fianna Fáil in its centenary year might be the ammunition its founding aims provide for its political opponents.

Source: The Irish Times February 27, 2026 18:00 UTC