71 Comments

• seanomelb | Oct 16, 2012, 06:44 PM EDT

  Ancakver this site is full of posters with selective memory syndrome or retrospectively trying to re-writing history

• ancavker | Oct 16, 2012, 10:28 AM EDT

  bock: Ah no child, I did not make it up> mr Norris stated that it was a mistake for Ireland to leave the U.K. Do your own reserch. Therefore he believes the state is illegitimate. As far as Irish people believing it was a mistake to leave the U.K. at the time, that is a bunch of nonsense. They simply could have voted for Redmond's Irish Nationalist Party; they did not they voted for Sinn Fein. Are you saying the Irish people at the time were too stupid to know what they were voting for?

• Silling | Oct 15, 2012, 12:45 PM EDT

  Did Alcock and Brown bring homosexuality to Ireland from America?

• IrelandNorth | Oct 15, 2012, 09:04 AM EDT

  Where do posts go when not immediately posted, but read as "Your comment has been sent"? Who have they been sent to precisely? Who could be so arrogant as to life esomeone elses posts and deprive readers of quality copy, and why so consistently? (a) IrishCentral? (b) State censors? (c) Other? Is Big Brohter watching in the Free World (sic)?

• Smyrnian | Oct 15, 2012, 07:07 AM EDT

  Really? "News" article based on nothing. Irish Central sure does love it's gay topics? Also anything to do with Maureen Dowd, Christine Quinn and, naturally their shameless love affair with the Obama's. Sheer nonsense!

• seanomelb | Oct 14, 2012, 07:10 PM EDT

  I did not say Sinn Fein took part in '16 Jacer I said McGuinness and Adams are members of the the same party as Griffith!! You seem to ignore that fact and fail to address it.

• kubs | Oct 14, 2012, 02:44 PM EDT

  About as exciting as the color of Collins' hair or his eyes. Come up with anything to get a book published, I guess.

• seamus60 | Oct 13, 2012, 07:28 PM EDT

  The book can be found (if you really look hard)in the very bottom shelf of the very back row in the humour section. Where it belongs.

• stonethrower | Oct 13, 2012, 11:30 AM EDT

  Wow,is that so,well i met a guy in the pub who said he shot Kennedy,invented the wheel & discovered fire,gave Einstein some relativity theory.Absolute rubbish, to say something controversial to sell a book by a man well known as a liar, narcissist and shameless self promoter.The collection of facts known about Michael Collins dont bear out this .This is not an attack on the gay community but a indictment on David Norris' charactor that this unsubstantiated hearsay (probably fictional)meeting with an unnamed lover be given the respect it deserves.If he really wants to out someone,do it to somebody alive today with proof & see if that sells more books,or simply sell the book on the merits of its substance,if thats a viable option,which i somehow doubt.

• breandan | Oct 13, 2012, 11:13 AM EDT

  1. Who cares? 2. What concerns me is the "news report" based on some guy talking to a really old gay guy who claims that a hundred years ago he had a tryst with Collins. Of course a nobody would love to make themselves seem important by claiming to have sex with someone famous. If I say I had sex with Jackie Kennedy do you just take my word? 3. Even if Collins did have sex with this guy - A HUNDRED YEARS AGO! - It doesn't make him a homosexual. In some ways people were more flexible long ago. How many novels and memoirs of the time have been printed in England and Ireland about their Boarding School days? Even Churchill alluded to it in his. IT was common knowledge. IT doesn't mean that half the country was homosexual back then and now only a few percent are. Just because people did it because it was in vogue doesn't change their basic nature.

• Redrowan | Oct 12, 2012, 08:37 PM EDT

  What do i think about this? Well This s my last post after about 5 years on this website. Totally disgusted by this socialist , anti American, and anti Catholic website. Will go back to the local online news from Ireland. This site is offensive to Catholics, Irish and Americans of irish heritage. Sensationalism and pushing a socialist agenda is all this site is good for. To all with an open mind and a love of Ireland and her faith Slán agus beannacht leat.. Red

• jacersagain | Oct 12, 2012, 07:29 PM EDT

  Seano: (I know you mean my post was “INcorrect”) - pls read yr post of 11 Oct 06.20pm “Interesting selection of names Alois considering that McGuinness is the only name mentioned who is a member of the same party as the Hero's of the '16 rebellion”. I repeat: Sinn Féin was not a party to the 1916 Rising, though some of its members joined the mishmash heroes under the umbrella of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Neither Sinn Féin nor members can ever be seen as “Hero’s (sic) of the ’16 rebellion”. Let’s stick to historical facts. I agree w/ yr remarks on Arthur Griffiths being a side-liner in 1916.

