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 concern every visitor to the Michael Collins Centre and Museum in Castleview, County Cork, wishes to ask, according to its joint creator Tim Crowley.


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


A century on, there stays a substantial interest in "the Big Fella", his role in Irish independence and his long-lasting legacy.


"A great deal 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 come in who know what he had for his last breakfast.


"They throw some truly great concerns at us."


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Collins was a crucial figure in the fight for Irish independence and was director of intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) throughout the War of Independence with Britain, which lasted from January 1919 till July 1921.


But the regards to the peace treaty with Britain, which he signed, were very questionable 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 brand-new Irish National Army, however on 22 August 1922 while he was travelling through his home county of Cork his convoy was assailed by anti-treaty fighters.


Collins left his vehicle to combat and in the weapon fight which followed he was shot dead.


He was 31 years of ages.


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


To this day people wonder what may have been if he had survived and gone on to lead the new state.


"People ask would he have tried to bring about a 32 county settlement? Would he have permitted nationalists in the northern state to have been dealt with the method they were?" Mr Crowley says.


"I believe he was the one leader at that time that the evidence suggests had genuine interest in the northern situation.


"In his mind the treaty was just the beginning."


He suspects Collins would have been more powerful when it concerned the Boundary Commission, which was intended to pick where the new border in between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland should lie.


In the end, although the commission suggested small transfers of land in both directions, its recommendations were never executed and the border remained the exact same as it remained in 1921.


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The civil war left a bitter tradition in Irish society, especially the execution of lots of anti-treaty fighters by the brand-new provisional federal government.


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


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


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


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


"Arguably, he had more at stake in defending the treaty settlement since he had been a signatory of the treaty.


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


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


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


But Prof Coleman says those who filled the vacuum were also capable leaders.


"Griffith was changed by WT Cosgrave who was most likely the most knowledgeable politician in Sinn Féin," she states.


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


"So probably, in fact, he knew more about running the army than Collins would have done."


There is still no agreement on who fired the deadly shot that eliminated Collins, which has actually left area for a variety 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 ask about who was accountable for his death.


"People are captivated 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 celebrations and on Monday the centre is running a journey to a number of areas associated with Collins, including 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 aspects of Collins' tradition remains the truth he agreed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.


It developed 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 obligation to.


It also validated the partition of Ireland and the creation of Northern Ireland.


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


"But I would state he was a pragmatic republican with a plan that could in fact be successful.


"He was the sort of leader who only comes along for a country as soon as in a thousand years."