What would Collins think?

COMMENT

I WONDER what Michael Collins would have thought of today’s Ireland. We will never know. We can only judge Collins on what he said and did when he was alive more than 90 years ago.

However, that will not stop us from guessing what he would think of us, even though such guessing might be considered by some as a complete waste of time.
Last Sunday, at the 90th anniversary commemoration of Collins’ death at Béal na Blá, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the “Big Fella” would be “left speechless by the selfishness, corruption and short sightedness that has cost Ireland its economic independence”.
I wonder. The Taoiseach is entitled to his view but I could never see a live Collins left speechless in the face of events that cost this country its economic independence. I am sure he would have plenty to say about the people who brought this country to its present state.
None of us, including the Taoiseach, can know for sure how Collins would react against the bankers, developers, politicians and others who have brought this country to its knees. But we are entitled to speculate on what his reaction might be.
Rather than being speechless, I am sure he would have had plenty to say. I think he might have decided to have the lot of them lined up and shot as traitors.
We do know that Collins was fearless and ruthless. He had no fear of death himself and had no qualms about putting to death those he saw as enemies of Ireland, whether they were Irish, English or whatever.
Enda Kenny likes to portray himself as a man who has inherited the legacy of Michael Collins. He no doubt feels he is entitled to that as leader of Fine Gael, the party that consistently supported the Treaty of 1921.
With all due respects to him, I cannot make any comparisons between Enda Kenny and the Big Fella. Fine Gael and the pro-Treaty parties did little to advance Collins’ ideas of making the Treaty a stepping stone towards freedom. Ironically, that was left to the man who led the political opposition to the Treaty, Eamon de Valera.
Who am I – or anybody else for that matter – to say how Collins might judge Enda Kenny or any of today’s political leaders? Collins probably would have changed as he grew older, went further away from the gun and got more and more involved in the cut and thrust of ordinary, day-to-day politics. Collins was gunned down in the prime of his life, so we can only guess what he might have thought about this, that or anything else that has happened in the last 90 years.
Collins was not very happy with the Anglo-Irish Treaty he and his colleagues signed with the British in London in December 1921. However, he believed, as did most of the people of Ireland at the time, that it was the best that could be got. He looked on the Treaty as granting the freedom to win freedom. De Valera was unable to come up with any great alternative, apart from his Document Number Two, which was only a pale reflection of the Treaty.
Collins, more than most of the leaders at the time, knew the IRA would not be able to keep up the fight against the British and the people of Ireland would not have the strength to continue supporting the war.
When he signed the Treaty, he was putting his country above himself and admitted he was signing his own death warrant. How many politicians today would be prepared to put their country first? What was it John F Kennedy said? “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”.
Some might argue that when Collins was active, he was fighting a War of Independence and there is no question today of people being asked to give their lives for their country.
However, it could also be argued that this country faces a bigger crisis today than it did 90 years ago and that huge sacrifices have to be made. At the same time, politicians who claim to be following in Collins’ footsteps see nothing wrong in claiming from the State huge sums of money in expenses that they are not entitled to and the State cannot afford.
Collins and his comrades pledged to cherish all the children of the nation equally. They promised equal rights and equal opportunities for all. That was their definition of freedom. Fine Gael today would have a different definition and would argue that their definition is the right one. However, they cannot reasonably argue that their definition is the same one as that of Collins and his comrades.
Instead of creating a just and fair kind of society, as envisaged by Collins and the others, they have spawned a very unjust and unfair society. Ireland is deeply divided today into those who have and those who have not and recent budgetary decisions have made those divisions deeper. Those budgets are imposing the greatest penalties on those least able to bear them.
Enda Kenny has promised us another harsh budget in December. Once again, it will probably come down hardest on the most marginalised among us. Those are the people most affected by cut-backs in health and social welfare spending.
Surely it is not beyond the ability of politicians and their advisers to cut back, for example, child benefits for those who are relatively well off and use the money saved to compensate families most in need.
I am damned sure Michael Collins would have been able to do that.