• seanomelb | Oct 12, 2012, 06:56 PM EDT

  I never stated that Sinn Fein took an active part in the '16 rebellion. In fact there were divided loyalties in Sinn Fein and Griffith the consummate politician stood on the sidelines whilst the post office burned. His acceptance of the presidency in 1922 says heaps on where his loyalties really were. I merely stated the fact that Adams is the president of Sinn Fein, a long line stretching back to Griffith's and both were/are freestaters. So you see jacer your post is correct and says nothing that I have not known already.

• merefalow | Oct 12, 2012, 06:28 PM EDT

  its a lousy stinking calumny,and it does matter,to assosiate michael collins in the same company as british polititions,with simpering lisping limp wristed fudge packers sickens me

• jacersagain | Oct 12, 2012, 06:09 PM EDT

  May I correct a widely-held mistaken belief (e.g alois and seanomelb): Sinn Féin was hardly involved in the 1916 Rising at all. The Irish Republican Brotherhood organised the Easter Rising, with a mishmash of groups of differing views on Irish Independence actually taking part. The main groups were the Irish Volunteers under Padraic Pearse, the Irish Citizens Army under James Connolly and Cumann na mBan (Irish Women’s’ Council, a women’s subsidiary of the Irish Volunteers) of which Countess Markievicz is probably the most famous active member (she shot a man dead) along with Elizabeth O’Farrell, the nurse who carried the surrender flag in 1916. Sinn Féin was effectively founded as a political party in 1905, but only came to prominence in the General Election of 1918, with American-born, Irish-raised Eamonn De Valera as its President. The mistaken belief that Sinn Féin was involved in the 1916 Rising comes from that only some Sinn Féin members joined the Irish Volunteers army which led the 1916 Rising and a lot of romantic thinking. The IRA didn’t exist in 1916. It was a 1920’s descendant army of the Irish Volunteers of 1916, which as seano rightly says was hated by Ms. Norris.

• merefalow | Oct 12, 2012, 05:08 PM EDT

  its a calumny of the worst kind,and yes it does matter,to include michael collins in the same company as 90%of brit polititions and lisping mincing weak wristed homosexuals is a personal insult,its a slur and massively insulting,foff.stick your lousy lying book where the sun dont shine,i,m sure there is plenty of room.

• aloistmartin | Oct 12, 2012, 04:26 PM EDT

  seanomelb@ As a Disciple of James Connolly, and more inclined to the INLA, I. honestly believe Sinn Fein has more to fear from The Far Left, ( Support the Irish Spring :] ) than Fine Gael does from Sinn Fein @! Arthur Griffith, Indeed ! And where are Seamus Costello, Billy McMillen, and William O Brian ? ... All, All are on the Hill ~

• TayandCake | Oct 12, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT

  Truth is he was a proper man. Men today appear weak and feeble, purple skinny jeans and 3 sizes too small low v-neck pink t shirts complete with orange neon coloured glasses frames. But get this, no lens. When a TV show called gay daddy is on RTE, then all is dead. I cringe when I hear people say things like they descend from Celtic/Norman/Saxon/Viking peoples. No you don't, them people where fierce and raging, they would put an axe through your head and think nothing of it. And they would especially put an axe in your head at the sight of what you have done with their land all these years later. I'm afraid common sense as been locked away in a dark room and madness and cringe prevails. Boo

• johnshiel | Oct 12, 2012, 10:46 AM EDT

  what's 'matter with this norris character? The big fellow was hot for Julia Roberts, like any regular guy would of course be. 'nuf said...

• Will Hamilton | Oct 12, 2012, 08:13 AM EDT

  Mr Norris: inveterate free-loader, self promoter and salesman. He has a book to sell so he puts in a controversial "a man told me in the pub" story about a famous dead person. People talk, he gets free publicity and sells a few books.

• seanomelb | Oct 12, 2012, 07:50 AM EDT

  Couldn't answer the post Alois and BTW Adams is president of Sinn Fein as was Arthur Griffith. Cat got your tongue maybe!!!

