The Enduring Legacy Of Michael Collins 100 Years On

21 August 2022
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Luke SprouleBBC News NI


"What if Michael Collins had lived?"


That is the question every visitor to the Michael Collins Centre and Museum in Castleview, County Cork, desires to ask, according to its joint creator Tim Crowley.


Monday marks 100 years since Collins was eliminated in a gun fight between contending sides in the Irish Civil War.


A century on, there remains a big interest in "the Big Fella", his function in Irish self-reliance and his .


"A lot of our visitors are middle-aged and some have moms and dads and grandparents who were involved 100 years earlier," states Mr Crowley, whose grandmother was Collins' cousin.


"But then we also have got 14 and 15 years of age who are substantial Collins fanatics who can be found in who know what he had for his last breakfast.


"They throw some actually great concerns at us."


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Collins was an essential figure in the defend Irish self-reliance and was director of intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the War of Independence with Britain, which lasted from January 1919 until July 1921.


But the terms of the peace treaty with Britain, which he signed, were exceptionally controversial and led to a civil war which broke out in June 1922, with the IRA splitting into pro and anti-treaty factions.


Collins was commander-in-chief of the pro-treaty forces, which ended up being the new Irish National Army, however on 22 August 1922 while he was travelling through his home county of Cork his convoy was ambushed by anti-treaty fighters.


Collins left his cars and truck to combat and in the weapon battle which followed he was shot dead.


He was 31 years old.


At the time of his death he was chairman of the provisionary federal government of the brand-new Irish Free State, in addition to leader of its armed forces.


To this day people question what might have been if he had actually endured and gone on to lead the brand-new state.


"People ask would he have tried to produce a 32 county settlement? Would he have permitted nationalists in the northern state to have been treated the way they were?" Mr Crowley states.


"I believe he was the one leader at that time that the proof suggests had real interest in the northern circumstance.


"In his mind the treaty was simply the start."


He thinks Collins would have been more forceful when it came to the Boundary Commission, which was meant to choose on where the new border in between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland must lie.


In the end, although the commission recommended small transfers of land in both instructions, its recommendations were never carried out and the border stayed the same as it was in 1921.


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The civil war left a bitter tradition in Irish society, particularly the execution of dozens of anti-treaty fighters by the brand-new provisionary government.


The very first official executions were performed in November 1922 and they continued until May 1923.


But Prof Marie Coleman, teacher of 20th Century Irish history at Queen's University, Belfast, does not believe this would have been any various had actually Collins not been eliminated.


"There has actually been a great deal of speculation that the course of the civil war might have been different, that perhaps the acrimony of the executions might have been different," she states.


"I see absolutely nothing to recommend that Collins would have prosecuted the war any differently.


"Arguably, he had more at stake in safeguarding the treaty settlement because he had actually been a signatory of the treaty.


"He revealed absolutely nothing between June and August 1922 to suggest that he would have been any softer on the republican side than Richard Mulcahy sought him."


Collins' killing came simply 10 days after the death of Arthur Griffith - another essential figure in the defend Irish self-reliance.


Other prominent leaders such as Éamon De Valera were now on the anti-treaty side.


But Prof Coleman states those who filled the vacuum were likewise capable leaders.


"Griffith was changed by WT Cosgrave who was probably the most experienced political leader in Sinn Féin," she says.


"Collins was replaced by Richard Mulcahy, who had been the chief of personnel of the IRA during the War of Independence.


"So most likely, in fact, he understood more about running the army than Collins would have done."


There is still no contract on who fired the deadly shot that killed Collins, which has left area for a series of theories and conspiracies.


Mr Crowley states the occasions of Collins' last day are the most popular part of the museum and centre which he runs, with visitors always keen to inquire about who was responsible for his death.


"People are interested by the fact he passed away the method he did," he says.


"He passed away a hero's death with a weapon in his hand, you could not make it up."


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On Sunday, Mr Crowley will participate in the official ceremonies and on Monday the centre is running a journey to a number of areas associated with Collins, consisting of the scene of his death at Béal na Bláth where they will hold a minute's silence at the time Collins was shot.


One of the more controversial elements of Collins' legacy remains the fact he concurred to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.


It created the Irish Free State but within the British Empire and with the British King as president, who Irish TDs (MPs) were required to swear an oath of loyalty to.


It also confirmed the partition of Ireland and the development of Northern Ireland.


"Some individuals state to us that Michael Collins was not a republican politician," Mr Crowley says.


"But I would state he was a practical republican with a plan that might in fact prosper.


"He was the sort of leader who only occurs for a country when in a thousand years."