MacSwiney, Mary (1872-1942)

Irish republican politician. Born in England, MacSwiney spent most of her life in Ireland. Following the death of her brother, Terence MacSwiney, Mary became a prominent republican leader and was elected to the Dáil (parliament) in 1920 where she opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921), which established the Irish Free State within the British Commonwealth. She broke with Éamon de Valera in 1926 when he founded Fianna Fáil. In 1933 she set up Mná na Poblachta (Women of the Republic), a breakaway from Cumann na mBan.