Pictures: Approaching 100 years of Michael Collins commemorations at Béal na Bláth

This week Cork County Council announced that a significant project for Béal na Bláth will be completed in advance of the national event to commemorate the centenary of the death of Michael Collins in August this year.

The council released new visuals showing how the historic site will look when the upgrade works are completed.

Located between Bandon and Crookstown, Béal na Bláth is one of the most famous sites in Irish history.

It was at this site on August 22, 1922, that General Michael Collins, commander-in-chief of the Irish army was ambushed and killed by Anti-Treaty troops.

The annual commemoration takes place each year on the Sunday closest to August 22.

Delving through The Echo archives, there are a plethora of images from commemorations over the decades.

On the tenth anniversary of Collins’ assassination, people gathered in their droves at the Béal na Bláth site.

“Members of the Army Comrades’ Association, many of whom served under him ten years ago, played a prominent part in the solemn and sorrowful commemoration,” an Echo article from August 22, 1932 stated.

The large gathering was said to be “swelled by contingents of the people of Cork city, Dublin, Limerick and other important Irish centres”.

The Railway Company ran special trains to Crookstown and a bus service brought people to the commemoration site.

“General Richard Mulcahy, TD, ex-Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, and Minister for Local Government, delivered the oration and the other speakers included Mr Batt O’Connor TD; Col PJ Coughlan, Army Comrades’ Association, and Commandant Cronin,” the article stated.

General Mulcahy received a “great ovation” when he commenced to speak.

In his address, General Mulcahy said the people of Ireland saw Collins “appearing on their horizon from out of the bedraggled ranks of Pearse’s army in 1916”.

“They saw him die in the uniform of the Commander-in-Chief of an Irish Army here in this spot. 

“But great and necessary as Collins’ work as a soldier was, the work on his part that made it possible to have a State here in Ireland was much wider flung and much bigger and much less spectacular than the work of a soldier,” he said.

Another particularly momentous commemoration was the 1972 event which marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Michael Collins.

An Echo article in the days leading up to the event underscored the importance of the occasion.

“Sunday’s commemoration will have special features. Mr John A Costello will give the oration and it is known that contingents will be present from every county.

“There will also be many visitors from overseas,” the piece stated.

It said that “of special interest” would be the presence of survivors of ‘The Squad’ and ‘The Active Service Unit’.

“These men who were all particularly close to Michael Collins were on duty every hour of the day or night when their special services were required.

“Collins realised that every national movement up to this had failed because of spies and informers and, with a huge reward on his head, working out of various addresses, which he called his ‘joints’ or ‘dumps’, he led a hunted life,” the article noted.

With the official annual commemoration axed for the last two years due to Covid-19, the 2022 event will no doubt see a return of hordes of people to the Béal na Bláth site, particularly as this year marks 100 years since the death of 'The Big Fella'.