One of the largest collections of Michael Collins memorabilia will become accessible to the public this week when the Minister for Defence, Mr O'Dea, opens a new €400,000 military museum at Collins Barracks in Cork.
The museum - which will be officially opened tomorrow - has been a lifelong ambition for military historian Comdt Dan Harvey, supported by Brig Gen Pat Nash, GOC 1st Southern Brigade, Collins Barracks.
"We're very fortunate to have such an extensive collection of artefacts associated with Michael Collins and we've dedicated an entire room in the new museum to exhibiting these artefacts," said Comdt Harvey.
"We have Michael Collins's desk that he worked on when he was organising the IRA in 1919-1921 from a house in Mespil Road.
It still bears the marks where the drawers were forced when the house was raided by the Auxiliaries in April 1921.
"And we also have his revolver, his diary, which he had on him when he was shot, his overcoat, as well as the original cross that marked where he was shot at Béal na mBláth and a code he used - it's a very substantial and significant collection."
The museum - which is located in a former guardhouse just inside the old main gate to the barracks at the top of Military Hill - also traces the history of the fortification, which was completed in 1806.
Originally called New Barracks and later Cork Barracks, it became Victoria Barracks in 1901, only to be handed over to the IRA by Maj Bernard Montgomery - later Field Marshall Montgomery - after the treaty of 1922.
Comdt Harvey, who co-wrote a history of the barracks with Company Quartermaster Sgt Gerry White, has secured a collection of memorabilia for the museum, which is part of the Defence Forces' contribution to Cork's year as European capital of culture.
"We were very fortunate to secure an extraordinary private collection of small firearms from Paddy Bassett of Glanmire.
"It's one of the finest collections in Ireland and ranges from flintlocks used in the Napoleonic Wars right up to Sten guns from World War II," he said.
Comdt Harvey, who has a post-graduate diploma in heritage management from UCC, is particularly proud of the museum's depiction of Ireland's peace-keeping role with the UN, with exhibits dating back to Ireland's first such role in the Congo.
"That room comes full circle from the Congo right through Cyprus, the Lebanon, Kosovo, East Timor, Somalia - right up to our current role in Liberia. We have several exhibits relating to the Niemba ambush in the Congo when nine Irish soldiers were killed.
"That had a huge impact on the psyche of the nation. It was our first UN involvement, and then for so many people to be killed.
"In one sense, it reflects just how integral military history is to our heritage because it reveals aspects of our identity."