FEW people would appear less likely to be discussing period dolls' houses, but Bord Failte director general Matt McNulty is at his most animated when describing the project. which became Tara's Palace, a 32 room, four and a half foot high Georgian style creation of spectacular imagination, commissioned by a charity consortium which, had failed to secure the famous Titania's Palace at auction in 1978.
Titania's Palace, built between 1907 and 1922 by Neville Wilkinson for his daughter, now resides in Copenhagan having been bought by Lego for its Museum.
Deciding to turn auction defeat into an incentive, McNulty's objective was characteristically direct: "We wanted to make Tara's Palace one of the finest in the world, even more wonderful than Titania's Palace."
Tara's Palace is larger and even more splendid, boasting a nine foot wide facade and three separate wings enclosing a central courtyard with garden. Among the furniture are several pieces by the Dublin cabinet maker Fred Early, who was commissioned to make furniture for the Queen Mary dolls' house. The Early furniture was bought at auction by Dublin Tourism and Bord Failte.
The doll's house is currently on view at the Dublin Writers' Museum, where viewers will note the front facade is Leinster House, the left facade Castletown House, and the right Carton House.
McNulty, a stocky, low voiced individual, is not given to anecdote. Business like and precise, he seems a remote, single minded, quiet character. But lest it transpire that he is, in fact, given to dancing, on tables when among friends, it seems wise to ask. McNulty confirms suspicions that he may be more self contained than most: "I'm not a talker. I'd be known for not doing things like that dancing on tables. I am quiet and don't tend to be the life and soul of the party."
Asking him about his life is awkward, although he says, obligingly, "Ask me anything except for the loan of £1,000". McNulty is far more forthcoming on the subject of Ireland and its tourism potential than he is on himself.
For much of the interview, he looks out over Baggot Street and, accustomed to speaking about Ireland to international tourism bodies, his delivery is impersonal, automatic and clearly shaped by the language of international tourism. "Ireland has the fastest rate of tourism growth in Europe, if not the world. Only Hong Kong and Singapore are developing as quick." His belief in Ireland's tourism potential is absolute to the point of being overpowering.
"Our tourism revenue amounts to £740 million each year and our tourism is well distributed across the country. There are no tourism ghettos here, whereas in the rest of Europe some 37 per cent of tourists gather in the 5 per cent of the area known as the sun destinations along the Mediterranean. Our tourism potential is enormous. I see the potential of Irish people, who are naturally good business people." He agrees that the Irish are a pragmatic race and adds: "We are good at lateral thinking, and I think there is a strong sense of a positive economic awakening."
CITIZENS, however, always doubt the national perfection implied by those engaged in promoting tourism and are never convinced of the virtues of the country they happen to live in. While much is made of the big Irish welcome, the Irish are often as amused by tourists as natives everywhere are by newcomers. McNulty acknowledges that the Ireland seen by visitors is not quite the same as that experienced by those who live here - but then no tourist destination is.
The recent spate of brutal murders here has shocked the native population, yet these crimes are not regarded as particularly relevant to outsiders. McNulty points out that visitors to New York don't tend to spend much time deliberating over the murder investigations which are part of Manhattan's daily life. "The area outside the Vatican has the highest crime rate in Europe," he adds.
Overall there aid very few complaints, he says, "only 2,500 a year among over, four million visitors".
About four years ago, while looking at local guide books in a Bord Failte office in, the west, I overheard a Dutch tourist haltingly - ask the girl behind the counter for directions. Curtly dismissing him, she advised he buy a map. A couple of weeks ago,
I also observed as a Japanese family, lunching at a Dublin restaurant, was humiliated by watching staff and customers when their toddlers upended most of their lunch on the floor. Matt McNulty is confident that such incidents are isolated. Violence and friendliness aside, he is most concerned with litter which he sees as a major problem in Ireland. "It must be addressed, people have to be educated about the disposal of litter."
Even so, it may still be easier to be a child in a restaurant in, Italy or Spain than in Ireland. Stressing the role of CERT in the training of those involved in all aspects of catering and tourism related industries, McNulty also speaks about the importance of training people "and re skilling and training" to develop the specific social skills required for dealing with the public. He also tends to look at Ireland in the terms of 32 counties "the island of Ireland" - adding that there are now 13 airports "on the island". Speaking of the greenness of the Irish countryside, he says, "Ireland and New Zealand - a country whose tourism structures we have looked at closely - are the two places which show up as green on satellite photographs from space".
HE does not romanticise his Donegal boyhood. Born in Ballyshannon in 1945, the eldest of four brothers, he remembers it as something of a boom town in the 1950s. "There was a lot of employment due to the building of the Erne dam." He describes his father as a tradesman and then elaborates on the family shoemaking business. He knew he would never go into it. At the De La Salle school, the brothers tended to guide the boys towards futures in the Civil Service. As a student, he was good at maths and English, "and science; I liked science." He was also very involved in GAA, playing hurling and football. "I played minor football for Donegal, for three seasons, for my sins.
