 He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork East and North East constituency at the 1921 elections.He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted against it.He was re-elected for the same constituency at the 1922 general election, this time as an anti-Treaty Sinn Féin TD, and he did not sit in the Dáil from this time onwards.