Sinn Féin plans to steal Collins from Fine Gael
Centenary tug-of-war looms over State’s founding father
SINN FéIN is limbering up to annex the legacy of Michael Collins for its own political benefit to mark the centenary of the revolutionary leader’s death, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
The plan will accentuate concern at the heart of Government over the potential political fallout from a series of politically charged centenaries dating back to the Civil War.
Next year will see landmark anniversaries of the killing of Michael Collins, the death of Sinn Féin founder Arthur Griffith and the formation of the Civic Guard, the post RIC police force which later evolved into An Garda Siochána. 2022 is also the centenary of Ireland’s post-War of Independence Civil War, which was triggered after anti-treaty forces in the Four Courts kidnapped the Free State General JJ ‘Ginger’ O’Connell.
On June 27, Collins gave a final ultimatum to the Four Courts garrison to surrender. The following day he borrowed two British 18-pounder field guns to bombard the Four Courts, marking the start of the Civil War.
Fine Gael leader and Tanáiste Leo Varadkar has told colleagues the party is planning ‘something significant for the Collins’s 100th anniversaries’.
But it appears Sinn Féin will not concede ownership of the mantle of Collins to the sole custody of its political rivals. One Sinn Féin source told the MoS: ‘The age where Collins is a Fine Gael icon is gone. That belonged to the old era of Civil War politics. He belongs to all of us, Sinn Féin included, now.’
Sinn Féin’s interest in Collins is unlikely to be appreciated by Fine Gael, which now regards that party, rather than Fianna Fáil, as being its main political opponent.
The special place Collins holds in the heart of Fine Gael is epitomised at Béal na Bláth, where each year the party commemorates the assassination of the commander-in-chief.
One senior party source told the MoS: ‘They [Sinn Féin] are not so keen to commemorate the Army and the Garda. They can’t just cherry-pick. They have to take them all.’
However, Sinn Féin sources are not impressed by Fine Gael’s possessiveness over the sole figure from the War of Independence whose legacy attracts the interest and empathy of a younger generation.
Mary Lou McDonald previously referred to Collins as a ‘Cork South MP in 1918 “Sinn Féin election”. Soldier, leader. Abstentionist.’
Another Sinn Féin source said: ‘Why would we cede Michael Collins to Fine Gael? He has a great deal more in common with us than with Fine Gael. He would be with us taking on the developers and the billionaires. Collins would have a great deal more in common with Mary Lou than Leo. Both are radical outsiders and real generals.’
One senior Fine Gael party figure told the MoS: ‘We are a little gun-shy after that RIC debacle. The last thing we need is a reprise of the RIC commemoration controversy.’
Sinn Féin appears buoyed by the fallout from the controversy over a proposed RIC commemoration in January 2020. One party source said: ‘We profited hugely over that RIC gaffe. Fine Gael are the representatives of the rump of the home rule party. Their icon should be John Redmond. We are the real republicans.’
A Fine Gael spokesman said it would ‘mark this period in a manner that is historically appropriate, inclusive and is in line with the State’s approach to Commemorations’.
The Sinn Féin press office did not respond to a request for comment.
‘He belongs to all of us now, Sinn Féin included’