Michael Collin's death and funeral

The last known photograph of Collins alive was taken as he made his way through Bandon, County Cork in the back of an army vehicle. He is pictured outside White's Hotel (now Munster Arms) on 22 August 1922.

On the road to Bandon, at the village of Béal na mBláth (Irish, "the Mouth of Flowers"), Collins' column stopped to ask directions. However the man whom they asked, Dinny Long, was also a member of the local Anti-Treaty IRA. An ambush was then prepared for the convoy when it made its return journey back to Cork city. They knew Collins would return by the same route as the two other roads from Bandon to Cork had been rendered impassable by Republicans. The ambush party, allegedly commanded by Liam Deasy, had mostly dispersed to a nearby pub by 8:00pm, when Collins and his men returned to Béal na mBlath but the remaining five ambushers on the scene opened fire on Collins' convoy. The ambushers had laid a mine on the scene, which could have killed many more people in Collins' party, however they had disconnected it by the time the firing broke out.

Collins was killed in the subsequent gun battle, which lasted approximately 20 minutes, from 8:00pm to 8:20pm. He was the only fatality in the action. He had ordered his convoy to stop and return fire, instead of choosing the safer option of driving on in his touring car or transferring to the safety of the accompanying armoured car, as his companion, Emmet Dalton, had wished. He was killed while exchanging rifle fire with the ambushers. Under the cover of the armoured car, Collins' body was loaded into the touring car and driven back to Cork. Collins was 31 years old when he died. At the time of his death, Collins was engaged to Kitty Kiernan.

There is no consensus as to who fired the fatal shot. The most recent authoritative account suggests that the shot was fired by Denis ("Sonny") O'Neill, an Anti-Treaty IRA fighter and a former British Army marksman who died in 1950. This is supported by eyewitness accounts of the participants in the ambush. O'Neill was using dum-dum ammunition, which disintegrates on impact and which left a gaping wound in Collins' skull. He dumped the remaining bullets afterwards for fear of reprisals by Free State troops. Collins' men brought his body back to Cork where it was then shipped to Dublin because it was feared the body might be stolen in an ambush if it were transported by road. His body lay in state for three days in Dublin City Hall where tens of thousands of mourners filed past his casket to pay their respects. His funeral mass took place at Dublin's Pro Cathedral where a number of foreign and Irish dignitaries were in attendance.

Collins' shooting has provoked many conspiracy theories in Ireland and even the identity and motives of the assassin are subject to debate. Some Republicans maintain that Collins was killed by a British 'plant'. Some Pro-Treaty accounts claim that Éamon de Valera ordered Collins' assassination. Others allege that he was killed by one of his own soldiers, Jock McPeak, who defected to the Republican side with an armoured car three months after the ambush. However, historian Meda Ryan, who researched the incident exhaustively, concluded that there was no real basis for such theories, 'Michael Collins was shot by a Republican, who said [on the night of the ambush], "I dropped one man" Liam Deasy, who was in command of the ambush party, said, 'we all knew it was Sonny Neill's bullet'.

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[Zikan13]

Death to the British Empire!

[TheBadMonkee]

really is a disappointing time in our history when our own people dont have a fucking clue what happened in the past, and who cling on to retarded beliefs without having the intelligence to actually examine all the facts. Collins was secretly supplying the northern units of the IRA with weapons after the Treaty, He also had the courage to sign a treaty he knew would see him killed, despite having achieved more than any other Irishman in the 700 years previous. You sicken me

[usagoodbyeisayhello]

@charlie97martin Do you believe the story which the US government came up with about the Bin Laden assassination? It smelled like total bullshit to me from day one e.g. the burial at sea "according to Muslim tradition"...BWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAH­HHHHHHHH!!! lol

[Adrian14mz]

There is no consensus as to who fired the fatal shot: It was Emmitt Dalton. He shot Collins in the back of the head. Dalton was the spy. Later, on more than one occasion he got drunk and confess his crime to a family member of mine. My Grandfather served under Dalton.

[charlie97martin]

I hope whoever killed Collins is in hell along with hitler and bin laden

[hemiline]

@RichardElden Why on earth would you be glad a place was bombed?

[MrXcdeegan95]

I saluted this video.

[MrJoshuaPadraig]

@RichardElden

Ireland will be united once more, probably not now but one day.

Tiocfaidh ár lá

[MrJoshuaPadraig]

@RichardElden

No they won't need another IMF bailout very soon, they making cuts to prvent another bailout.

If the EU finishes this will bring the UK along with it since the UK cannot old it's own without the help of the EU.

Scotland will have independance.

Wales will have independance.

N.Éire will return where it belongs.

Your glad millions of people died,immigrates around the world and left they families behind, are you human?

[MrJoshuaPadraig]

@RichardElden

You hungry, you havn't been fed in a while have you?

The "Bankrupt South" is fine within the EU, it would never rejoin the UK. The UK is falling apart with Scotland on the verge of independance, Wales pushing for independance and N.Ireland will merge with the Republic of Ireland in the future, that sir is the likely outcome.

Terrorist?

Such an hypocrit, I think you want to look closer to home for terrorists.

[fineirish2]

@RichardElden how the fuck was he a terrorist??? , he's only a terrorist because of british propaganda, collins was a hero who devoted his life to freeing ireland from british tyranny, the only bad part is he wasnt able to bring the 6 counties along. collins stood uo for what he believed in, whichis wat alot of ppl lack.

[fineirish2]

@TheBadMonkee ye, there are alot of one sided stories in the history of ireland, and alot of ppl dont know the truth behind theme.