James Joyce’s only son Giorgio wanted to repatriate his father’s remains to Ireland, but then taoiseach Jack Lynch was highly sceptical of the proposal.
Giorgio Joyce expressed a preference for his father to be buried in Ireland during a conversation with the writer and biographer Ulick O’Connor in 1968.
Certain ‘State papers’ or official archives are declassified at the end of every year. This week, thousands of documents in archives in Dublin, Belfast and London are being made public for the first time, bringing new insights into events of times past. This year’s Dublin archives mostly date from 1994.
O’Connor conveyed the request to the minister for health Sean Flanagan who in turn brought it to the attention of taoiseach Jack Lynch.
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“I met Mr Ulick O’Connor recently and in the course of the conversation he mentioned that Mr Giorgio Joyce, son of James Joyce, would be glad to have his father’s body brought back to Ireland if the government would formally approve it,” Flanagan wrote.
“I told him I would mention it to you and to my colleagues. Perhaps you would let me know if I might raise it informally at cabinet?”
Lynch was puzzled by the request and wanted to know more.
“To what extent Mr Joyce would expect that the government would be involved in the financial or other arrangements?” he asked.
Lynch also queried as to what Giorgio Joyce meant by formal government approval.
In a handwritten addendum to the taoiseach’s letter, a civil servant noted that: “They are awaiting further information from Mr Ulick O’Connor”.
It would appear that is where the matter ended as there are no more letters in the files of the department of the taoiseach in relation to the request.
Joyce died suddenly on January 13th 1941 in Zurich at the age of 58 following an operation.
His wife Nora made repeated attempts to have his body repatriated to Ireland, but the request was refused first by the Fianna Fáil government and then by the coalition government which included the minister for external affairs Seán MacBride. Joyce had mocked his birth parents Major John MacBride and Maud Gonne.
Previous correspondence released from the National Archives showed a lack of enthusiasm by taoiseach John A Costello or MacBride in relation to the request in 1949.
A note on the file of the department of the taoiseach dated July 17th 1949 reads: “Spoke to taoiseach. No action.”
Successive Irish governments’ reluctance to repatriate the remains of Joyce contrast with the respect accorded to the remains of the poet WB Yeats when they were repatriated from France to Ireland in September 1948.
The coffin was carried on the LE Macha from Nice to Galway for reinterring in Drumcliffe Churchyard in Co Sligo.
In contrast to his indifference to Joyce, Seán MacBride supervised the whole repatriation of Yeats’ remains.
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