News

Michael Collins link researched

A WEST Cork historian is working to establish a family connection between US President John F Kennedy and Irish leader Michael Collins.

Tim Crowley, founder of the Michael Collins Centre in Clonakilty, yesterday said he believed that the famous political pair could be related.

JFK's maternal great grandparents James Hickey and Margaret Field emigrated from Clonakilty to Boston during the Famine. Their daughter Mary Augusta Hickey was the mother of Joe Kennedy, founder of the Kennedy political dynasty.

It is well known that the Kennedy clan has strong family ties to Wexford and Limerick but the family of Margaret's grandmother Mary Sheehy were near neighbours of the Collins family, who lived in the townland of Woodfield.

Mr Crowley last night said that research on linking Collins and Kennedy, who both died by gunfire, had just begun and would mean hours of poring over parish and estate records.

He also suggested that if records failed to trace the men's lineage back to each other it might be possible to prove the connection through DNA testing. "It is already incredible that these two great men should have ancestors who were just yards from each other.

It would be even better if we could discover that they were related,'' Mr Crowley said.

Meanwhile, a wreath-laying ceremony will take place at Kennedy Gardens in Clonakilty, followed by a lecture and exhibition will take place on Friday evening to mark the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination in Dallas.

* LEADER: Michael Collins