State urged to buy Michael Collins’s 1922 revolver

A LEADING heritage campaigner has urged the state to loosen its purse strings, step in and buy Michael Collins’s revolver at an auction this weekend.

“It is a part of our national history and should be on display in an Irish museum,” said Damien Cassidy of the National Conservation and Heritage Group.

Collins’s 1922 Webley Revolver, which was taken from his touring car the morning after he was killed, will be auctioned along with its holster in Dublin on Saturday. It is expected to fetch between e50,000 and e70,000.