The annual commemoration of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins will take place at B\u00e9al na Bl\u00e1th in Co Cork, marking 104 years since his death during the Civil War.<\/p>\n
The event begins at 3pm at the Michael Collins Monument, with RT\u00c9 Radio One presenter, author and historian David McCullagh delivering this year’s oration.<\/p>\n
Ending at 5pm, it traditionally includes a procession to the monument, the laying of wreaths and a minute\u2019s silence, followed by the National Anthem and a main address.<\/p>\n
The ceremony commemorates the events at the site 104 years ago on 22 August 1922.<\/p>\n
Michael Collins, who was Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, was on a tour of inspection of West Cork.<\/p>\n
He travelled with a small convoy and was ambushed by anti-Treaty forces in B\u00e9al na Bl\u00e1th.<\/p>\n
During the firefight, Mr Collins was shot in the head and died at the scene. He was 31 years old.<\/p>\n
The commemoration is held each year on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of Mr Collins\u2019 death.<\/p>\n
Traffic restrictions are in place in the area.<\/p>\n
The L2011 at B\u00e9al na Bl\u00e1th is closed from 10.30am this morning until 5pm this afternoon.<\/p>\n
Parking and vehicle access will be unavailable at the monument. Those attending will be directed to designated parking areas 900 metres from the site.<\/p>\n
Speaking ahead of the event, Mr McCullagh said he was honoured to be invited.<\/p>\n
“There are many different aspects to the life and career of Michael Collins; military organiser, intelligence chief, financial mastermind.<\/p>\n
“But circumstances also turned him into a diplomat, a negotiator and a constitutional craftsman who played a key role, not just in the establishment of an independent Irish state, but in the evolution of Britain\u2019s Empire into a Commonwealth,” he said.<\/p>\n
“As Ireland faces an increasingly turbulent international environment, it is timely to reflect on that legacy, and I am really looking forward to speaking at this year\u2019s commemoration,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The annual commemoration of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins will take place at B\u00e9al na Bl\u00e1th in Co Cork,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-601854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}