AN OPEN DAY will be held at Collins Barracks in Cork today to celebrate the birthday of Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins.

The open day will fun from 10am to 4pm today with military personnel on hand to talk visitors through the barracks’ specially commissioned exhibitions including ‘The Franco Irish Exhibition’ and the ‘Irish Volunteers Exhibition’ both of which will be located in the Military Museum.

Minister Simon Coveney will attend the celebrations at 10.30am and will inspect a Guard of Honour drawn from the barracks.

There will also be an opportunity for visitors to see displays of modern military technology including bomb disposal team equipment and armoured vehicles as used at home and on overseas deployments. A military pipe band and the band of the 1st Brigade will perform at intervals throughout the day.

Visitors will be given the opportunity to see at first-hand a range of rare armoured fighting vehicles from 1922 including the ‘Sliabh na mBan’, which accompanied General Collins at the Béal na mBláth ambush.

(Defence Forces/Flickr)

The celebration is part of Cork Rebel Week and associated with The Gathering.

Commenting ahead of the celebration, Lieutenant Colonel Pat Coleman of Collins Barracks said Collins “holds an exalted place in the memory of Irish people, no celebration of Cork would be complete without honouring it ‘s greatest military hero and this most iconic of Irishmen”.

“For history enthusiasts the Open Day at Collins Barracks promises to be a spectacular event, one which will strike pride in the heart of Corkonians young and old,” he said.

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