Taoiseach set to address rise of the far right at annual Michael Collins oration
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Taoiseach Simon Harris will deliver the annual oration at Béal na Bláth in Co Cork on Sunday honouring the anniversary of Michael Collins’s death and is expected to use his speech to refer to the rise of the far right, immigration, and the need to do "the right thing".
In accepting the invitation, Mr Harris wrote to the organising committee saying it was an honour to be asked to deliver the keynote speech.
“Every year, we go to the site of the ambush and gather together to remember what Michael Collins gave to Ireland and, with his death at just 31 years of age, to consider what could have been. Ireland is a modern, free democracy and this year I will reflect on the ambition we owe to our children and to our heroes like Collins to, in his words, always do the 'right thing in our own conscience',” he wrote.
Mr Harris will deliver his speech at 3pm.
He becomes only the third serving Taoiseach to address the commemoration. Enda Kenny attended in 2012 for the 90th commemoration and then-taoiseach Micheál Martin and former tánaiste Leo Varadkar both spoke at the centenary event two years ago.
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"We look forward to hearing the Taoiseach's reflections on the beliefs, hopes, and achievements of Michael Collins and of his own perspective on the challenges being faced by the State and the wider world today, over 100 years after the death of Michael Collins," Garret Kelleher, chairman of the organising committee, said.
For those planning to attend Sunday's commemoration, a park-and-ride service will operate from noon from Crookstown village, opposite the post office, to Béal na Bláth (1km from the monument). There will also be parking available on the western side of the monument.
It's anticipated that large crowds will attend again this year and, as a result, a traffic management plan will be activated on the day, in co-operation with the gardaí.
Gardaí and stewards will be on hand to direct cars and control parking.
The day before, members of the Dublin Veterans’ Association and a contingent of ex-Norwegian soldiers will lay a wreath at the monument at 3pm.
Later that evening they will hold a parade in Rosscarbery and lay a wreath at the village monument which is dedicated to Michael Collins, General Tom Barry, and Fenian leader Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa.