Precedent Broken

Deputies elected to the Dail Eireann (Irish Free State Chamber of Deputies) by the Irish Republicans or Sinn Feiners* have heretofore abstained from taking their seats, as a protest backing up their claim (TIME, Nov. 22) that "The Irish Free State is not Irish, is not free and is not a state."

But last week one Deputy, Dan Breen, a Sinn Feiner, took his courage in both hands and took his seat in the Dail. He was not mobbed, but famed Eamon de Valera, onetime self-styled "President of the Irish Republic," said sorrowfully: "We deeply regret Breen's action."

*Sinn Fein is pronounced "Shin Fayn" and means literally "We Ourselves."