Michael Collins spent much of the last few months of his short life in Portobello Barracks (now Cathal Brugha barracks) as commander-in-chief of the National Army directing the Civil War.
Perhaps the most famous photograph of Collins, wearing a general’s uniform and striding purposely forward with a child just behind him, is commemorated with a plaque erected in 2013 on the exact spot and now a corten steel silhouette marking the centenary of his death.
It was from Portobello Barracks that Collins set out for his last journey at 5.15am on the morning of August 20th, 1922 where he was due to carry out barrack inspections, but more importantly, to try to end the Civil War.
His death 100 years ago on Monday was marked at Cathal Brugha barracks with a military service for the man who would be the first commander-in-chief of an Irish army.
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The principal guests were members of the Collins family and Audrey Dalton, the daughter of Major General Emmet Dalton who was with Michael Collins when he died at Béal na Bláth.
Mary Collins O’Malley, a great-niece of Michael Collins, spoke of how the barracks had been a “refuge for him from the war ravaged streets of Dublin city” during the Civil War.
She pondered to why some many people seemed to be fascinated by Collins and why he was voted Irish person of the century in 2000 and Ireland’s greatest hero recently by a Newstalk poll.
There are something in the order of 70 biographies about him, but he left his own thoughts in the book Paths to Freedom and in his recently released diaries, she added.
Afterward the ceremony Mrs Collins O’Malley said the wider family had been very happy with the commemoration service that took place in Beal na Bláth on Sunday.
Her son Aengus O’Malley laid a wreath on behalf of the Collins family and Brigadier General Tony Cudmore did so on behalf of the Defence Forces at Cathal Brugha Barracks.
Also present was the Defence Forces chief of staff Lieutenant General Sean Clancy. The ceremony concluded with a fly past by the Irish Air Corps.
A portrait of Collins by the artist Mick O’Dea was unveiled in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel in Co Cork on Monday to mark the centenary.
The portrait was unveiled by Allen and John Flynn of the Flynn Hotel Collection (owners of the Imperial Hotel) together with representatives of the Collins family, grandniece Fidelma Collins and grandnephew Aidan O’ Sullivan.
Room number 115, where Collins stayed in the last night before he died, will henceforth been known as the ‘Michael Collins Suite’ and has undergone a significant renovation in order to curate the historic connection in a luxury 1920′s style.
