 In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann.During the Irish War of Independence he also held the rank of Battalion Commandant in the Irish Republican Army and as a consequence he was a high priority target for the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Black and Tans.On one occasion he was seized upon in the night at his home by crown forces who beat him and threw him into a lorry bound for Ballina.