Eilís Colbert:When Eilís Colbert took early retirement from Bord Fáilte at the end of 1988, Irish tourism and travel lost one of its most dynamic and innovative personalities.
Even to this day she would still rank at the highest level among those who are skilled in the multilayered business of marketing of Ireland worldwide as a holiday destination.
For those who mourn her passing, there is surely comfort in her decision to quit the scene while in the event a lengthy span of years still remained for her to enjoy what meant so much to her: music, opera, the visual arts and travel at her own pace.
Languages came naturally to Eilís - Italian, French and Irish. It was probably this ability which prompted her after nine years with Dublin County Council to become a freelance interpreter and courier for American groups touring Europe.
In time this led to a job with Michael Walsh, the pioneering founder of the eponymous travel agency. Now, with Rome as base, she organised and accompanied holiday and pilgrimage groups to France, Italy, Greece and, most notably, the Holy Land.
Appointed to the sales department of Bord Fáilte in l965, Eilís was now involved with incoming business to her own country. She brought with her a wealth of experience gained over those earlier years.
Her tenure in Bord Fáilte coincided with the beginnings of an unprecedented investment by State and private enterprise in the tourism infrastructure.
New hotels were being opened and old ones refurbished. Golf courses increased and multiplied. Such activity holidays as caravanning, waterway cruising, coarse fishing and sea angling, hill walking and equestrian sports, brought new life to slumbering towns and villages.
These and many other niche attractions were the wherewithal upon which Eilís and her young marketing colleagues went to work in Bord Fáilte. They were given a gratifying degree of responsibility by Michael Whelan, then marketing director, and of that team Eilís Colbert was primus inter pares.
She made early contact with the British Tourist Authority, resulting in an eventual close relationship with Bord Fáilte. She also administered the first annual trade workshops, which brought together - to do business - representatives of various Irish products and overseas travel agents and carriers. Today those much expanded workshops are an important element in the operations of both Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, successors to Bord Fáilte.
Despite an intensive lifestyle, Eilís had her priorities right. When her sister-in-law, a young mother of three girls and two boys, died unexpectedly, she took responsibility for their education. This often involved starting work in Bord Fáilte at the crack of dawn in order to be free later in the day to tutor them and supervise homework. As exams loomed she brought each child to stay in her own home, the better to concentrate on their studies. "I was the wicked aunt," she used to joke, "but it worked out very well."
In her retirement years, the Dublin Club of Skal International - representing at senior level every branch of the tourism and travel industry - paid Eilís its highest honour of life membership.
Eilís was born in Shanagolden, Co Limerick. She was a lifelong nationalist, an egalitarian as between the sexes, who believed in fair play and decent living standards for everyone.
She always spoke her mind - in precise tones and to the point - and held no one in awe, in Bord Fáilte or elsewhere. Hers was an uncomplicated faith. Every morning began with a simple prayer: "Thank you God for the gift of another day."
Eilís is survived by three sisters and a brother. Her father was a brother of Con Colbert, who at 28 was one of the youngest of the Easter Rising leaders to be executed. He was born at Monalena, Co Limerick.
Eilís Colbert: born December l4th, l93l; died October l8th, 2006.