O'Brien, John Patrick ('Jack')

by Terry Clavin

O'Brien, John Patrick ('Jack') (1900–56), promoter of Irish tourism, was born on 3 February 1900 in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, the eldest son of Patrick O'Brien, shopkeeper and baker of Main Street, Ballyporeen, and his wife Catherine (née O'Brien). He attended Rockwell College, Co. Tipperary, before entering All Hallows College, a catholic seminary in Drumcondra, Dublin. Graduating with a BA from UCD, he decided against becoming a priest and returned to Ballyporeen, where he assisted the anti-treaty IRA during the civil war (1922–3).

Once hostilities ceased he sought employment, as the small family business was incapable of sustaining him and his siblings. In October 1923 he was made secretary of the Munster Tourist Development Association by its president, J. C. Foley, who was a prominent hotelier and family friend. The association was quickly renamed the Irish Tourist Association (ITA) and, being by far the largest organisation of its type in Ireland, absorbed all the other Irish tourist associations during 1924–5. Remaining the secretary (effectively the general manager), in 1925 O'Brien moved along with the ITA's headquarters from Cork to Dublin.

While he knew nothing initially about tourism, he quickly became enthusiastic and well versed. He was unusual for an Irish nationalist in not regarding the trade, then largely associated with British visitors, as demeaning and vaguely disreputable. Applying himself tirelessly to developing the ITA, he initiated a monthly journal in 1925, increased subscriptions to the association, and established local branches and in 1928 a London bureau. O'Brien secured the ITA politically by devoting much time and effort to placating the county councils, which provided a third of the association's income, were jealous of any publicity given to resorts outside their jurisdiction, and regarded tourism purely as a means of securing better local services.

Although the hoteliers and the railway and shipping companies that largely funded the ITA and dominated its board were aligned with the Free State regime, they turned a blind eye to O'Brien's preference for staffing his small office with fellow anti-treatyites. One employee, C. S. ('Todd') Andrews (qv), was harassed by the authorities until O'Brien induced the board to use its political influence to put a stop to it. Hiring Frank Ryan (qv) without realising he was still active in the IRA, O'Brien weathered an embarrassing incident in October 1928 when special branch detectives found IRA documents on Ryan's desk. The ITA staff members liked O'Brien, but their nationalistic disdain for tourism was confirmed by his habit of inventing statistics for media consumption.

Despite being hobbled by a small budget and a disunited and regressive hotel sector, O'Brien proved a dynamic advocate of Irish tourism in the face of public hostility, especially from Irish-language enthusiasts. A skilled publicist, he churned out an abundance of promotional literature (perhaps of questionable worth), and became well known through his regular speaking and media engagements. He had distinctive features, being sallow-skinned with jug ears, a substantial pointed nose and thick eyebrows. His warm personality, energy and flair generally impressed, although some found his forthright manner disconcerting. He married (April 1932) Elizabeth Lennon, of Kenilworth Square, Rathgar, Dublin. They had two sons and two daughters, and lived first in Dalkey and then in Blackrock, both Co. Dublin.

After the election of the Fianna Fáil government in 1932, O'Brien used his charm and republican connections to ingratiate himself with the minister for industry and commerce, Seán Lemass (qv). He became a director of various companies funded by or connected to the state, most notably Aer Lingus and Aer Rianta, and was appointed chairman of the Prices Commission (1933–8) and of inquiries into public transport and the bakery trade. From the late 1930s he oversaw the annual negotiations on behalf of Irish coal importers with British firms. His elevation to Fianna Fáil's fund-raising committee enabled him to befriend wealthy businessmen who condescended to laugh at his jokes while exploiting him as a conduit to Lemass. Developing a brash manner and an extravagant lifestyle, he began drinking heavily.

O'Brien had continued as the ITA's general manager in a part-time capacity, and, after years of cajoling, persuaded Lemass in 1939 to establish a semi-state tourist body, the Irish Tourist Board (ITB). Appointed chairman of the ITB on a yearly salary of £1,500, he led an organisation that was independent of the hotel lobby and vested with sweeping powers, including the authority to register and grade hotels and to develop and manage tourist resorts and hotels. The ITB's operations were suspended upon the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939, but O'Brien's arguments prevented its abolition. He accepted a reduced salary of £500 a year and operated the ITB on a reduced scale with a view to readying Ireland for the tourist boom that would follow the war.

