Irish Examiner view: Taoiseach to deliver oration at annual commemoration ceremony at Béal na Bláth

Michéal Martin will become the first leader of his party to speak at the event on August 21

Memorial cross to Michael Collins at Béal na Bláth placed there shortly after his death in August 1922; no leader of Fianna Fáil has addressed the annual commemoration ceremony since then.

It is 100 years since Michael Collins was killed in an ambush at Béal na Bláth on August 22, 1922, during the Civil War.

Since then, no leader of Fianna Fáil has addressed the annual commemoration ceremony, in what can only be seen as a sop to the so-called ‘civil war politics’ which have dominated this country’s political agenda for a century.