Michael Collins: The Life and Legacy of Ireland’s ‘Big Fella’

Pitch Perfect: Duhallow Youth and Public Speaking

By NOLLAIG MURPHY Development Officer, IRD Duhallow

Following on from IRD Duhallow’s Public Speaking for National School event, we are delighted to present another speech which we heard in our closing ceremony 8h October. Some of our participants chose to speak on the topic of historical figures, in this edition Sean Quinn a student in Newmarket BNS presents the life of Michael Collins.

Michael Collins: The Life and Legacy of Ireland’s ‘Big Fella’

By SEÁN QUINN, Newmarket Boys N.S.

Michael Collins was born in 1890 in Clonakilty Co Cork, where he lived. He had three sisters named Katie, Margaret and Helena. He also had two brothers named Patrick and John. His mother’s name was Anne O’Brien and his father’s name was Michael John Collins. He attended school in Clonakilty National School. He played hurling and could speak four languages English, Irish, Greek and Latin. He was called “The Big Fella” because he was strong and had a dog named Jessy. Michael Collins’ girlfriend was Kitty Kiernan, but they never married as he died in an ambush at Béal na Bláth West Cork. Michael Collins fought in the Easter Rising and he was sent to jail in the Frongoch internment camp in Wales, he was released again in December 1916. Michael Collins fought in the War of Independence, as Ireland was under British rule. After years a contract was agreed, creating the free state which consisted of 26 out of the 32 counties in Ireland, this started the civil war.

“The Big Fella” was fatally wounded while travelling in a convoy at Béal Na Bláth. Every August an oration is organised by the Béal na Bláth Commemoration Committee in remembrance of Michael Collins. Above pictured is the Béal Na Bláth, ambush site after its restoration for the 2022 centenary of Collins’s death. A State-led commemoration event was held at the site on 22nd of August 2022.

Pictured is Michael Collins’s grave which is one of the most visited graves in Glasnevin Cemetery. Here people can avail of a very interesting, guided tour of this cemetery and see his grave which is positioned near the front of the graveyard. His headstone stands at an imposing 10 ft tall.

Kitty Kiernan is also interred in Glasnevin in a nearby grave. She married Felix Cronin in 1926 and her headstone is marked Kitty Kiernan Cronin.