He was Director of the Belfast Boycott, an attempt in 1920–1921 to boycott goods from Ulster that were being imported into the south of Ireland. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted against it. He was re-elected for the same constituency at the 1922 general election as an anti-Treaty Sinn Féin TD, but he did not take his seat in the Dáil.[4] He died, while on hunger strike, from the effects of a burst appendix, on 25 December 1922.