 The following April, Collins engineered de Valera's escape from Lincoln Prison in England, after which Brugha was replaced by de Valera.No state gave diplomatic recognition to the 1919 Republic, despite sustained lobbying in Washington by de Valera and prominent Irish-Americans and at the Paris peace conference.In January 1919 the Dáil ratified the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) claim to be the army of the Irish Republic.