His family viewed the Anglo-Irish Treaty as a betrayal and when their home was broken into during the Belfast Pogrom in 1922, Francis alongside his mother and two sisters moved to Sandymount in Dublin, where he attended a Christian Brothers school in Westland Row and began to learn Irish.
During Craobh na hAiséirghe's first public meeting at Foster Place in Dublin, Mac an Bheatha handed Ó Cuinneagáin his hat as the latter collected funds from the audience.
[8] After months of disputes it was agreed to separate the two organisations at a meeting on 6 November 1942, and Mac an Bheatha was elected to head up the now-independent Craobh na hAiséirghe.
He remained vice-president of the Comhdháil and general-director of Glún na Buaidhe until he resigned in 1966, dissatisfied with the state of the language revival and the Irish government's handling of it.
[2] Mac an Bheatha founded the Irish language newspaper Inniu in 1943 and wrote articles and essays for the paper, frequently under the alias "Séamus Ó Dochartaigh".
[10] After his resignation from the Comhdháil and Glún na Buaidhe he became a more avid author, writing books, essays, gardening columns and poetry.