Fine Gael is showing 'Michael Collins' in cinemas for his 100th anniversary

'The Wind That Shakes The Barley' wasn't available, no?

Fine Gael is preparing to screen 'Michael Collins' across 19 cinemas in September to honour the 100th anniversary of the Big Fella's assassination.

Yes, if you've ever wanted to go to a screening of an OK film by Neil Jordan in his Hollywood era hosted by a political party that has overseen the worst housing crisis in the history of this state and continues to maintain Direct Provision, then now's your chance!

Fine Gael and Omniplex Cinemas have teamed up to show Michael Collins at the same time in 19 cinemas across the country. pic.twitter.com/PoKUSLbjK8

— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) August 19, 2022

The screening will take place on September 6th at 7PM, with the movie screening simultaneously across Omniplex Cinemas in 19 locations across Ireland. Again, Fine Gael is hosting this and it's also worth pointing out a couple of other factors too. First of all, Michael Collins wasn't a member of Fine Gael - he was a member of Sinn Féin, and Fine Gael wasn't formed until 1933, eleven years after his death. If that wasn't enough, Fine Gael's first leader was Eoin O'Duffy, who once offered to raise a brigade of Irish soldiers to fight for Nazi Germany and wrote a book about his time fighting for Franco in Spain, which espoused some pretty anti-Semitic ideas in the process.

Oh, you want more history about Fine Gael, you say? How about Oliver Flanagan, the father of former Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, who used his maiden speech in the Dáil in 1943 - then as an independent TD - to call for the expulsion of Jewish people from Ireland. Oliver Flanagan later joined Fine Gael in the '50s and served as their Minister of Defence in 1977. Oh, you want something recent? How about the fact that his son, Charlie Flanagan, tried to hold a commemoration for the Royal Irish Constabulary in 2020? You know, the RIC that evicted Irish tenant farmers, burnt down parts of Balbriggan, and basically terrorised Irish people for years.

Something more recent again? How about the fact that just yesterday, Leo Varadkar said that Fine Gael needs to "have another go at housing" when there are nearly 10,000 people homeless in Ireland and people are queuing up by the hundreds to rent a three-bedroom house in Dublin?

Yeah, enjoy your screening of 'Michael Collins'.