Monument to Michael Collins overdue, says OPW minister
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The Taoiseach is under mounting pressure to commission a national commemorative statue for General Michael Collins and other leaders of the Civil War.
Patrick O’Donovan, the minister with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), said the OPW can only initiate such national arts projects once a request comes from the Department of the Taoiseach.
He said he wrote to the Taoiseach’s department earlier this year about such a proposal but confirmed that as of now, there are no such requests with the OPW.
While the Central Bank has issued a coin to commemorate Collins’ role as finance minister, and An Post is due to issue a stamp later this year to commemorate his role as a post office clerk, Mr O’Donovan said the State should organise a national commemorative monument to Collins, and other leaders of the then fledgling state, in Dublin.
“I know of nowhere in the democratic world, certainly where a leader of a democratic nation is assassinated, and there is no national commemoration to him,” he said.
“It happens in all democratic countries across the world. And in my view, as Minister for the OPW, it should happen here.”
And he said Arthur Griffith and Cathal Brugha, two other key figures from the era, should be similarly commemorated.
He made his comments in the Seanad on Wednesday in response to a question from Fine Gael senator Seán Kyne, who sought an update on whether the OPW had any plans to erect a statue in Dublin to Collins and others as part of our Decade of Centenaries commemorations.
The debate comes just weeks ahead of the 100th anniversary of Collins’ assassination, which will be marked by a special event at Béal na Bláth in West Cork on August 21, and which will be attended jointly by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste.
The ambush site is undergoing an extensive upgrade ahead of the ceremony.
The project was designed and developed by experts in archaeological historic landscapes and memorial historic landscapes, and involved historical analysis of the battlefield and ambush area.
There are several existing representations of Michael Collins in State ownership, including the iconic three-quarter length portrait painted by renowned artist Leo Whelan in the entrance hall to Leinster House.
There is another representation of Collins on view in the environs of Leinster House.
His portrait accompanies those of Arthur Griffith and Kevin O’Higgins on the base of the cenotaph, a tall Wicklow granite obelisk, which is located centrally on Leinster Lawn.
The cenotaph, completed in 1950, was designed by OPW architects Raymond McGrath and Frederick Du Berry, and the three portraits on its base were created by sculptor Laurence Campbell.
There are a number of other portraits of Michael Collins in the State’s collection, including the painting by Sarah Cecilia Harrison which hangs in the Taoiseach’s office, the small full-length bronze figure by Eamonn O’Doherty which is in Dublin Castle and a portrait drawing by Angie Shanahan, which is in Government Buildings.
There are also other sculptural representations of Michael Collins in the State Art Collection by sculptor Albert Power.