The day after Michael Collins was shot, Richard Mulcahy, Chief of Staff of the Free State Army, sent a message to his soldiers. He urged them to “stand calmly by your posts” and said: “Let no cruel act of reprisal blemish your bright honour.” Yet in Dublin, within days of that message, and as the body of Michael Collins lay in state in City Hall, Free State forces carried out atrocities which up to recent times were largely forgotten. Free article

We are seeing a deluge of media coverage on the centenary of the death of Michael Collins. This is natural for such a towering figure in our history. It is unfortunate, though, that so much that is said and written about the Treaty and the Civil War is dominated by the figures of Collins and Dev, often to the exclusion of other key figures and usually glossing over the political issues involved. Free article

As we mark the 42nd anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strikes Pauline Tully remembers republican Kevin O'Reilly who died in December, and who over six decades was a key activist and organiser, and was to the forefront of H-Block campaign in Cavan. Free article

Although he was advanced in age, the death of Albert Kane after a relatively short illness, came as a shock to his family, friends and comrades. Their loss was sudden because Albert had remained engaged and active and irrepressible right up to his final illness. Free article

Arthur Griffith died 100 years ago as the Civil War escalated, a war brought about as a direct result of his decision to sign the Treaty. Griffith’s legacy will forever be defined by that one act. Free article

Arthur Joseph Griffith was born at 61 Upper Dominick Street, Dublin, son of Arthur Charles Griffith, printer, and Mary Whelan. He attended the local Christian Brothers school and began work as an office boy in Franklin Printing at 13. He was a voracious reader and studied for the rest of his years. He was deeply interested in Irish history, culture and language and was a member from his teens of many clubs such as Young Ireland League, the Celtic Literary Society and Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League). Free article

Writing in his latest blog, Declan Kearney outlines the need for a global anti-apartheid movement in support of the Palestinian people. Free article

Often in history, and in politics, plans are overtaken by events. This could be said of the execution by two IRA Volunteers of Henry Wilson, the British military advisor to James Craig's Stormont parliament in 1922. Shot dead on the steps of his home, his death has been associated with the Free State's decision to attack the republican garrison in the Four Courts, thus setting the Civil War in train in earnest. Free article

Síle Darragh’s ground breaking account of her imprisonment in Armagh Gaol has been republished with a new foreword by Rita O’Hare who writes of Síle’s moving and powerfully evocative story. You can read it exclusively here. Free article

The death of Harry Boland, coming less than a month after that of Cathal Brugha, was a major blow to the Republican cause. He was fatally wounded in Skerries, Co. Dublin, 100 years ago and died in hospital on 1 August 1922. Free article