its something that was passed down from my great grandfather who was on the pro-treaty (free state) side of the civil war before later coming to the USA. ive never quite trusted it, but i have no reason not to. save for it being to good of a story.
It is a very disputed issue. Collins was an inveterate conspirator and no one can be sure what his Northern policy would have been. He seems to have been pursuing a dual policy of negotiations with the Northern government while quietly supporting the border IRA offensive. How much control he had of the latter is debated.
It is also debated whether he was trying to undo partition or unite the IRA around the border question to avert civil war.
SOURCES Tim Pat Coogan, Michael Collins (1990)
Peter Hart, Mick, the real Michael Collins
Robert Lynch, The northern IRA and the early years of partition