Talk in Glasnevin Cemetery on Bastille Day about Liam Ó Briain

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. 

 

View of the France-Ireland Monument in Glasnevin Cemetery.

 

French ambassador H.E. Céline Place speaking before the wreath laying ceremony. 

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.

 Speaking at the graveside of Liam Ó Briain.

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.  

 

After the wreath laying ceremony at Liam Ó Briain's grave with Ambassador Place.

 

Gravestone of Liam Ó Briain and his wife Helen.