Taking over the reins of a major provincial newspaper without any previous experience is never easy. For a young widow of 35 with three small children under five in the Ireland of the 1950s, it must have been a formidable task.
Like most women of her generation, Eileen Farrell was a stay-at-home mother, albeit one with movie star looks who enjoyed the busy social round of a prosperous country town. When she decided to step into the shoes of her late husband, Lucius, as managing director of the Longford Leader in 1951, the newspaper's survival became her life's work.
Outside the Longford Leader, where she quickly gained respect for her business acumen, the young Eileen Farrell met with strong opposition and censure as a woman in an exclusively male business network. She relished the battle, according to family members. At that time, the Longford Leader was one of the largest employers in the county, with up to 60 workers between the newspaper and its significant printing business. Among the many magazines and pamphlets printed at the Leader were the Pioneer, the Irish Catholic and Catholic Truth Society booklets. The printing works also employed a bindry staff. In taking up such a difficult challenge, Eileen Farrell was continuing the tradition of family ownership of the Longford Leader, founded by her father-in-law, the Redmondite Westminster MP, James P. Farrell. Unfazed by her lack of experience, she applied herself to learning the newspaper and printing business with enthusiasm. Former employees at the Long- ford Leader remember her as impeccably turned-out and a strict disciplinarian who was always fair. She ran the business with efficiency and flair, never stinting on the latest printing machinery and taking a keen interest in employees' welfare.
During her term of office she brought in a pension scheme long before it was introduced Statewide. She also ran benefit functions for staff unable to work through illness. At her instigation, the company contributed annually to this fund. Introducing the first woman journalists to the paper was another innovation - their numbers grew until at one point they were level pegging with their male counterparts in the newspaper. Eileen Farrell grew up at Claurashinna House at Mohill, Co Leitrim, the second daughter of Charles and Nora Brady. Her father was a publican and farmer. After schooling at the Convents of Mercy in Mohill and Carrick-on-Shannon, she completed the first year's training as a nurse at Cappagh Hospital, Dublin, departing after a disagreement with one of the staff. She did a beautician course with Cyclax during a visit to her sister Anne in Birmingham, returning home when the second World War broke out to meet and marry Lucius Farrell, who was managing director of the family newspaper.
Her beauty was legendary around Longford throughout her life. She walked tall, never appearing in public unless well-presented, and her style was greatly admired. She was the kind of person you couldn't ignore. Eileen Farrell passed on the running of the newspaper to her son Lucius when he became 21, but she remained vitally interested in its welfare, making periodic comebacks to help out and to visit the staff. Although she seldom could be persuaded to leave her beloved period home on the outskirts of Longford in her declining years, she continued to keep a watchful eye on how the Longford Leader was faring.
Her sister Anna and brother Kevin predeceased Eileen Farrell and she is survived by her three children, Jill, Jacquie and Lucius, and her brother Charlie.
Eileen Farrell: born 1916; died January, 2000