MICHAEL COLLINS

MP AND KEY FIGURE IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE IRA 1890-1922 IRISH FREE STATE, IRA, NATIONAL ARMY

Born in County Cork, Collins lived and worked in London for nine years before returning to his native Ireland and joining Sinn Féin. As a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood he took part in the Easter Rising of 1916, spending a short time in prison afterwards.

In the 1918 general election Collins was elected as MP for South Cork and became minister of home affairs in the Dáil Éireann. As a leading figure in the Irish Republican Army, Collins organised resistance to the British security forces, most famously setting up his ‘squad’ of gunmen, also known as the ‘Twelve Apostles’. With the events of Bloody Sunday helping force the British to the negotiating table, Collins was in favour of the agreement that partitioned Ireland and took the role of chairman of the provisional government.

During the civil war that followed partition, Collins found himself in conflict with a faction of the IRA that opposed the treaty with Britain and the splitting up of the island. He commanded the Free State army and was assassinated during an ambush on 22 August 1922.

“WITH THE EVENTS OF BLOODY SUNDAY HELPING FORCE THE BRITISH TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE, COLLINS WAS IN FAVOUR OF THE AGREEMENT THAT PARTITIONED IRELAND”

LEFT: MICHAEL COLLINS WAS ONE OF THE PROMINENT LEADERS OF THE IRISH FREE STATE UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1922

The bombarding of the Four Courts in Dublin: supposedly ordered by Collins