Editing Cumann na nGaedheal (section)

==Origins==
[[File:Photograph of Cumann na nGaedheal Government.jpg|thumb|300px|Photograph of Cumann na nGaedheal Government, 1922/1923]]
In 1922 the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty|pro-Treaty]] [[Government of the Irish Free State]] lost the support of [[Sinn Féin]], its political party. The need to create a party supporting the government was not immediate. ''Cumann na nGaedheal'' was the name of the antecedent nationalist [[umbrella organisation]] to Sinn Féin formed in 1900 (see [[Cumann na nGaedheal (1900)]]). The second ''Cumann na nGaedheal'' did not come into existence until more than a year later, on 27 April 1923 when the pro-Treaty [[Teachta Dála|TD]]s recognised the need for a party organisation to win elections. Initially, the party's ability to influence the government was limited.<ref name="GFG">[[Garret FitzGerald]] ''[http://generalmichaelcollins.com/Cumann_na_nGael/Garrett_Fitzgerald.html Reflections On The Foundation of the Irish State]'', University College Cork, April 2003. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319151530/http://generalmichaelcollins.com/Cumann_na_nGael/Garrett_Fitzgerald.html |date=19 March 2011 }}</ref>

The party was largely centre-right in outlook. The pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Féin had decided to break off and become a distinct party in late December 1922, but its launch was delayed until after the New Year as a direct consequence of the turmoil caused by the [[Irish Civil War]].

The leadership of the pro-Treaty Sinn Féin in 1922 included [[Arthur Griffith]], [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] and [[W. T. Cosgrave]]. Cosgrave and Griffith had been prominent in Sinn Féin since the 1900s, while Collins rose quickly through its ranks after the 1916 [[Easter Rising]]. Griffith and Collins died in August 1922 during the early stages of the Civil War, leaving Cosgrave to lead the pro-Treaty Provisional Government in the run-up to the formal establishment of the [[Irish Free State]]. Cosgrave had also fought in the Easter Rising and had been prominent in the Government of the [[Irish Republic]]; the burden of responsibility for building the new [[State (polity)|state]] on solid foundations was now on Cosgrave and his colleagues. Difficult years of state-building amidst [[political violence]] characterised its time in government.

The [[Irish Unionist Alliance]] was dissolved in 1922, when many of its followers swung their support behind Cumann na nGaedheal, seeing it as less hostile to them than the anti-Treaty [[Republican (Ireland, 1923)|Republicans]] and the later [[Fianna Fáil]].