Sinn Fein eyes, "The accredited representatives of the Irish people": Dail Eireann - inset (right) Father O'Flanagan, acting president, and author of the peace telegram; (left) Mr Arthur Griffith, recently arrested. Sinn Fein is the Irish nationalist party founded by Arthur Griffith (1872-1922) in 1905; in 1917 Eamon de Valera became its president. It is the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, and is similarly split between comparative moderates and extremists. In 1985 it gained representation in 17 out of 26 district councils in Northern Ireland.