Michael Collins (Schull politician)
Michael Collins is an Irish Independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála for the Cork South-West constituency since the 2016 general election.
He served as a member of Cork County Council from 2014 to 2016.
In September 2019, Collins defended anti-immigrant rhetoric used by fellow TD Noel 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 leader Brendan Howlin calling the pair "highly dangerous", while Irish President Michael D. Higgins, while not directly referencing them, publicly rejected their rhetoric, suggesting it was not factual that Immigrants were replacing people in Ireland, and that Immigrants accounted for a high percentage of Ireland's GDP.
