No Michael Collins had no connection to the site of The Michael Collins Centre Museum. However the Crowley Family who run the Museum are cousins of Collins through their Grandmother Elizabeth Slyne. Her Husband Tim, the Grandfather of the Crowleys and his brother John were also interned in loft number three at Fron-goch Camp in Wales with Michael Collins in 1916.
Michael Collins may well have lived for a time at Emmet Square in Clonakilty with his sister Margaret and her husband Patrick O’Driscoll. This was while in his early teens he attended evening classes at the male National school in the town. It is not certain whether Collins lived with his sister for a matter of days, weeks or months. Street lore for many years had it that Michael’s sister and her husband lived at no 7 Emmet square, but it has since been proved that the couple lived down the street at no 13. That building is still a private residence.
It is our belief that Michael Collins was not assassinated but that he died in action.
Michael Collins was buried in Dublin because Glasnevin Cemetery where the grave of Michael Collins is located, is in effect the National Cemetery of Ireland. Other well known leaders like Daniel O’Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell and Eamon De Valera are also buried there.
A Great Grandmother of the Crowleys, Marianne McCarthy was a second cousin of Marianne O’Brien who was the mother of Michael Collins.
