Michael Collins (politician, born 1968)

This article is about the politician from Schull, County Cork. For other people with similar names, seeMichael Collins (disambiguation).

Michael Collins TD
Collins in 2016
Leader ofIndependent Ireland
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 November 2023
Preceded by	New party
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 2016
Constituency	Cork South-West
Personal details
Born	1968 or 1969 (age 55–56) Cork,Ireland
Political party	Independent Ireland(since 2023)
Other political affiliations	Independent(until 2023)

Michael Collins(born 26 February 1968)is an Irish politician who has been aTeachta Dála(TD) for theCork South-Westconstituency since the2016 general election.Collins is the leader of theIndependent Irelandpolitical party, which was founded in November 2023.

Political career

He served as a member ofCork County Councilfrom2014to 2016.

In May 2018, theIrish Independentpublished a "political rich list", outlining how much personal wealth Ireland's political class was estimated to have. The report featured Collins and estimated him to be a millionaire, suggesting he had property assets worth almost €850,000 alone.

Collins was re-elected as anindependentTD at the2020 general election.

In December 2021 Collins was among a group of TDs who proposed a bill in the Dáil that would require pain relief for a foetus during later abortions. The bill was defeated by 107 votes to 36.The Minister of HealthStephen Donnellystated it would not be appropriate for a piece of legislation to dictate clinical practice in a medical or a healthcare setting. Meanwhile, Collins' fellow Cork South-West TDHolly Cairnsstated that the move was "upsetting for the women and families who have had later abortions and insulting to our healthcare practitioners" and suggested Collins and his group were determined to try and re-run and undermine the2018 referendum on the Eighth amendmentusing American conservative style tactics.

In November 2023, he was named as the leader ofIndependent Ireland,a newpolitical party.

Political views

In January 2018, in the run-up to the referendum on the 8th amendment of that May, Collins stated that he was "against abortion. Full stop."

In May 2021, while speaking in the Dáil, Collins suggested that a hotel chain being used by the government to quarantine those suspected of having COVID-19 was linked toJeffrey Epstein.

In an April 2024 interview withHot PressCollins stated he believes that prostitution should be legalised, that abortion should be permitted in extreme circumstances, that rapists should bechemically castrated,that third-time offenders should receive an automatic 25-year sentence, and that legally-held firearms should be permitted for self-defence.He also stated thatasylum seekersshould be held in "holding bays" like in Australia, that theburqashould be banned in schools and thatTravellersshould not be legally recognised an ethnic minority.

Controversies

In 2015 following his announcement of intending to run for in the2016 general election,it emerged that Collins had provided a character reference to an acquaintance's son who was in court and later convicted of a child sex offence. Collins later stated he regretted the decision.

In September 2019, Collins defended anti-immigrant rhetoric used by fellow TDNoel Grealish,and in doing so claimed Ireland was "losing its culture" because of immigrants and suggested that Ireland should "look after our own people first and then when that issue is sorted, let's start looking at people from across the world".For this, both he and Grealish were criticised in Irish political circles, with Labour leaderBrendan Howlincalling the pair "highly dangerous",and Irish PresidentMichael D. Higgins,while not directly referencing them, publicly rejected their rhetoric, suggested it was not factual that immigrants were replacing people in Ireland, and that immigrants accounted for a high percentage of Ireland's GDP.

In February 2020, after the general election, Collins referred toMinister for Transport, Tourism and SportShane Rossas a "scumbag".In response,John Halligansaid that Collins was a man "beneath contempt" and a hypocrite who claims not to make personal attacks, but, in fact, does so repeatedly. Collins had previously referred to Ross as a "clown" in a separate incident, and upon learning that Ross had not been re-elected on the same night, he said he was happy to see Ross "on the scrapheap of Irish politics". Collins later apologised for his comments about Ross and denied being drunk when he made them.

In June 2020, duringglobal protestsover themurder of George Floyd,Collins was criticised alongsideDanny Healy-Raewhen both TDs used the slogan "All Lives Matter".Collins described the phrase as" his mantra "and said the phrase meant he valued everyone equally regardless of background. Shane Curry of theIrish Network Against Racismsaid he found it hard to believe that both Collins and Healy-Rae were naive about the meaning of the slogan and didn't know that many people use the phrase as a refutation of theBlack Lives Matter Movement.During the same period, Collins rejected calls for statues and plaques commemorating historic figures involved in theTransatlantic slave tradebe removed.

While speaking on the Claire Byrne radio show on RTÉ in November 2020, Collins defended giving the roles of his parliamentary assistant and parliamentary secretary to his brother and his partner, respectively. Collins said he denied that this was a "jobs for the boys" situation.

In December 2020, Collins was amongst only 3 TDs out of 160 to say he would not take aCOVID-19 vaccinein a survey conducted by the Claire Byrne show. Collins stated he did not trust "professionals and companies who make money from the vaccine".In response to his comments,James O'ConnorofFianna Fáilcriticised Collins in the Dáil, saying that it was "absolutely outrageous that we have members of this House who are willing to come in here and pander to the message of anti-vaxxers. It’s disgusting" and noted that “the Covid-19 vaccine has seen more investment than any other vaccination in history”.Following O'Connor's comments, Collins augmented his statement and declared he would be happy to take a vaccine "if it was proven to work".