The party behind the Republic, Sinn F?n, used the 1921 election to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland to re-elect the D?l. The new membership came to be called the Second D?l.
Among its major achievements were the amendment of the D?l Constitution to replace the prime minister, called President of D?l ?reann or Pr?mh ?re, by an Irish republican head of state called a President of the Republic, in August 1921. In December 1921, the Second D?l formally ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed by members of the British and Irish governments. The Second D?l was replaced in 1922 by the Third D?l.