 By April 1900 the League's listing showed 462 branches, representing between 60,000 and 80,000 members in twenty five counties.Within two years O’Brien's UIL was by far the largest organisation in the country, comprising 1150 branches and 84,355 members.Around 1900 O'Brien, an unbending social reformer and agrarian agitator, was the most influential and powerful figure within the nationalist movement, although not formally its leader.