[1] Following a period of exile in the United States, McGuinness returned to Ireland where he resumed his membership of the IRA and continued to push for radical action as well as becoming a founder of the Saor Éire party.

It is alleged that, under his command, an incident occurred in January 1923 in which members of the Offaly brigade rounded up a number of local women, shaved their heads and chained them to railings as punishment for "consorting with the enemy".

[5] On 29 October 1925 McGuinness was convicted of assaulting, resisting and obstructing a sergeant of the Garda Síochána and of a similar charge relating to a Peace Officer.

[1][7] The resulting by-election for his seat in the 4th Dáil was held on 18 February 1926, and won by the Cumann na nGaedheal candidate James Dwyer.

[8] Initially McGuinness was imprisoned in Mountjoy Prison, however he managed to escape in November 1925 and fled to the United States, where he remained for 5 years before returning to his homeland in 1930.

Following the establishment of an independent Irish state, these taxes continued to be paid but by 1932, Republican political thought come to believe this debt should no longer exist.

However, the Irish Land Commission had taken control of the estate and had sold it to Captain Joseph Nugent, formerly an officer in the National Army during the Civil War, and now sought to evict Craven as part of the sale.

Believing he had found an issue he could leverage to the IRA's advantage, McGuinness ordered his men to occupy and barricade the gatehouse to prevent an eviction.

Gorry, on the other hand, met with McGuinness personally, and while opining that the land belonged legally to Nugent, he had managed to arrange with the Sherriff to hold off on the eviction for two days to give Craven a chance to move.

McGuinness retorted that, rather than embarrassing the IRA, the event had shown there was no difference between Fianna Fáil and Cumann na nGaedheal governments in practice.