Michael Collins (Irish leader)

Michael Collins (Irish name Micheál Ó Coileáin; October 16, 1890 – August 22, 1922), an Irish revolutionary leader, served as Minister for Finance in the Irish Republic, as Director of Intelligence for the IRA, as a member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations, as Chairman of the Provisional Government and as Commander-in-Chief of the National Army. He was assassinated in August 1922, during the Irish Civil War. Members and supporters of the political party Fine Gael hold in particular respect his memory.

The Provisional Government

Under the Dáil Constitution adopted in 1919, Dáil Éireann continued to exist. De Valera resigned the presidency and sought re-election (in an effort to destroy the newly approved Treaty), but Arthur Griffith defeated him in the vote and assumed the presidency. (Griffith called himself President of Dáil Éireann rather than de Valera's more exalted President of the Republic.) However this government or Aireacht had no legal status in British constitutional law, so another co-existent government emerged, nominally answerable to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The new Provisional Government formed under Michael Collins, who became President of the Provisional Government (i.e., Prime Minister). He also remained Minister for Finance of Griffith's republican administration. An example of the complexities involved can be seen even in the manner of his installation. In British legal theory he was a Crown-appointed prime minister, installed under the Royal Prerogative. To be so installed, he had to formally meet the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Viscount Fitzalan (the head of the British administration in Ireland). According to the republican view, Collins met Fitzalan to accept the surrender of Dublin Castle, the seat of British government in Ireland. According to British constitutional theory, he met Fitzalan to "kiss hands" (the formal name for the installation of a minister of the Crown), the fact of their meeting rather than the signing of any documents, duly installing him in office. Allegedly, Collins was late to this ceremony by seven minutes and was rebuked for this by Fitzalan. Collins replied, "You had to wait seven minutes but we had to wait seven hundred years!"

Related Topics:
Dáil Constitution - Constitutional law - Prime Minister - Royal Prerogative - Lord Lieutenant of Ireland - Viscount Fitzalan - Dublin Castle

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Anti-treatyites, having opposed the Treaty in the Dáil, withdrew from the assembly and, having formed an opposition "republican government" under Éamon de Valera, began a campaign that led to the Irish Civil War. By mid-1922, Collins in effect laid down his responsibilities as Chairman of the Provisional Government to become Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, a formal structured uniformed army that formed around the nucleus of the pro-Treaty IRA. As part of those duties, he travelled to his native Cork. En route home through County Cork on 22 August, 1922, at Béal na mBláth (in Irish, "the Mouth of Flowers"), he was killed in an ambush, which lasted 45 minutes, probably by a ricocheting bullet. Collins had ordered his convoy to stop and return fire, instead of choosing the safer option of driving on. He was 31 years old.

Related Topics:
Éamon de Valera - Irish Civil War - Commander-in-Chief - National Army - County Cork - 22 August - 1922 - Irish - Ambush

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