A PAIR of old slippers believed to have belonged to republican leader Michael Collins have been found at a former military barracks in Dublin.
Details of the bright blue woolly slippers emblazoned with an image of a wolf emerged last week.
The unusual slippers were discovered by historian Dr Gillian O'Brien who was recently allowed to look through the stores at Collins' Barracks in Dublin.
They were donated to the National Museum by Bridget O'Connor in August 1958.
Her husband Batt O'Connor, who was a builder and developer, had allowed many of the properties to be used as safe-houses by republican forces during the War of Independence.
Collins, who led the military campaign for Ireland's independence a century ago, was also a regular guest at their home in Donnybrook from May 1918 until his death.
Dr O'Brien said the slippers allowed her to "see behind our manufactured image of Collins into the home life of the man".
"I found myself wondering whether he’d chosen the slippers himself, it seems unlikely, and, if they were a gift, who gave them to him – might it have been his girlfriend, later fiancée, Kitty Kiernan, his friend Lady Lavery or perhaps Bridget O’Connor herself?," she told RTÉ.
"I wondered whether the wolf head on the slipper toe was a sly reference to Theobald Wolfe Tone, the United Irishman so closely associated with the 1798 Rebellion, since many people would have seen Collins as Tone’s successor, the next father of Irish republicanism.
"But however he came by them, and whatever they might mean, Collins clearly liked these slippers.
"They are well-worn, and the leather heel on one of them has been repaired with small tacks."
Dr O'Brien tweeted the slippers following taken a Zoom class for her public history students at John Moores University.
Speaking about the reaction on social media she said: "It's incredible to put up something about Michael Collins and not have a row
"When I saw it had 30 or so reactions I thought 'Oh God, please, no one find a way to get into a row about these slippers'," she told the BBC.
"I've even had some people replying to ask if it was a hoax. The colour is so vivid. The design is high-end - you could see an Italian count wearing them."
