An Bailitheoir (2022)

Outline; The collector didn't know why, only that he had to do it. First influenced by his grandfather, a rag and bone man, who brought him along with him on the streets of Belfast, it was the onset of the conflict in 1969 that catapulted him into places that he thought only existed in his grandfather's mind. He found the back of beyond and in it untold treasures which set him on a 40 year odyssey. Summary; Often the subject of ridicule within the active republican movement because of his passion for the past, the collector was respected and feared in equal measure for his daring in the field. A complex, driven and secretive character, shaped by circumstances, he survived through the violence, prison terms and personal injuries to come out the other side. Living in a small non descript semi detached house in a republican estate his abode belies the fact that he is the world's leading collector of 1916-1923 revolutionary material. His collection is conservatively valued in excess of ten million pounds sterling and is sought after by museums, governments, institutions and private collectors, domestically and internationally. He refuses to deal with them and only exhibits and displays items within a very small circle of trust. Take a glimpse inside the mind of the collector as he shows some of his weapons, uniforms, badges and memorabilia. Many are trophy items taken from the enemy, the black and tans, the RIC and the auxies. All are original with providence from Michael Collins's army revolver to Thompson machine guns stolen by the IRA off the production line in Cleveland Ohio. Synopsis; After the Good Friday Agreement and the return of a normality to the North of Ireland the collector began to realise the importance of his past work. The watershed moment in republican tradition is the 1916 Easter Rising. Coming up to the centenary in 2016 two paths crossed where a relationship was founded and the power of the artefacts was finally revealed for all to see in a nine month public exhibition in the Ambassador on O'Connell St. Never before had an collection like this been curated and put on display. In the short film the collector talks about some important artefacts both in his own house and on exhibition. He revisits places of importance to him in Belfast and explains that he still collects because you can't ever have enough stuff. His story is resonant of the past and relevant to the future and he remains the guardian of our republican heritage.