Editorial: Michael Collins would be proud to see how far we’ve come

For years, a common criticism of Ireland was that our people were too insular and fixated with our past.

It may be true that history doesn’t get much chance to sleep, but that is because it is alive and well and changing on a daily basis.

The commemoration at Béal na Bláth – where the ambush in which Michael Collins died took place on August 22, 1922 – has become more a moment of examination rather than recrimination.

This weekend marked almost 101 years since the assassination which many believe defined the course of our history.

For generations, sage publicans barred the discussion of politics or religion on their premises. A gauge of just how far the shadow of the Big Fella was cast over the century might be seen in the singular exception to this rule, which was a tolerance for the persistent, if pointless, question: "Who shot Michael Collins?"

His senseless death has become synonymous with the poignancy and regret surrounding the Civil War.

Perhaps the best compliment and memorial possible is today’s development of the Free State which he helped bring into existence.

An indication of how far we have come can be seen in last year’s centenary oration, which was given by then taoiseach Micheál Martin, also leader of Fianna Fáil.

Mr Martin signed off with a fitting tribute, declaring that Collins deserved our gratitude and to be remembered as one of the greatest Irishmen to have ever lived.

Where we once looked inwards and were regarded as little more than a supplier of cheap food and labour, today we are among the most globally connected of all countries in terms of trade and employment.

Former RTÉ Northern editor Tommie Gorman, who did the honours at this year’s commemoration, was anxious to project Collins’s vision through pragmatism, for the future.

He sought to look both sides of the Border, for opportunities for co-operation and connection, but also beyond, through closer ties with Europe. The challenges faced by Collins and his cabinet were crushing, but at no time did they concede that they could not be overcome. Today’s and tomorrow’s Ireland has to find firm footing in an ever more interconnected world.

The futility of violence, which still reverberates at Béal na Bláth, cannot be forgotten.

It is worth recalling what Lord Birkenhead reportedly said on signing the Anglo-Irish Treaty: "Mr Collins, I may be signing my political death warrant", to which Collins is said to have replied: "Lord Birkenhead, I may be signing my actual death warrant."

How sadly prescient he proved to be.

Recourse to force is never acceptable. That our country is among the oldest democracies in the world is something to be proud of.

The commitment to the sanctity of the ballot is more crucial today than ever as war wages in Europe.

Whatever our differences, acceptance that our future needs to be shared and, change through consent, is unshakeable.