• IrelandNorth | Oct 12, 2012, 06:29 AM EDT

  Michael Collins may have been gay, but he almost certainly wasn't homosexual, given his well publicised trist with Anglo-American Lady Hazel Lavery in London during protracted Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations in 1920, whilst being engaged to Co Longford property heiress Kitty Kernan. (Even if the play button on the above video clip is stragecially placed around his genital area - ahem!) Believing isn't knowing, and sexuality isn't a theology. Senator Norris's hypotheses is a case of premature extrapolation(?), since the centenary of 1916 isn't for another 4 years. It would have been more appropriate to retrospectively co-opt Sir Edward Lord Carson to the pink revolution, not least since he was the Marquis of Queensbury's prosecuting lawyer of Oscar Wilde for hs homosexual relationship with is son. (After all, old Queensbury was more into watching men make war than countenancing them making love.) Unless to do so would go against Sen David's political orientation (ie closet unionist)? I strongly intuit Sen Norris's analyses are a case of subjective projection, in that we very often see others not as they are but as we are, not lease it we are genitally narcissistic. As to his theorem of percentile sexuality. Very counter revolutionary indeed!

• Rebelforce | Oct 12, 2012, 12:01 AM EDT

  Well if Michael Collins was gay he was in good company according to historians. The pantheon of gay military heros include: Alexander the Great Julius Caesar King Richard the Lionhearted Frederick the Great King William of Orange General Herbert Kitchener Lawrence of Arabia General Friedrich von Steuben General Charles Gordon of Khartoum

• irishpjk | Oct 11, 2012, 11:16 PM EDT

  wtf Would you people get real for a while? A gay guy says he talked to an old guy who said he was the lover of a man who was murdered almost ninety years ago. Even a gay guy would not believe that on to be factual.

• irishcoffeekid | Oct 11, 2012, 10:55 PM EDT

  and we care if he was why!!? would be nice to get some real news around here instead of this junk!

• belfast | Oct 11, 2012, 08:17 PM EDT

  hi i think the gays are saying all this to help there own cause most of these people who say these things are kinky there normal sex life is not good so thy are turning to the gays which is not normal

• aloistmartin | Oct 11, 2012, 07:02 PM EDT

  seanomelb@ Gerry Adams for President ! ( Like the Sofa or the Floor/Stormont ? ) ;[

• seanomelb | Oct 11, 2012, 06:20 PM EDT

  Interesting selection of names Alois considering that McGuinness is the only name mentioned who is a member of the same party as the Hero's of the '16 rebellion.

• aloistmartin | Oct 11, 2012, 05:29 PM EDT

  And who are the Real Hero`s of Ireland`s 1916 Rebellion: Bertie Ahern, Denis Donaldson, Martin McGuinness, Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Oliver North, Bill Clinton, Mother Theresa ... And of course Edna Kenny !

• kilgara | Oct 11, 2012, 05:27 PM EDT

  You can slander any public figure after death , they can't defend themselves. Just another pathetic gay trying to peddle a book .

• Happyhippo | Oct 11, 2012, 05:16 PM EDT

  @bocktherobber Even geniuses make boo boos Kitty Kiernan it is.

• seanomelb | Oct 11, 2012, 04:52 PM EDT

  As the previous poster said who cares.Surely west Brit Norris is not equating himself to Collins.

• alisaann | Oct 11, 2012, 04:10 PM EDT

  who cares if Michael Collins was gay....BIG DEAL....it doesn't take away from what he did....that was his personal thing.....it sounds to me, as if someone is trying to DISCREDIT him.....jmo. alisa

• Bocktherobber | Oct 11, 2012, 04:09 PM EDT

  Happyhippo -- I never knew Collins was friendly with Mrs O'Shea. Did Parnell hear about this? Obviously Mick didn't mind the 45-year age difference.

• PiperMac52 | Oct 11, 2012, 04:08 PM EDT

  Give me a break...more revisionist history to pander to the "homosexual community."

• Happyhippo | Oct 11, 2012, 03:49 PM EDT

  This is more kite flying by Norris,most likely to get some promo for his book,which he hopes will help pay off the cost of his failed election bid debt,Collins was known to be friendly with various women,chief of which was Kitty O Shea.

• mairint | Oct 11, 2012, 03:45 PM EDT

  What a ridiculous fellow is that Norris. He has to try and hug the spotlight every so often and make sure he is not on his little 'owny owe' in the homosexual box. He will never get over the people rejected him as president - he was so cocky and sure the people would love him enough - yuck!

• cillowen | Oct 11, 2012, 03:40 PM EDT

  Pearse and Jesus too they say, as was Alexander the Great - he loved his boys.

• Bocktherobber | Oct 11, 2012, 03:12 PM EDT

  WoundedKnee -- I see you've added mind reading to your many other gifts. Good idea -- it saves you the trouble of listening to people.

