In pictures: New statue of Michael Collins unveiled in Cork City
The statue of Michael Collins is unveiled in Cork City. Pictured are his grand-niece Fidelma Collins and great grand-niece Maeve Burke. Picture: Darragh Kane
Hundreds took to the streets of Cork City on Friday as a statue of Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins was unveiled on Grand Parade.
Unveiled by sporting legends Ronan O’Gara, Jimmy Barry Murphy and Rena Buckley, some 1,500 people turned out for the event — despite the rain.
Cork singer John Spillane sang a new song he wrote especially about the Big Fella at the event.
The statue depicts Collins as the rebel leader running the war against Britain while riding a bicycle dressed as a businessman.
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It is based on a photograph taken of him in 1922.
He had at the time been touring the newly-opened engineering factory run by Philip Pierce & Co at Wexford’s Pierce factory on the Mill Road.
Set at ground level inside a small stone surround, the statue — which was paid for by public donations — stands on a carved limestone paving which depicts aspects of Collins’ life.
His grand-niece Fidelma Collins said it was a wonderful day.
“There's a great buzz around the place and great goodwill. Nobody's noticing about the weather. It's just really fantastic.
“We were lucky earlier on. We took the plastic off before it was unveiled and we got a good look at the face and the likeness is just wonderful.
“It's actually quite emotional.”
Cork City councillor Shane O’Callaghan, whose council motion more than a year ago led to Friday's event, said he was "absolutely thrilled", saying it was a "fantastic day".
The statue was placed at ground level to commemorate the fact that Collins was frequently among the ordinary people during the War of Independence, both in the way he planned his action against the British and the way he addressed and mixed with people in public.
The location for the statue was chosen because of its historic connection to Collins.
It was on the wide thoroughfare on March 12, 1922, that he addressed a massive pro-Treaty rally.
Just a year before he had addressed the crowd, which was estimated to be about 50,000, British forces had set fire to large swathes of the city.
A more sombre relevance of the location is that his convoy passed the spot where the statue was unveiled on its way to Béal na Bláth on the morning of August 22, 1922, hours before he would be killed in an ambush.
The night before, he had stayed at the nearby Imperial Hotel.
Placed beside the statue for the event was a Sliabh na mBan, one of 13 Armoured Rolls Royce cars which were acquired from the British by the Irish Free State after the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921.
It was part of Collins’ ambushed convoy.
Funds for the statue were raised by the Michael Collins 100 Committee — which was set up to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Collins’ death.
The statue was created by Mallow-based sculptor Kevin Holland, who also made the Michael Collins statue that was unveiled in 2002 by actor Liam Neeson in Emmet Square in Clonakilty.
Cast in Germany, the statue was assembled in Macroom while the stainless steel bike was coated in bronze in Midleton.
