Personal items belonging to Michael Collins are handed over to the National Museum of Ireland.
Thirty years earlier an official from the National Museum of Ireland turned down the opportunity to take artefacts belonging to Michael Collins. The Collins family then handed the items over to the Irish army. The collection includes the Webley revolver he fought with, the letter signed by Éamon de Valera appointing Michael Collins and others to negotiate a treaty with Britain, and personal diaries which trace the final days of his life. The collection has now been accepted to the National Museum by assistant director John Teehan and Minister for the Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht Michael D Higgins. The items are on temporary loan from Collins Barracks in Cork.
The museum begins displaying them immediately.
Michael D Higgins says the donation indicates a generosity of spirit which Michael Collins himself would have approved.
At his death, Collins was a hugely popular hero but after Fianna Fáil came to power, the Big Fellow was airbrushed from our official history.
At the time, the Fianna Fáil leader Eamon de Valera explained why.
In the fullness of time, history will record the greatness of Collins and it will be recorded at my expense.
In 1939, Eamon de Valera would only allow Johnny a brother of the late Michael Collins to attend the blessing of a monument at his grave. Michael Collins's nephew, also called Michael, is delighted now to see the items on display at the National Museum of Ireland.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 14 December 1993. The reporter is Joe Little.
