‘An Intriguing but Ambiguous Privilege’: adventures in Franco-Irish Relations through the prism of the diplomatic meal

This essay discusses the welcome banquet held in February 1945 in honour of the newly appointed French diplomatic envoy to Ireland, Jean Rivière, hosted by Éamon de Valera at Iveagh House, the headquarters of the Irish Department of External Affairs. The banquet took place at a moment when ‘an intriguing but ambiguous privilege’ had been granted by Charles de Gaulle’s Provisional Government to Ireland as the only country permitted to retain its diplomatic representative to France in the post-liberation period. Following the fall of the Vichy regime and the liberation of France in August 1944, de Gaulle’s government de- manded the replacement of all heads of missions who had served in France under Vichy. This was unwelcome news for the Irish government who maintained that, as a neutral country, Ireland had conformed to the practices of neutral states during the war and should therefore not have to replace its ministerial envoy, Seán Murphy. The issue was further complicated when the new French government required that new diplomatic credentials be presented by all foreign envoys, a fact which displeased the Irish government who had accepted that the French Minister to Ireland, Xavier de Laforcade, represent the new de Gaulle government without requiring the presentation of new credentials. The situation was ultimately resolved, and in place of the formal presentation of new credentials, Seán Murphy had a private audience with de Gaulle on Saturday 24 March 1945, one month after the Rivière banquet, which is the focus of this essay.