Eileen O'Mara Walsh

Eileen O'Mara Walsh was born in
Limerick in 1941 and began her career with Bord
Fáilte in Paris and the Usitravel Group, Dublin, in the
early 1970s. She went on to set up her own company,
O’Mara Travel, in 1978, and secured the franchise
for Club Méditerranée. She established two further
companies, Visit Ireland Inc. in 1981, and Heritage
Island Ltd in 1992.
She was Chair and Director of Great Southern
Hotels from 1984 to 1999, a Director of Aer Lingus,
Chairwoman of Forbairt from 1993 to 1998, and
established the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation in
the mid 1980s.
She was also Chairwoman of Opera Ireland
and Governor of St Patrick’s Hospital. She is currently
Trustee of the Medieval Trust and Dublinia, and
a member of the International Women’s Forum.
On retiring from business in 2006 she was given
an honorary doctorate by the Dublin Institute of
Technology, and in 2009 was awarded a rst-class
honours degree in French and English by University
College Dublin. Eileen lives in south County Dublin.