On 6th December 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London by the Irish delegation which included Michael Collins, and the British Government. Less than a year later, on 22nd August 1922, Collins was killed during an ambush at Beal na Blath in Co. Cork.
In this podcast, listen to the voices of the grandnephew of Collins, the late Michael Collins Powell, the late Harry Boland, nephew of Harry Boland, the late Breda Tierney, daughter of Col. Sean O’Farrell, ADC to W.T.Cosgrave during the War of Independence, who was present at the signing of the Treaty.
Also included is the voice of Aine Broy, daughter of Eamon Broy, one of Collins’s spies in Dublin Castle during the War of Independence and was his bodyguard in London during the Treaty negotiations, and the late Michael Darby O’Donovan describes his Clonakilty childhood memories of the killing of Michael Collins. The late Liam Deasy, nephew of IRA member, Liam Deasy, describes the IRA meeting held in West Cork on the night prior to the ambush at Beal na Blath. After the meeting Eamon de Valera slept in the Sweeney house where the meeting had been held.
Historians Meda Ryan and Jim Crowley, founder of the Michael Collins Centre in Clonakilty, are recorded on location at Beal na Blath, and historian and author on Collins, T. Ryle Dwyer, is also included in this podcast.
