In our decade of centenaries, this day is one of the most momentous.
One hundred years ago, on January 16th, 1922, Edmund FitzAlan-Howard, 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, handed over Dublin Castle to Michael Collins.
He was to be the last to hold that office.
It was the end of 700 years of foreign control of what had become Britain’s centre of power in Ireland.
At the time, newspapers from the Skibbereen Eagle to The New York Times, across the globe compared it to the fall of the Bastille
Here is a narrated account of the handover by actor Phelim Drew.
The featured image shows the British Army leaving Dublin for the last time.
It was, of course, not the end of our journey to full sovereignty.
The Irish Free State was a Crown Dominion.
Members of the new legislature in Dublin had to swear an oath of allegiance to the British King.
The entire dispute among former comrades about the new state’s “external association” would lead to the tragedy of the Civil War on this island.
Partition meant that the nationalist people of the Six Counties were abandoned to their grim fate.
I’m convinced that had Michael Collins lived then that 26 county mindset would not have been permitted in the new polity.
In 1999 I wrote this in An Phoblacht.
Firstly, here’s the pen name explainer.
My grandmother’s younger brother.
My great uncle was a graduate of Frongoch where he met up with a young fella from West Cork who had fought in the GPO.
I must say those Brit guards had lovely outfits!
On release, young Derrig would be part of a network across the island that comprised the central nervous system of a guerilla army that confounded the British Empire.
History remembered is a weapon.
It’s fair to say that not all of my comrades agreed with the central tenet of the piece at the time.
Sin mar atá…
However, in my reading and research over the past twenty years, I have become increasingly convinced that Collins was no “sell-out”.
He remained at the end what he had been reared to be in West Cork:
An unrepentant Fenian.
Ireland’s Admiral Yi.
It is worth noting that the Civil War was only fully unleashed after his death in his native county.
Despite what the revisionists would proffer by way of analysis Ireland’s journey from serfdom to sovereignty was not concluded with the handover of Dublin Castle.
Our neighbour was, at that time, still the permanent power on the global stage.
Moreover, even with titular independence in the 26 counties, our economy was shackled to Britain.
A century on there IS a fully sovereign Irish state in the 26 Counties.
In post-Brexit Britain, our gallant allies in Europe means that the Six County statelet is now more disconnected from the London polity than at any time since the island was partitioned.
We now do more trade with the continent than with Britain and that will only grow, especially if the Brits opt for an economic war with the EU.
An economic war…
Dear reader, the irony of all of this is utterly delicious for an Irish Republican.
No doubt it would have made that fella from Sam’s Cross smile.
I’m totally convinced that Mick Collins did not think that the country, or any part of it, was fully independent in any sense when he took over Dublin Castle a century ago today.
However, it was a step in the right direction.
Shamefully, it was those who followed him who betrayed his revolutionary intentions.
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I watched a brilliant film last night about this period in Irish history. “The Wind that Shakes the Barley”. It really captures the brutality of the Brits and how they treated the Irish. The tragedy of the second half of the film is that it demonstrates how former comrades ended up fighting against each other over the politics of what type of Ireland they wanted after the Free State was founded. I heartily recommend it, although it’s not exactly pleasant viewing.
To this day even in catholic schools in Scotland the pupils are thought that the army lads did no wrong . Thank god my kids are old enough now to know that what I told them about the army (scum) was/is the truth unlike what they were told in primary school in Scotland
Well as a former pupil of St Mary,s and St Modans I cannot recall any lessons in Irish or indeed Scottish history ! We were fed a diet of English Royal linage only !
I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of Michael Collins. How anyone could believe him a traitor or a sell-out totally baffles me. I believe had Michael lived that the 32 counties would have been reunited a long time ago. The situation in the Six Counties was completely different from that of the other 26 i.e. the ‘planters’ did the job they were planted there to do and break up the unity of the Irish populace of the North East. Moreover, the strategic importance of the heavy industries there, especially the shipbuilding, meant that partition was vital to British interests. The fact that there was a militant Unionist majority in place of course helped matters along. Had Michael tried to take those Six Counties into the new Irish Free State at the time there would still have been a civil war but, with the Brits backing the Unionists, this was not a war Michael Collins was sure he could win – at the time. He was a brilliant strategist he would have found a way in time. Ironically, in trying to avoid a civil war in the North he ended up with one anyway in the Free State- helped along of course by machinations of those who wished to be rid of Michael. Had all sides taken the time to stand down from their war footing and let cool heads prevail our country’s history would have been very different and Michael would have lived to establish the free, forward thinking Republic he fought for instead of the parochial theocracy Dev created. It is our great tragedy that many still don’t see that, though I believe most do.
It’s also a great tragedy that Dev’s reputation and legacy is now casually and undeservedly trashed.