War of Independence: Success after success for Sinn Féin led to a clampdown

The party won 560 seats to control local government in every Irish city and in most Irish towns — but, by the end of the year, British forces had dashed those nationalist hopes, writes Donal Ó Drisceoil.

The success of Sinn Féin in the local elections of 1920, and the subsequent declaration of allegiance to Dáil Eireann by the vast majority of local bodies in the country, was a milestone in the republican struggle.