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.
From Reporter 114 - Apr/May 2006
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form