Even before the end of the civil war in 1923 it was evident that the leadership of the National Army or "Defence Force" saw a future where they were a respected, professional, well organised army, subservient to the government of the day. That Government was following the agreement with Britain and had concerns about its military budget. At the beginning of 1923 the National Army accounted one third of all current budget expenditure by the state. The leadership of the IRA organisation wished to continue the fight for an all island Republic using whatever means but particularly a well-armed nationalist army. While the Free State government wished to shrink the National Army now that the civil war was over. Richard Mulcahy met this IRA leadership on a number of occasions but was very frustrated with them. In May 1923 the army had risen to 3,000 officers and 52,000 other ranks.