About Me
On 16 October 1890 I was born near Sam's Cross, a tiny hamlet in West Cork, named after Sam Wallace, a local highwayman. Sam's Cross lies between Rosscarbery and Clonakilty. Here, in a picturesque valley between river and sea, I grew up. As a lad, I spear-fished for salmon in the river and played among the cliffs above Black beach and at Cliodhna's Rock. But, as was typical of the times, I never learned to swim. Me da, Michael John Collins was sixty years old when he married a local girl, Marianne O'Brien. ( Me da had some fast hands) Marianne was only twenty-three, but they were apparently happy and went on to have eight children. I, the youngest, was born when me father was seventy-five. Me father was a farmer by trade, not rich, but living comfortably for the times on a holding of ninety acres. The farm was called Woodfield after a hill in the area. When I was six, me father died. I attended national school at Lisavaird, and the schoolmaster there had a large influence on me life. For this schoolmaster, Denis Lyons, was an active member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organisation dedicated to ousting the British from Ireland, by force if necessary. Lyons and the local blacksmith, James Santry, another Fenian, were me first tutors in giving mea sense of pride of the Irish as a race. Throughout me brief life, Irishness was the thing that held the greatest meaning for me. As I became more engrossed with nationalism by reading Thomas Davis, me mum sent me to London to keep me out of trouble. There I joined and became active in the Gaelic Athletic League and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Later I was to become the secretary and President of the IRB. In 1916, I returned to Dublin to take part in the planned insurrection. I received a Volunteer's uniform and as Captain Michael Collins, I was second in command to Joseph Mary Plunkett in the General Post Office during Easter Week. I made no secret that I admired the realism of men like Sean Mac Diarmada more than the aesthetic Padraig Pearse. And though I played a minor part in the Rising, my sense of duty and clear-headedness were remembered. Following the Rising, I became a prisoner of war. I was sent to Richmond Barracks and later to Frongoch internment camp in Wales. I returned home to Ireland in December 1916. But it was at Frongoch where my ability as an organizer became recognized. And immediately following my release, I rebuilt the IRB. In 1917, I was elected to the Sinn Fein executive. During 1917 and 1918, my activities included: creating an intelligence network, organising a national loan to fund a rebellion, creating an assassination squad ("The Twelve Apostles") and an arms-smuggling operation. By 1920, I was wanted by the British and had a price of ..10,000 stg. on me head. In 1919, I personally, with the help of me friend Harry Boland, another IRB man, went to Lincoln gaol in England to help Eamon de Valera escape. And, during the time de Valera was in America trying to raise money for Sinn Fein, I risked me life to regularly visit de Valera's wife Sinead and their children. l had a life-long love for older people and for children. In January 1919, the Anglo-Irish War began with the first shots being fired at Soloheadbeg. Over the next year, the Royal Irish Constabulary became the target of a Sinn Fein terror campaign. Michael Collins orchestrated this campaign. He felt there would be much to gain by provoking England to war. By mid-1919, the IRB had infiltrated the leadership of the Volunteers and were directing its pace on the violence. I had been made President of the IRB Supreme Council. At the same time, I was Minister for Finance in the Dail government and the commander of the IRA. In June of that year, de Valera left for America and I became acting President after Arthur Griffith's arrest in December 1920. Although Dev and I co-operated, there were differences between us. After the Easter Rising, de Valera had not rejoined the IRB. Cathal Brugha, de Valera's Minister for Defence in the Dail, resented my popularity and my influence over the Volunteers. In an effort to assert control, Brugha had the Volunteers declared the Army of the Irish Republic (IRA) I love my country and people call me a traitor but De Valera knew that would happen and wanted me to bring back the bad news and he was a selfish bollox because in most of the speechs he made he all said "it will be the people of IRELAND and me as there leader" and if he was all for freedom why did he ban the IRA in the republic? Because he is a total bollox!!!
