Michael Collins Murder Was "Fortuitous"

There was a revision to Irish history books this week, after new documents emerged shedding light on the exact circumstances surrounding the killing of Michael Collins in the Irish Civil War.

The chief-of-staff of the Free State Army was ambushed at Béal na Bláth in County Cork in August 1922.

Internal documents sent by the IRA ambush squad to its headquarters, unseen until now but written just two days after the attack, show the battle almost didn't happen.

Most of the ambush party had withdrawn from their positions before the attack, suspecting that Collins' motorcade had moved from Clonakilty towards Bandon, away from the ambush site.

Only six IRA members were still in position to open fire on Collins' 32-strong column.

The document states "the firing was terrific" and that "the engagement lasted one hour", until Free State soldiers managed to remove a barricade which had been blocking the road.

It was only afterwards that the IRA commander learned that Collins had been killed.

The report also reveals that Michael Collins was not well protected on the day.

"During the journey Mr Collins travelled in the touring car and made himself very prominent," it says.

The document was addressed to IRA chief of staff Liam Lynch, and appears in a new book published on the IRA by Dr Brian Hanley, a lecturer in Modern History at St Patrick's College, Drumondra, Dublin.

For decades, the first-hand report of Collins of death was hidden in papers of former IRA chief of staff Moss Twomey, which were donated to UCD about ten years ago.

The papers put an end to speculation that Collins had been shot by one of his own officers and is believed to be the only contemporary account of what happened at Béal na Bláth.

Michael Collins, nicknamed The Big Fella, was a charismatic leader, and brilliant military strategist who was instrumental in bringing about Irish independence.

He was recently voted as the second greatest Irish person of all time in a television poll.

He was memorably portrayed by Liam Neeson in Neil Jordan's movie Michael Collins and by Brendan Gleeson in the RTE production The Treaty.