I recently did a short radio interview with MJ Clery on the programme 'Country Life' on Midlands 103 about the RTÉ Brainstorm article I wrote on the Irish restaurant in Paris known as La Ferme Irlandaise. You can listen back to the interview here.
It's great to see that there is an interest in this relatively unknown chapter in Irish food history and Franco-Irish relations. Thanks to MJ Clery for the invite to take about my research on the show.
La Ferme Irlandaise was an Irish restaurant in the heart of Paris. It served Irish food and the staff who were there were Irish. I have just written a short article on RTÉ Brainstorm about the restaurant. Read it here.
The restaurant was the brainchild of Paddy O'Keeffe who was Chairman of investment cooperative Farmers' Business Developments (FBD) and editor of the Irish Farmers' Journal. Myrtle Allen of Ballymaloe Restaurant acted as an advisor for the restaurant. The classically-trained chef Peter Robinson ran the restaurant for the first couple of years from its opening in November 1979 until 1981.
It was then taken over by Myrtle Allen who sent staff from Ballymaloe to run the restaurant in Paris. She traveled over to the restaurant every few weeks to make sure that it was running smoothly. The decor and menu changed when she took over and it became even more 'Irish' than it had been.
The new menu included a full Irish breakfast of sausages, bacon and eggs, which was very popular with the customers. They also served dishes such as Shangarry beef and Guinness pie and Irish lamb with mint and butter sauce. The Allens ceased to be involved in La ferme irlandaise in 1985 and the restaurant closed in 1987. It remains one of the most novel and interesting showcases for Irish food and Irish cooking on the continent in recent times.
Thanks to Bryan Barry of FBD and John McCullen for their assistance in writing the article.
Every year on 14 July (Bastille Day), the French embassy in Ireland organises a wreath laying ceremony to remember the Irish who fought in France. It takes place at the dedicated France-Ireland Monument in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
After the ceremony, an Irish recipient of the French national order of merit, the Légion d'honneur, is remembered with a wreath laying ceremony at their graveside. This year, it was Liam Ó Briain (1888-1974) who was remembered and I was asked to say a few words about him.
I was pleased to be asked to speak and share the information that I had learned about him in my research. He was passionate about the Irish language and did his best to revive it, notably through founding Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe, Ireland's national Irish language theatre. He was Professor of Romance Languages in what is now University of Galway for over 40 years and translated many works from French into Irish including plays by Henri Ghéon, Pierre Jalabert and Molière.
If you would like to find out more about him, a good place to start would be the Dictionary of Irish Biography and Ainm.ie.
Etiennette Beuque (d. 1949) was fascinated with Ireland. The French writer became interested in Ireland and Irish history around the time of the Easter Rising and the War of Independence. She ultimately became very attached to Eamon de Valera's republican politics and wanted her compatriots to share her knowledge of Ireland and Irish history. I have just written an Irish Diary in today's Irish Times newspaper about Beuque and her interest in Ireland. Read it here.
Pour L'Irlande by Etiennette Beuque from the Boole Library Special Collections.
As mentioned in my article, Beuque wrote several books in French about Ireland (including Pour L'Irlande above). Her non-fictions books focused on Irish history, particularly what happened to Ireland under British rule and also the independence movement. Her fiction novels used the Easter Rising as a focal point and they demonstrate her partiality for the republicans.
Beuque was an interesting writer. She was not a journalist or a professional writer but she managed to write a great deal about her favourite subject of Ireland. Historian Pierre Joannon called her 'a pro-Irish fanatic'. Beuque planned to write a book on Terence MacSwiney (1879-1920), the lord mayor of Cork who died in prison in England, but gave up on the idea after the Second World War. She said that she decided not to write it in recognition for the assistance that Britain gave to France during the war. If you have any information on Etiennette Beuque, please let me know.
The 2025 SOFEIR (Société Française d'Études Irlandaises / French Society of Irish Studies) conference was held in University College Cork on 21-22 March 2025. SOFEIR was founded in Rennes in 1981 and brings together academics who work in the broad interdisciplinary field of Irish studies in France. This was (I think) the second time that the conference was held in Ireland.
The theme for the conference was 'Ireland and Transnational Solidarities'. Academics and researchers came from Ireland, France and the UK to present papers on various topics from Palestine, Algeria and India to herbal medicine, Irish literature and surfing.
I delivered a paper on Etiennette Beuque (d. 1949), a Frenchwoman who wrote numerous books on Ireland in the 1920s and 1930s. She became interested in Ireland around the time of the push for Irish independence 100 years ago. Her books focused on Irish history and contemporary Irish politics. She also wrote poetry and a couple of books of fiction based on Ireland (particularly the Terence MacSwiney hunger strike and the Easter Rising).
The photograph above shows a packed audience listening to Prof Dónal Hassett deliver a keynote speech on the experience of Irish peasants who were sent to set up home in French controlled Algeria in the 1800s. It ended in disaster and the Irish people that went there eventually made their way back to Ireland.
A library exhibition was organised by Prof Patrick O'Donovan (Dept. of French, UCC) and Luke Watson (School of History, UCC) to run alongside the conference in the UCC Boole Library. Entitled 'Ireland and France: Transnational Nations', conference attendees were able to view the exhibition during the conference. It included a wide range of exhibits from the library's holdings. Below are some examples of the kind of material (a French map of Ireland and a photograph of Samuel Beckett in Paris) that was on display as part of the exhibition.
Did you know that the Pope did not always live in Rome? Yes, in the middle ages, seven popes lived in Avignon in the south of France. I have just written a short article about it for the RTÉ Brainstorm website. Read it here.
The Avignon papacy lasted for over 60 years until Pope Gregory XI decided to return to Rome in 1376. His death in 1378 led to great division in the Catholic Church with some senior clerics arguing that the papacy should leave Rome and return to Avignon. The Great Western Schism is how the division has been called. During that time, several men claimed to be Pope at the same time. It was resolved through negotiations in ecumenical councils.
The home of the Popes in Avignon, the Palais des Papes is an imposing Gothic palace. It is the largest Gothic palace in Europe. It is one of the most visited tourist sites in the region and plays host to the Festival d'Avignon each year.
Thomas Carnduff (1886-1956) was born in Belfast during a period of sectarian tension. He worked in several different jobs but it was in writing that he gained the most pleasure. I have just written an Irish Diary about him and his work in the Irish Times newspaper. Read it here.
After attending Haslett's School in Eliza Street in Belfast, he was sent to school in Dublin. There, he attended the Royal Hibernian Military School. Located in the Phoenix Park (now St. Mary's Hospital), it was for the sons of soldiers in the British army serving mostly in Irish regiments. The boys had classes like a normal school but also drilled and wore a uniform complete with a Glengarry hat. It was expected that they would follow their fathers into military service. You can find out more about the school here.
"We Belfastmen love Ireland" was the title of an article that Carnduff wrote in November 1942. It appeared firstly in the Irish Digest before appearing in other publications. It began with the words "I love this Belfast of mine" before going on to explain that "Belfast is an Irish city". It is a relatively short article but it shows his passion for the arts and his relationship to the rest of Ireland.
If you would like to find out more about Thomas Carnduff, you should have a look at the Dictionary of Irish Biography entry on him here or at the Ulster History Circle website. Lastly, this website has some additional information about him and his family.
