Cultural co-operation and exchange is as vital as any other kind of relationship between countries; meeting places for ideas of the imagination are as important as those assemblies where political and economic ideals find a forum.
That is why the opening in Paris last week of the newly-restored Irish College is to be welcomed. Its transformation into the Centre Culturel Irlandais is an act of enlightenment that would surely please those who first championed this Irish landmark in the City of Light over 400 years ago.
The magnificent building symbolises not only the strong Hiberno-French ties of the past, it also affirms a commitment to the future development of the cultural aspect of these links. Friday's opening event was a timely reminder that, while our own culture is unique, it is also a part of European culture which we have contributed to and benefited from.
The college was a place of refuge for young Irishmen forced to leave Ireland to study for the priesthood during Penal Times. It has survived the ravages of revolution, religious oppression, and two World Wars. It resonates with names from Irish history - Wolfe Tone's children, Archbishop Croke of Cashel, founder of the GAA and Canon Hayes, who established Muintir na Tire, are among former students.
Irish writers and artists have always been drawn to Paris which has a special place in Irish literary history - Joyce settled there in his journey of exile, Beckett made it his home and wrote some of his greatest work in French, and Oscar Wilde, after the humiliations of trial and imprisonment, left England to spend his last days in the French capital where his grave in Père Lachaise is now a place of pilgrimage.
The work of the Irish novelist John McGahern has a huge following among French readers of modern literature; the young writer Keith Ridgeway was honoured with the Prix Femina Etranger, one of France's most prestigious literary awards. In 1996 L'Imaginaire Irlandais did much to create a positive impression of the contemporary arts in Ireland and was a rare example of France playing host to a foreign culture for a year-long celebration. Unfortunately the independent agency to promote Irish arts abroad mooted around that time has not materialised.
Those whose imagination started (including the late Cardinal O Fiaich) and brought this ambitious project to completion are due gratitude, as well as the Government which contributed State support and the OPW which provided its valuable expertise.