Ireland Through European Eyes: Western Europe, the EEC and Ireland, 1945-1973

CHAPTER TWO - France

FRANCO-Irish relations were characterised by an old tradition of friendship , but from the late 19th century onwards they gradually loosened: the Franco-British alliance became a central component of French defence policy and Paris distanced itself from Dublin as it could not afford to vex its ally over the Irish question. In the 1960s, many bilateral meetings were held to discuss the Irish application for EEC membership, a process that allowed the French to rediscover their Celtic neighbours. If Paris was initially opposed to Dublin’s application, by the end of the decade the Franco-Irish bond had been renewed in the context of European integration. Historical links France and Ireland have had a privileged relationship throughout the centuries , a fact that is often mentioned in their diplomatic notes and official speeches. Those documents stress for instance that there has never been any war between the two countries, something that cannot be said of many other European countries in their interactions with France. In fact, according to President François Mitterrand (Socialist), only Ireland and Denmark share that distinction.1 This can be partly explained by the peripheral position of Ireland in relation to the continent, yet there are more positive reasons for this happy state of affairs, which explain why President Vincent Auriol (Socialist) spoke of an ‘old tradition of friendship’ between both countries when he welcomed his Irish counterpart Seán T. O’Kelly to France in May 1950.2 An old tradition of friendship This tradition of friendship was constantly emphasised on both sides between 1945 and 1973, with many examples from different periods being 75 CHAPTER TWO France Christophe Gillissen given. Jack Lynch, during a reception for Charles de Gaulle in 1969, spoke of the Gallic origins of the first Gaelic settlers who brought to Ireland ‘the language and culture that are the basis of the Irish nation’.3 Eamon de Valera, on meeting the new French minister in 1945, mentioned the close links between both countries dating back to the ‘very first days of Christendom’, when ‘Irish monks and scholars were welcomed throughout France’.4 More generally, the French ambassador noted in 1950 that the Irish had a favourable prejudice towards France, and one of the reasons he gave to explain their ‘special affinities’ was their ‘common Catholic tradition’.5 The foreign affairs archives of Ireland and France refer very often to the late 18th century: if both countries have a common Catholic tradition , they also share the values of the republic. In 1951 the French ambassador stressed how deeply those values had taken root in Ireland in the context of its struggle for independence; the French fleets of 1796 and 1798, which aimed at helping the United Irishmen found an independent Irish republic, were not forgotten. Thus when a memorial to the 1798 uprising was inaugurated by Seán T. O’Kelly in Castlebar in 1953, the French ambassador related to his authorities the many tributes of gratitude expressed during the ceremony: ‘both the Irish President and the Archbishop of Tuam, in the course of their conversation, insisted on the faithfulness of the Irish to the memory of France’.6 The political affinities between both countries were also apparent during the 19th century, in particular at the time of Daniel O’Connell, who was widely admired in France.7 Many Irish nationalists found refuge in the country and in 1870, during the Franco-Prussian war, an Irish ambulance corps went to assist the French, an event that was commemorated in 1970. The British ‘screen’ Given that both countries were on the same side in most conflicts and rivalries which marked European history before the 20th century, one may on the whole agree with the positive gloss put on French–Irish relations by both governments, even though it is the kind of language to be expected in official speeches. With a few exceptions, however, those notes and speeches tend to neglect the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Paris distanced itself from its traditional friend, which in turn sought support from the United States and Germany. There were several reasons for that shift in French policy, among which the anti-clericalism of the Third Republic and the Franco-British 76 Ireland through European Eyes, 1945–1973 rapprochement. The Third Republic tended to be suspicious of Catholic nationalists, seeing them through the prism of domestic politics; many Irish exiles were thus imprisoned...