Anglo-Irish ties at all-time high as lord delivers Collins oration
BRITISH peer and Oscar-winning film producer, Baron David Puttnam, will make history today by delivering the keynote address at the General Michael Collins commemoration at Beal na Blath.
It is the first time a member of the British parliament has been asked to deliver the address at one of Ireland's foremost political ceremonies.
The decision to invite 66-year-old Baron Puttnam has been hailed as a measure of close Anglo-Irish ties and the growing determination to properly address historic issues between the two countries.
The British peer was deeply honoured by the invitation to deliver the oration at today's ceremony -- and his participation is set to give the event a major international profile on the 85th anniversary of Collins' death.
The former IRA commander was shot and killed in an ambush at Beal na Blath in West Cork during the Civil War and the annual commemoration was largely a rallying call for Fine Gael until recent years.
Baron Puttnam -- who has lived in West Cork for more than a decade -- is renowned for his interest in politics and contemporary Irish history.
He is a good friend of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet organiser, Ruth Turner, and has for years been deeply interested in both Irish history and the Michael Collins story.
Baron Puttnam is also a good friend of Helen Hoare, a grand-niece of Michael Collins.
Controversy still rages over the killing of Michael Collins, who masterminded the hit and run campaign against the British and who then negotiated with Whitehall on the independence of the Republic.
Mystery surrounds whether the shot that killed him was an aimed round or whether he was hit by a ricochet.
Baron Puttnam ranks as one of Britain's most successful film producers of modern times and won an Academy Award when his film, Chariots of Fire, took the prestigious Best Picture title.
His other movies include Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Local Hero, Memphis Belle and The Mission.
Ironically, the latter film united him with his good friend Jeremy Irons, a fellow Oscar winner who also decided to set up home in West Cork.
He was knighted in 1995 and elevated to a life peerage in 1997 as Baron Puttnam of Queensgate. He sits on the Labour benches in the House of Lords.
