Michael Collins & Éamon de Valera

From the Michael Collins film starring Liam Neeson and Alan Rickman as Eamon de Valera, this video clip depicts the defining moments of the formation of the Irish Republic.  Collins was told by the British that if he did not accept the treaty he would face “total war” and he knew he did not have the resources for that. DeValera knew that Irish independence was never going to be offered by the British which is why he sent Collins to negotiate and take the blame. Subsequently an Irish republic was achieved though without the North.   Collins tried to be a realist in a no win situation.  Scroll down to see further video of a tribute to Michael Collins with real footage from the time.

Michael John (”Mick”) Collins (Irish: Mícheál Seán Ó Coileáin; 16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and MP for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently he was both Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-chief of the National Army. Throughout this time, at least as of 1919, he was also President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was shot and killed in August 1922, during the Irish Civil War.

Although most Irish political parties recognise his contribution to the foundation of the modern Irish state, members and supporters of Fine Gael hold his memory in particular esteem, regarding him as their movement’s founding father, through his link to their precursor Cumann na nGaedhael, a name adopted in 1923 by the pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Féin.

Michael Collins first became known during the Easter Rising in 1916. A skilled organiser of considerable intelligence, he was highly respected in the IRB, so much so that he was made financial advisor to Count Plunkett, father of one of the Rising’s organisers, Joseph Mary Plunkett, whose aide-de-camp Collins would become.