Irish Times - An Occasional Column for Irish Readers

Written by Riviera Reporter

The Kinsale connection
The closest ongoing link between this area and Ireland is provided by the twinning of Antibes with Kinsale. Mary O’Riordan is well placed to talk about this since she divides her time between both towns. Here again recently, she filled me in on the continuing school exchanges and group visits and smaller but agreeable contacts such as the visit of two Kinsale musicians to Antibes for St Patrick’s Day. The Antibes-Kinsale Association is the nearest thing here to an Irish club. Anyone interested in becoming involved should call Wolf Burg – okay, he’s not descended from O’Niall but he can sing in Gaelic.

Write, said Fred
I’ve been talking to Fred Johnston who hopes to develop other links between Ireland and this area. Fred, Belfast-born but a long-time resident of Galway, is a novelist, poet and dramatist. In 2004 he was writer-in-residence at the Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco. “I enjoyed my time there,” he told me, “and I’d like to establish some sort of meeting-point for writers – in French and local languages – and their counterparts in Ireland writing in English and Irish.” Fred is rather disappointed that the Monaco library was, to his surprise, very luke-warm about the suggestion. He would be interested to hear from anyone who likes the idea.

Have you a Middleton for sale?
I’ve also been hearing from Frank Boyd, another commuter, between County Down and a second home here. He’s keen to buy the work of recognised Irish artists. He quoted to me painters such as Colin Middleton (no relation), Sean O’Neill and Frank McKelvey. Anyone who can help him acquire the sort of works he’s looking for will be a welcome caller. Frank is also interested in buying old Irish books.

A good reason to be here
I’m always meeting younger Irish people who’ve come to live and work here. Typical is John Keelan, the talented chef at Bien Venue, the new restaurant in Nice which I write about in this issue’s Blueprints. Said John, “In the modern prosperous Ireland there’s not the same necessity to emigrate there used to be. I think young people go abroad for a while to see something different but in my trade you really have to get foreign experience. At the moment almost all top chefs are foreign. I heard the other day that there are around a dozen Frenchmen cooking in Kinsale. I’d hope to go back one day and get a really good job with the help of my French experience.”

Of Irish and English
John worked at one time at Fenton’s, a well-known seafood restaurant in Dingle. If he ever returns on a visit he might need his Gaelic (most of which, like me, he’s forgotten). Last year Dublin made a barking-mad decision to take down English road signs in certain areas, leaving only the Gaelic version. So, if a tourist is looking for Dingle he’s got to watch out for ... an Daingean. Meanwhile, 3 million euros is being spent to put into force an EU decision to make Gaelic a spoken language in Brussels and Strasbourg. How many people will they find who can really speak it?
The Irish do, of course, usually speak excellent English and teaching foreigners the language has become big business. Conor Cullen has told this column about his language school – Empowered in English – in Kinsale. I’ve heard excellent reports of it. It’s worth mentioning to your French friends. Also Conor is looking for a local representative. Anyone interested?

Getting there
Mary O’Riordan flew in on a visit the other day of just three days. “It’s marvellous to have that Cork-Nice flight. If you book at the right time you can get a very good fare and the journey’s not much longer than the train trip to Dublin.”
This coming season (starting April 1st) Aer Lingus will be flying to Dublin from Nice on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and to Cork on Friday and Sunday. These frequencies will be increased in the summer. Meanwhile, easyJet will have flights to Belfast on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.