• citizen69 | Oct 11, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT

  What!? Next you'll be telling us King Billy was probably gay too!

• WoundedKnee | Oct 11, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT

  Bock: "Many Irish people believe it was a mistake to leave the UK at that time". I suspect you're extrapolating from your own minority views, Bock. I have never met an Irish person who thought as you claim many do. In fact, the number of Irish (26 Counties) who thought it was a mistake to leave Britain is probably about the same as the number of Americans who thought it was a mistake to leave Britain.

• jamthecat | Oct 11, 2012, 02:55 PM EDT

  Boring. Whether or not Michael Collins fooled around with guys is immaterial to his historical importance. The only thing I find fascinating is how many of the poster on this thread still think that someone being gay is a bad thing. Shows just how out of touch with reality they are.

• conorsmom | Oct 11, 2012, 02:46 PM EDT

  Really, who cares? Pearse too? Really? I'm the furthest thing you could find from a homophob, but this entire thing seems a little far fetched and more than a bit speculative! Mr. Norris seems to be looking for a "hero" from the old days.

• Bocktherobber | Oct 11, 2012, 01:55 PM EDT

  ancavker -- In other words, you made it up. Many Irish people believe it was a mistake to leave the UK at that time, but accept the political reality and continue to be loyal citizens of the Republic. Norris is a member of our Senate and recently ran for the Presidency, neither of which is open to anyone who denies the legitimacy of the State.

• ancavker | Oct 11, 2012, 01:47 PM EDT

  bocktheknocker: In an interview some years back he stated that Ireland leaving the U.K. was a mistake, that to me implies that he does not recognize the legitimacy of the Irish state.

• JimmieM | Oct 11, 2012, 01:40 PM EDT

  I not only think but I Know that it is utterly useless and totally stupid to spend time worrying about the sex life of anyone dead these 90 years. It wasn't anyone's business then and it is nobody's business now. Time would better spent worrying about whether he combed or brushed his hair.

• ciarrai | Oct 11, 2012, 01:32 PM EDT

  Am I the only one who is sick and tired of hearing about "gay?" I don't care what anyone does with their penis. I don't care if two homosexuals get married. I just don't want to hear about all the bloody time. It is getting to be in the same arena with the Vietnam War (go back and recall how much it was in your head), the Iran hostage taking of our people at U.S. embassy), the, excuse me, O.J. Simpson murders and a few other such overly reported stories. Every day we hear about same-sex marriage and who was a homosexual. Enough, enough, enough. Please, I beg you.

• DD | Oct 11, 2012, 01:28 PM EDT

  @TisEyerish What a nonsensical point. David Norris is 68 years old. Let's say hypothetically, he had this conversation when he was 30. That is 38 years ago, plenty of time for this person to have been alive and kicking. Next time instead of simply spewing invective against David Norris you can actually put some thought into what you are saying.

• JohnnyMac | Oct 11, 2012, 01:16 PM EDT

  One of the most ridiculous stories posted. First, who would care? Second, Mr Norris trying to justify his own lifestyle by accusing a notable historical icon of living that same lifestyle purely on the hearsay of an elderly gent's passing thought is most irresponsible on the part of Mr Norris. This story is not worth the time spent reading.

• durtymurphy | Oct 11, 2012, 01:15 PM EDT

  I have proof positive that Hitler was gay, Elvis too, so this trumps the gobshite Norris story.

• misneac | Oct 11, 2012, 01:13 PM EDT

  A Kurdistani tribesman told Gaddaffi ,who told an Irish beef salesman in Libya that " Senator " Norris was a member of Al-Quaeda and won an All Ireland medal playing centre field for Kerry in 2012 !! The revelation has created understandable unrest . If there is one parasite in Irish public life that I detest it is Norris .To think that we the taxpayers pay his type to sit on their arse in Dublin and pontificate bullshit is a sad reflection on our tolerance !

• WoundedKnee | Oct 11, 2012, 01:01 PM EDT

  How about Dev? He was "The Long Fella"!

• WoundedKnee | Oct 11, 2012, 01:00 PM EDT

  They didn't call him "The Big Fella" for nothing!

• Springfield9 | Oct 11, 2012, 12:43 PM EDT

  I think the "Big fella" may have chewed Norris' ear completely off for that. It's today that matters and Norris can be secure that we do not condemn his fondness for biting the pillow.

• davidgavan | Oct 11, 2012, 12:40 PM EDT

  I have to agree with tiseyerish, my father who served in the IFS army and was in Limerick at the time of the ambush would now be 112 years old if he were alive.

