St Ailbe's welcomes the French Honorary Consul to the school

St Ailbe’s School had a visit from the French Honorary Consul, Dr Loïc Guyon, on Thursday, March 16. He was welcomed to the school by principal Ruaidhri Devitt and by History & English teacher Hannah Dowdall.
Dr. Guyon spoke to 120 of the students about the historical links between Ireland and France, the Wild Geese, the Sarsfield

Homecoming Project and the importance of learning French.
Martin Quinn was delighted to be able to arrange the visit and to present Dr Guyon with a copy of his book “Tipperary People of Great Note.”

The Consul also paid a visit to Sarsfield’s Rock which is located in Ballyneety in the parish of Templebraden- Pallasgreen. This is the site of the most famous victory of the Williamite Wars, 1690-91 when Patrick Sarsfield blew up a siege train en route during the first siege of Limerick.

Dr. Guyon told the students about the Sarsfield Homecoming Project which he has recently launched, with the aim of locating, identifying and repatriating to Ireland the remains of the Irish national hero who was also the first Earl of Lucan.

EXCAVATION OF REMAINS
Works to excavate the site where it’s believed the remains of Patrick Sarsfield are buried could begin as soon as this summer he said.

Dr. Guyon is based in Limerick and has jurisdiction over the Mid-West Region of Ireland ( Clare, Limerick and Tipperary). He is a native of Romans in the sout east of France.

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After studying in France and England, he moved to Ireland in 2002 to take up a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at the MooreInstitute in NUI Galway. He has since then worked as a Lecturer in French Studies at University College Cork, Maynooth University, University College Dublin and the University of Ulster. Dr Guyon moved to Limerick in 2009 to take up the permanent position of Head of the Department of French Studies at Mary Immaculate College.
In 2013, the French government made him a Knight in the Order of Academic Palms) and, in 2017, a Knight in the National Order of Merit, which is the second highest honorofic order of the French State.