Last week I had the pleasure of hosting a St Patrick’s week event at which we had a distinguished speaker, Dr. William Matthews of the University of Massachusetts (Amherst). Dr. Matthews gave a talk on the life of Irish patriot Michael Collins, whose portrait will be hung in Methuen’s City Hall. The portrait of Collins was donated by Colie Ryan of Methuen, and was brought over from Ireland by Coley’s mom. Collins had largely been a non-person in Ireland after the ascension of Eamon DeValera’s Fianna Fail Party in the 1930’s. Collins historical greatness, and his immense contributions in just about every area of the Irish struggle for freedom, simply have outshone any attempt to re-write history to diminish those contributions. Collins is the father of the modern Irish State, and his argument that the the Treaty creating the Irish Free State was a “stepping stone to achieve freedom” has been borne out by time. I thought of Collins during the time that the Good Friday accords were reached between Dublin, London, Sinn Fein, and the northern Unionists and felt that his initial argument was still proving true so many years after his death. I have included links to the Tim Pat Coogan book on Collins, as well as the DVD that is a fine movie and a good generalized depiction of Collins life. My thanks to the Claddagh Pub for a great Irish breakfast, to Dave Burke, who has made immense contributions to the Irish cause, and to Colie Ryan, who provided the very great photos of Collins. Happy St Patrick’s day!
Bill Manzi.com 