• Seanmor | Oct 11, 2012, 12:13 PM EDT

  Dectractors of Irish patriots go to enormous lenghts to blacken the images of those great heroes. Revisionist historians and Partitionists fail to mention that Michael Collins never expected that the Border would be permanent, at least not where it was established. He and others who signed the Treaty were of the impression that the Boundary Commission would trassfer Nationalists area, including Tyrone and Fermanagh, to the Free State. In any case, I doubt if Collins ever has same-sex relationships.

• Bocktherobber | Oct 11, 2012, 11:47 AM EDT

  ancavker -- I'm fascinated by your assertion that Norris doesn't recognise the legitimacy of the State. What do you base this claim on?

• petedev | Oct 11, 2012, 11:41 AM EDT

  just off the press! Michael Collins descendant claims David Norris was heterosexual! (based on recollection of elderly spinster!)

• biggles008 | Oct 11, 2012, 11:35 AM EDT

  I'm sure Michael Collins was gay , as thousands like him was in those days.All my friends were gay when I was young. The meaning of GAY then was, jolly. The modern meaning was unheard of in my young days.

• Helen Ferone | Oct 11, 2012, 11:27 AM EDT

  No one really cares, and you don't even know, just guessing. Obviously, you know he was engaged when he was killed, and if it wasn't for him all of Ireland would still be under British rule.

• Silling | Oct 11, 2012, 11:12 AM EDT

  Hazel Lavery would differ with Noris.

• SeamusMor | Oct 11, 2012, 11:06 AM EDT

  Salacious bath house gossip is neither newsworthy nor historic, but it is understandable, for who would read the autobiography of a elderly and delusional deviate unless it had something worthy of the tabloids in it?

• Murph46 | Oct 11, 2012, 10:54 AM EDT

  Isn't it convenient to say long dead heroes were gay just to cash in on your book,Recently there has been an author claim Abe Lincoln was gay-We need a law that says if you cast aspersions on a dead person that are not 100%provable,you can't cash in on it!

• joreilly | Oct 11, 2012, 10:39 AM EDT

  hey,on second thought....Collins did claim to love DEV and would follow him to hell !!!! Maybe DEV was GAY ??? NORRIS perhaps you have a sequel here when your first piece of tripe bombs. YOU ARE SOME PIECE OF S@#%T

• mikehoulihan | Oct 11, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT

  Norris wishes it was so.

• CelticQueenUSA | Oct 11, 2012, 10:30 AM EDT

  Who cares?

• crny925 | Oct 11, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT

  ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL! LET THE MAN RIP!

• hermitTalker | Oct 11, 2012, 10:21 AM EDT

  Norris says it is neutral, so why bring it up. Quoting an old man "who was one of his boy-friends" hardly passes for the independent two-source requirement for verification.

• ancavker | Oct 11, 2012, 10:17 AM EDT

  Another attempt to try and destroy Collin's reputation (not that being gay matters one way or the other), and this from a man Norris, who does not recognize the legitimacy of the Irish state.

• joreilly | Oct 11, 2012, 10:01 AM EDT

  SHAME ON YOU NORRIS IN your ATTEMPT TO MALIGN THE NAME OF IRELAND's GREATEST HERO. This HAS TO BE THE MOST ABSURD ALLEGATION EVER MADE. OF course norris knows it'S onLy this kind of S-H-ONE- T WILL ATTRACT HIS LIKES TO BUY HIS BOOKS. ANYTHING TO MAKE A BucK (PARDON THE PUN ).

• TisEyerish | Oct 11, 2012, 09:29 AM EDT

  I agree with Ms. Kelly...Michael Collins sexual orientation has absolutely nothing to do with anything...he will always be a hero in the eyes of the Irish. Further, Mr. Norris chose to put this in his autobiography based on the statement of one elderly man? Let's do the math on this, folks. Michael Collins died in 1922...that was 90 years ago. If this "elderly gentleman" was one of his principal boyfriends, one assumes he was over the age of 10 at the time, which means he would now be 100 years old. Please! Mr. Norris seems to me to be a bitter man who is now trying to cause the downfall of one of Ireland's greatest. Poor attempt, Mr. Norris. I hope your book sits on the book store shelves and rots. Michael Collins...just the name brings tears to my eyes, when I think that he gave his life for Mother Ireland. Homosexual or not, Mr. Norris doesn't have a hope of even coming close to the legacy left to Ireland by Michael Collins. I suggest he dig himself a hole and bury himself...history will NOT remember Mr. Norris.