Gymnastics was another of his interests and he participated in many gymnastic demonstrations.
"As a boy I was keen on nature, plants, gardening," he adds. "I liked growing things and was a member of a youth, organisation, Macra Na Tuaithe." As a boy, he spoke Irish and as Ballyshannon is only four miles from the Border, we had an awareness of the North/South cultural and political divide.
Having sat his Leaving at 16, "I was too young to get a job", he spent a year working on an agricultural project, the introduction into Ireland of white turkeys, a smaller, more efficient breed than the then well established bronze turkey. "It sounds very boring now I suppose, but at the time it was very exciting.
It was 1967. The scheme, which McNulty had joined through his Macra Na Tuaithe involvement, quickly had close on 200,000 white turkeys, a breed known for its efficient conversion of food to meat, residing in rows of "military like billets".
From life on the turkey farm, McNulty moved on to a clerical job at Aer Lingus where he spent exactly six years. While working there he met his wife. They have four children and live in Malahide.
In 1967 he joined Dublin Tourism as manager of the Dublin and later, Dublin and East Region. During those years he was involved in projects such as Malahide Castle, Newbridge House, the Joyce Tower, the Dublin Writers' Museum and the Shaw House.
Dublin's literary heritage appeals to him. A model for a life sized statue of a thoughtful looking Oscar Wilde currently sits on the floor of his office. The plan is to erect the statue on the pedestrian triangle between the Writers' Museum and the Garden of Remembrance. One of Bram Stoker is planned to mark the centenary in June 1997 of the publication of Dracula. "I have been involved in erecting sculpture around the city; friendly, accessible sculpture of the human scale". He refers to Paddy Kavanagh, now immortalised in bronze on a seat by the canal near Bord Failte's building. "And then there's Joyce standing up on North Earl Street." Has he an interest in literature? "I read Yeats. Well, I read bits of everyone. I could be reading four or five books at once. I change them around as I get fed up."
Appointed chairman of the Dublin Metropolitan Streets Commission, he was also managing director of the Dublin Millennium in 1988. Despite his Donegal origins, he has "devoted my whole life to making a contribution at various levels to Dublin" he says, but is not irredeemably urbanised, "I'm a member of the Old Donegal Society and I collect local histories and antique travel books."
Immediately following his Millennium job. McNulty became deputy director general of Bord Failte in September 1988 and director general in 1993. It is a five year contract and, as he says himself, "I believe in contracts as an effective method of employment".
One of Bord Failte's most effective weapons is its high quality, financially self sufficient magazine, Ireland of the Welcomes. Established in 1952, it sells over 90,000 copies on subscription in the US with a further 10,000 sold elsewhere around the world. Only as recently as late 1994 was it finally available in Ireland. Three years ago it won a Magazine of the Year award in America. "It is tremendously successful. Over 80 per cent of its readers have visited Ireland." The magazine has a deliberate policy of not dealing with hard news issues. "It focuses on the island of Ireland arid is really about Ireland and the world of the Irish," he says.
THE Office of Public Works has come increasingly under fire over the building of interpretative centres, an extremely divisive issue fought out on the mutually emotive grounds of ecological preservation versus local employment. What is Bord Failte's approach, to these centres? "We are also a Stat organisation. Bord Failte's policy is somewhat different to that pursued by the OPW. We maximise the sensitivity of our policy by recycling existing buildings and we have, a deliberate policy of not building in the countryside and believe in conning the infrastructure for tourism to nearby towns and villages. We have, to a large extent, recycled buildings, churches and other buildings of architectural merit."
Discussing the centres he is most proud of, he mentions the Foxford Woollen Mills which tells the story of a 19th century local industry founded by an order of nuns, and The Skellig Experience, a deliberately unobtrusive interpretative centre on Valentia Island, adjacent to the road bridge which joins the island to the mainland and directly opposite the village of Portmagee. Developed by Cork Kerry Tourism they centre, was opened in April 1992. Now in its fifth season, it has proven itself financially viable and is serviced by locally licenced boat operators. Bord Failte initiated the centre at the Ceide Fields in Mayo which was subsequently taken over and completed by the OPW: "I think it is a very good example of what can be done".
The extent of his belief in Irish tourism, its growth and potential world domination leaves one wondering can this small country sustain such a huge influx of visitors? "It is sustainable, if it is managed properly. There are doubts international, but I believe it can be done. It is essential to get it right in a small country."
Allowing for the generalisations invariably made when commenting about tourist habits, it is interesting to note that of visitors to Ireland the Germans are considered the most adventurous whereas the Americans, who conquered outer space, are seen as decidedly lacking in adventure - perhaps because of the high percentage of golfers.
"Our overall objective is to maximise the benefit of a buoyant tourism industry to the people of Ireland, rather than transform the country into a theme park or tourism paradise," McNulty says. "Our policy making is far more sensitive to Ireland's needs than the ordinary citizen might suspect."
