Beal na mBláth 2006

They travelled far and wide to pay homage to the late, great General Michael Collins. Sydney, Paris, Boston all represented in the near thousand strong attendance at the bend in the road where Ireland's Lost Leader met his untimely end on 22 August 1922. Of course they came from every corner of Ireland too, united in their need to respect the memory of an extraordinary leader and patriot.

The assembled gathering of Collins admirers welcomed this year's keynote speaker Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny with a rousing reception. As is becoming customary, Enda delivered an impassioned speech, this time in tribute to "The Big Fellow". For Fine Gael in particular, the trip to Beal na mBlath is an annual pilgrimage. For as Enda Kenny stated in his speech, the principles of Collins are the ones which continue to drive Fine Gael 84 years on from the Corkman's death. We put Ireland's best interests before our own. According to Kenny, Fine Gael have always " stood by Collins's principles and in doing so we stood first, last, and always by the Republic". Those principles were the ones on which " we will build the next government of this great country" added Kenny to the approval of the faithful.

The Fine Gael leader then went on to speculate what Collins would make of the reckless financial squander of the current Fianna Fail led government. Given that Collins could swear fluently in each language, Kenny guessed that what General Collins would say of FF/PD's handling of the public's money would be unrepeatable in either English or Irish! He promised that getting our immense wealth working for all of our people would be the " Fine Gael mission for the next government of this country".

Following the publication of the Morris Report into Garda corruption, Enda told the assembled gathering that " any man or woman who answers Michael Collins's call to public service, must have absolute confidence, and an absolute guarantee, that the government and their agents will set, uphold and demand the highest standards of integrity, ethics, and probity". Once you joined the Gardai, you crossed a moral threshold The Fine Gael leader claimed while he condemned outright the behaviour of a minority who undermine that public confidence.

According to Kenny, the National Army's first Commander-in-Chief would be proud of the distinction with which our army has served over the years. Security was top of Michael Collin's agenda and An Garda Siochana and the army, each founded by the Collins political tradition, were the legitimate forces of law and order. He supported calls for Irish involvement in a UN peacekeeping force in the Lebanon, provided its mandate was peace-keeping, not peace- enforcing.

In conclusion, Kenny illustrated, in tangible terms, the true extent to which Michael Collins's assassination was a tragedy for Ireland. He pointed out that " three of the greatest soldiers of the modern world were all born within weeks of each other : General Dwight D Eisenhower, General Charles de Gaulle and General Michael Collins.

General de Gaulle became leader of the Free French in Exile and later President of the Fifth Republic. General Eisenhower became Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in World War II and later President of the United States. To be succeeded by one John F Kennedy. But for the Third, General Michael Collins, the impulsive order 'Stop! And we'll fight them', meant there would be no later, just this, the last place on an extraordinary journey". What Collins may have gone on to accomplish we can only guess. However, his record of achievements by age 31 point to a man who was clearly destined to fulfil any political dreams he had.

And so our journey of remembrance came to an end. The contribution of the late General to our now thriving country had been conceptualised, and the challenges for Fine Gael in government set out by the leader of our party. After the ceremony, and Enda's stunning eulogy, it was off to Cork City where we toasted the "Big fellow". No doubt Collins would have drank even the bravest YFGer under the table had he been there!!

Mel Farrell,
Maynooth YFG Chairperson

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Read Enda's Speech