Ina Foley, who died on February 21st at the age of 79, was the last survivor of those who served in the Vichy Legation during the war. Later, back in Dublin, in her spare time she wrote a social column for the Irish Press and letters from abroad for Social and Personal, both under an assumed name. She also wrote a romantic novel which is said to have been returned by the publisher on the grounds that the standard of writing was too high!
Ina was born in Ardrahan, Co Galway, in 1917 where her father, Dr Charles Foley, practised before moving to Athenry. She was educated at Loreto, Dalkey, took her degree in English and French at UCD and taught briefly at Loreto, Balbriggan, before joining External Affairs in 1940, as one of two Foreign Service Clerks.
She was immediately sent to the Legation in Paris which shortly after moved to Vichy. Though a junior officer, she was attuned to the resonances arising from the different assessments of the Petain regime by the Minister in Vichy Mr Sean Murphy, and the Department. Despite the deprivations, the posting appealed to Ina's sense of adventure and brought her into contact with, among others, James Joyce.
Ina was attached in 1949 to the first Irish Delegation to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg of which Eamon de Valera was a member. She won his esteem and in later years, she was to read to him in hospital while he, as President, called on her in hospital during a former illness.
Her cultivation of mind wry sense of humour and lack of political or personal prejudice would have equipped her for other postings had she not opted for a home based career, largely to take care of her mother. They lived in a flat in Merrion Square which Ina maintained to the end.
From 1955 until her retirement, Ina provided the ongoing administrative back up and continuity both for the Cultural Relations Committee, which advises the Minister on cultural expenditure abroad, and the Scholarship Exchange Board.
Her broad cultural interests (including her membership of the Friends of the National Collection) and her wide social connections made her ideally suited to the position and she enjoyed the confidence of the distinguished personalities, such as Cearbhall O Dalaigh, Michael Scott and Lord Killanin, who served on the committee over the years.
Although unfailingly polite and attentive, she had a mind of her own and a delightfully indirect manner which was very effective. If she did not agree with something, Ina would rarely express her dissent directly. She would merely withhold her approval, a silence which invariably spoke volumes. She never allowed the pressures of work to affect her calm, her good humour or her sense of style.
Ina had a spontaneous affinity with young people, who were attracted by her lively imagination sense of romance and youthful spirit. She was very close to her two young godchildren for whom her affection was coloured by a profound, if reserved, spiritual feeling.
She is survived by her brother, Brian, formerly of the Bank of Ireland and former secretary general of the Irish Bankers' Federation, and his wife Maribel, former lecturer in Spanish at UCD. She is missed by a wide circle of friends.