What Were We Like

On the 22nd of August 1922, Michael Collins, the Commander in Chief of the National Army was shot dead. He was just 31.
Almost immediately the myth making around Michael Collins began, starting with the last words he’s alleged to have uttered.
But what is the real legacy of Michael Collins? He was a man who operated as a politician but was capable of ruthless violence.
On this week’s What Were We Like, we talk about Michael Collins, a man that has captured the imagination of the Irish public, film makers, artists and politicians like no other figure in modern Irish history.
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In the early hours of February 14th 1981, a fire ripped through the Stardust Nightclub in Artane in Dublin.
48 people, aged between 16 and 27, die in the tragedy. It is one of the worst fires, in terms of loss of life and significant injury, in the State’s history.
In 1982 a Tribunal controversially found that the fire was "probably caused deliberately" despite no evidence.
For 43 years, the families fought for justice for the 48 people who died and to get answers how their love ones died. This is the story of Stardust.
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He was one of Ireland’s greatest and most controversial playwrights. Sean O’Casey’s remarkable life began in the slums of Dublin and took him to the biggest stages in the world, including the Abbey Theatre.
His work caused riots in Dublin and caused protests around the world, from Texas to Berlin to London. O’Casey made enemies of the Church and the Censors, forcing him to choose self-imposed exile in England.
Through his plays, O’Casey asked fundamental questions about violence and challenged the founding myths of the new Irish state. They were questions a new Ireland wasn’t ready for.
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After committing one of the worst atrocities in the Irish Civil War, the State attempts to cover up its role in the massacre.
As “Terror Month” in Kerry continues, further atrocities are carried out with more prisoners blown up by landmines.
However, the man who gave the order at Ballyseedy, Paddy O'Daly, remains unrepentant, stating: “No one asked me to take my kid gloves to Kerry and I didn’t take them.”
Diarmaid and Catriona discuss the fall out from Ballyseedy, how the truth finally emerges, and why the Dáil record still contains the cover-up.
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On the 7th of March 1923, nine anti-Treaty prisoners were taken to a field in Kerry, tied to a landmine and blown up. It was one of the most shocking events of the Irish Civil War and became known as the Ballyseedy Massacre. The State immediately tried to cover it up but incredibly, one man survived and his witness account revealed just how brutal the civil war had become. Diarmaid and Catriona recount the whole affair, and also the wider conflict in Kerry at the time, which is often referred to as "Terror Month".
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