PR guru Barbara was opera festival chairperson
THE death has taken place of the former public relations consultant and Wexford Festival Opera chairperson Barbara McConnell of Mulgannon, Wexford – who was better known as Barbara Wallace.
The well-known Wexford woman who was ahead of her time, died in Kerlogue Nursing Home on Sunday night following an eight-year struggle with dementia. She was 81 years old.
During an illustrious and pioneering career, she ran a successful public relations company which represented major industries and business clients in County Wexford; served as the first ever female President of a Chamber of Commerce in Ireland; spent a decade at the helm of the Opera Festival and was President of the Public Relations Institute.
When the former Bishop of Ferns Brendan Comiskey returned from the USA in 1996 amid a media frenzy over the handling of clerical sex abuse allegations and questions about Diocesan finances, it was Barbara Wallace who fielded inquiries and organised the press conference at which he spoke.
Her clients included Cow n Gate, ABS Pumps, Senator Windows and Wexford County Council. When the streets of Wexford were dug up for an extended period during the town’s multi-million pound main drainage scheme, she smoothed public annoyance and handled the public relations campaign under the slogan ‘We’re Sorry But It Will be Worth It’.
The Wexford native grew up in William Street where her family owned a grocery shop which she took over and ran until 1968 when she joined the South Eastern Regional Tourism Organ- isation (SERTO) which was a precursor of Bord Failte. She was responsible for promoting new business in Wexford by bringing major conferences to the area.
In the mid-1970s, she left the tour- ism organisation to establish Barbara Wallace Public Relations which had its first office in Whites Hotel on the Main Street and built the company into a successful business with a national reputation at a time when image management was an emerging industry in Ireland.
She served as chairperson of Wexford Festival Opera for a decade from the 1980s, battling the Arts Council to retain funding and placing the international event on a more commercial and professional funding by identifying the need for a Chief Executive and recruiting the late Jerome Hynes.
When it came to the festival, Barbara and her second husband, the late Niall McConnell, a management consultant who was instrumental in establishing Wexford Enterprise Centre, were very much a double act.
Even after marrying Niall in 1998, Barbara (nee Goodall), continued to be known by the surname of her first husband Eric Wallace. She was sadly predeceased by Niall a few years later.
She is survived by her sons, Brendan and Paul; her daughters Pauline and Mary; her brother John; her grandchildren Henry, Anna, Kate, Alexander, Brian, Daniel, Ronan, Conor and Gareth; her sons-in-law; daughters-in-law; her sister-in-law; her nieces and nephews and her extended family and friends.
Her remains will repose in Mulligan’s Funeral Home in the Faythe today (Tuesday) from 3 pm until 9 pm. Prayers will take place on Wednesday at 12 noon followed by removal to the Church of the Assumption, Our Lady’s Island for funeral Mass at 1 pm with burial afterwards in Our Lady’s Island Cemetery where Niall is interred.