Tag Archives: Michael Collins

A FASCINATING historical collection including what is believed to be Michael Collins’ ‘Missing Money Case’ has been unveiled for the first time. The Clare Champion has been shown very rare historical artefacts by a local farmer in an East Clare location that would be regarded as a collector’s dream. The family, who are steeped in IRA connections, provided safe houses for IRA volunteers during the War of Independence, which were used by Michael Collins on at least one occasion to collect money from East Clare IRA Brigade officer in charge, Michael Brennan. During the War of Independence, Collins was Director of Intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a government minister of the self-declared Irish Republic. He was then Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from January 1922 and commander-in-chief of the National Army from July until he was shot and killed in an ambush at Béal na Bláth by anti-Treaty forces on August 22, …

THE SHANNON Omniplex and Fine Gael have come together to host a screening of the Neil Jordan biopic Michael Collins, marking the 100th anniversary of the death of the eponymous Irish hero. It will take place on Tuesday, September 6, at 7pm, and at the same time it will be shown at 18 other cinemas around the country. The film was released in 1996 to huge fanfare, while it provoked much discussion throughout the country. Twenty-six years later, the screening will provide an opportunity for many people to see it for the first time on a big screen. Tony Mulcahy grew up in a Fine Gael home in Limerick, before moving to Shannon where he represented the party on the local town council and Clare County Council. He also stood for election to the Dáil and won a Senate seat for the party. He said that he hopes to attend the screening, and that Collins would certainly have been seen …

WHILE the eyes of the nation were on Croke Park this weekend, both for sporting action and commemoration events, ceremonies were also held in this county to mark the centenary of Bloody Sunday. The events of November 21, 1920, are etched deep in the history of the War of Independence. Newspaper accounts of the time used words like “massacre” and “slaughter” to describe the killing of 14 civilians, including three children, and the injuring of up to 80, at the football match between Tipperary and Dublin. The killings were a reprisal for the assassination of 12 British Army intelligence officers and two auxillaries, and were followed, that night, by the torture and murder of Peadar Clancy, Dick McKee and Conor Clune at Dublin Castle. The three had been arrested on suspicion of being part of Michael Collins’s notorious Squad, or of having information about the unit, and are understood to have endured hours of brutal torture. Both Clancy and Clune …

AS hair salons and barber shops remain closed until July 20, some people have been going to extreme lengths while others have opted for a so-called ‘Covid cut’ – and choosing to do some fund-raising in the process. Among them is Feakle native Trevor Collins who will have his head saved live on Facebook on Friday night, to raise funds for The Mater Foundation. The organisation is very close to the hearts of Trevor and his family, as his dad Michael had a life-saving lung transplant at the hospital in 2017 and is currently receiving treatment there after contracting a rare form of meningitis. “We will be forever in their debt,” said Trevor. “There’s a doctor there for everything and when dad took ill first, we were nearly looking at palliative care for dad, but for the fact that we did our own research and got him treated at the Mater.” Almost a decade ago, Michael was diagnosed with pulmonary …

A journal and autograph book that provides a unique insight into life and conditions at Frongoch prisoner of war camp, where an estimated 1,800 Irish participants of The Easter Rising were interned between June and December 1916, has been acquired at auction by Clare Museum. Belonging to IRA Volunteer and future Clare T.D. Patrick Brennan, from Meelick, the album features accounts of life in the North Wales camp, poetry in Irish and English, and coloured illustrations of the camp and its inhabitants. The journal is also autographed by many of the camp’s prisoners including Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy, who would later become instrumental figures in the ensuing Irish War of Independence and the establishment of the Irish Free State. “Outside of the author’s historic connections with County Clare, this journal and autograph book is hugely important considering the upcoming centenary of the 1916 Rising and the significant influence of the Frongoch camp experience on the future leaders of the …