19 August 2018: Annual Collins/Griffith commemoration, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin 11

On Sunday 19 August 2018 Glasnevin Trust hosted the annual Collins-Griffith commemoration, marking the 96th anniversary of the deaths of both Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins in August 1922. The event was organised by the Collins-Griffith Commemoration Society, Glasnevin Trust and the Defence Forces. Arthur Griffith (1872-1922) was the politician and journalist who founded and later led the political party Sinn Féin. He served as President of Dáil Éireann from January to August 1922, and was head of the Irish delegation at the negotiations in London that led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Collins (1890-1922) was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and TD in the first Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence of the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, in early 1922 he became both Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-chief of the National Army. He was shot and killed on 22 August 1922 in an ambush at Béal na Bláth, in west Cork. Both Collins and Griffith are buried in Glasnevin.

The event was preceded by mass at Berkeley Road Church at 10.30am before moving to the respective burial places in Glasnevin Cemetery for 12pm. The oration was delivered by Austin Currie.

Explore the National Archives of Ireland online exhibition on the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.