His undiplomatic zeal annoyed elements within the civil service and Fianna Fáil cabinet suspicious of Lemass's relatively radical economic policies. He also alienated sections of the media, including the irascible proprietor of the Kilkenny People newspaper, E. T. Keane (qv), who from the late 1930s published a series of vitriolic attacks on O'Brien, which decried him as a jumped-up Fianna Fáil placeman and the ITB as a waste of money. Noting O'Brien's vaunting of his academic qualifications, the Kilkenny People invariably referred to him 'J. P. O'Brien, BA (Pass)'.

When the ITB began inspecting hotels and guesthouses for registration in 1944, O'Brien was realistic about what could be expected and his inspectors were lenient. Nonetheless, some 300 establishments lost the right to call themselves hotels during 1944–6, and many others were unhappy with their grading, especially those oriented towards commercial travellers rather than tourists. Most guesthouses preferred not to register and so avoided inspections. The ITB could designate certain areas for compulsory registration, and an attempt in 1947 to enforce this in Tramore, Co. Waterford, was halted after inspectors were confronted by torch-lit demonstrations.

Following the end of the war in 1945, O'Brien announced a bold programme of resort development, whereby the state undertook to build and, for a time, to manage luxury hotels, with a view to attracting wealthy foreigners while also prompting improved standards and price competitiveness in the Irish hotel sector. Opposition parties and the media condemned this both as an extravagance and an inappropriate intrusion into the commercial sphere. Moreover, British holidaymakers flocked to Ireland during 1945–8 for the greater choice of food and consumer goods, which created a backlash against tourism for raising prices and taking up accommodation. Hoteliers and guesthouse owners made a financial killing off these undemanding customers and were confirmed in their resistance to O'Brien's initiatives.

The ill-prepared ITB staff members were overwhelmed by their burgeoning responsibilities, and the construction of the five luxury hotels and a resort complex was plagued by a building materials shortage and the lack of sufficient funding; too small to be economically viable, the hotels were then operated at a loss amid an unprecedented tourist boom. Much depended on O'Brien, but the torrent of media criticism had undermined his confidence and contributed to his worsening alcoholism. His malign influence was a regular topic of political speeches, as he became the main focus for public discontent with the long-ruling Fianna Fáil administration and its semi-state auxiliaries.

Even had Fianna Fáil won the 1948 general election the ITB would have been too discredited to fulfil its remit. In the event, the hostile inter-party government curtailed funding for tourism, sold the luxury hotels at a steep loss, and neutered the ITB's efforts to impose stricter grading criteria on hotel owners. After O'Brien's contract as ITB chairman was not renewed in 1949, he set up unsuccessfully as a travel agent in 1950 and suffered financial hardship, as he lacked a state pension. Meanwhile, Marshall Plan officials belatedly vindicated him by criticising the Irish government for neglecting tourism and tolerating deplorable accommodation facilities.

Once Fianna Fáil regained power in 1951, Lemass had O'Brien appointed to the boards of Aer Rianta and the ITB and, after failing to secure a full-time position for him in the ITB, made him chairman of a newly established tourist publicity board called Fógra Fáilte on a salary of £1,000 a year. The separation of Fógra Fáilte from the main tourist board, which was renamed Bord Fáilte, was criticised as an exercise in cronyism and led to a duplication of work. It also encouraged frictions that were exacerbated by the partly political, partly personal animosity between O'Brien and the Bord Fáilte chairman, J. A. Nugent. O'Brien's declining health further reduced his effectiveness. He was sidelined upon Fianna Fáil's defeat in the 1954 general election, and the inter-party government abolished Fógra Fáilte in 1955.

Despite being deserted by his business associates and regarded as an embarrassment by many in Fianna Fáil, he remained outwardly ebullient into his final months. He died on 23 February 1956 in a nursing home in Monkstown, Co. Dublin, and was buried in Dean's Grange cemetery, Co. Dublin.