Politicians tend to dominate a country's history, but - with notable exceptions - the true creators of any state are senior civil servants. Tim O'Driscoll, former director general of Bord Failte and first chairman of Coras Trachtala, served in five government departments and lived the life of a career civil servant. Aware of the role of the Irish civil service, he says of his own: "Of course I was more involved in the development, rather than in the creation of, the State."

Tonight he will attend a party given in honour of his 90th birthday by Bord Failte, which he headed for 15 years. O'Driscoll's contribution to the Irish tourism industry has been immense. He has always believed in tourism as a positive force - and indeed once compared the tourist of today with the pilgrim of antiquity - but is equally aware of the negative. "It has become associated with the destruction of the environment. People find it difficult to accept tourism. But it's one of the few industries that makes them happy, yet is often dismissed as a form of interference. I don't see why. It is fine to say `travel' but not to say `tourism'. It should be possible to engage in tourism and tourism development - in fact tourism should improve the environment, if proper conditions are observed: and these proper conditions are now known."

In Ireland, heritage has become central to tourism. Many view the exploitation of monuments as a danger, particularly in a preservation context which includes additional sources of contention - interpretative centres. O'Driscoll thinks otherwise. "Very good developmental tourism in fact has helped resurrect an interest in heritage," he says. "And from heritage came the interpretative centres. They came in after my time but I do think they are good things." Pointing to the growth of community interest in heritage, he says: "Making people aware of their own culture can only be a good thing."

A former president of An Taisce, a position he held from 1969 until 1975, O'Driscoll also chaired the trust for three years and is an honorary life member. During his time as director general of Bord Failte, he was responsible for the impetus to build a generation of large hotels in Ireland, particularly in Dublin. He also set up various festivals, including the Tidy Towns competition which, he says, "has had a wonderful effect on communities around Ireland".

Another of the many achievements of Bord Failte (a body which has tended to be more valued abroad than at home) is its publication Ireland of the Welcomes. "I think it's an excellent magazine. I always supported it and was determined for us (Bord Failte) to keep it. It has always maintained the highest standards but has a higher profile outside of Ireland." Born in Cork in 1908, he was the eldest of four children born to a leather merchant. They grew up in Sundays Well, a place he says has not changed much - "because it's built on the Lee, there is no room for expansion". Recalling the destruction he witnessed by the Black and Tans, he says "they burnt out Patrick Street and the City Hall". As well as such destruction, there was the interference in daily life: "There were all sorts of regulations to be observed such as listing the official inhabitants of a house. So that if the household were raided during the night, everyone in the house could be accounted for."

Of course, not everyone abided by these lists and O'Driscoll's family had its own unofficial lodger. "Our `guest' was known as the One Eyed Gunner from Blarney." He recalls the man by name and adds "there's no problem with libel, he's well dead". The young O'Driscoll had great fun watching the One Eyed Gunner skulking about the place. "He stayed for about two weeks. He was very quiet." Did he have a gun? O'Driscoll laughs at the question and says: "Oh yes, he did," and, peeringly knowingly, adds "I can see you are intrigued by this fellow."

Although he left Cork in 1928, O'Driscoll remains a Corkman, "I was delighted to be named West Cork Man of the Year," he adds. His school days at Presentation College were happy. Ask him what subject he enjoyed most and the reply is emphatic: "rugby". He then explains that this was the era of the Ban and at first the school was committed to hurling which he played. "But one of the Brothers then reintroduced the idea of playing rugby - it had gone out with the Ban: I started to play when I was about 17, and began at out half, then moved to wing forward and later to front row, but I mostly played wing forward." He later played at interprovincial level for Leinster and captained Lansdowne, having previously skippered Trinity XV. His 90th birthday was last week - "I'm still recovering from the party. The house is full of chocolates. Do you like chocolate? Wonderful. Have them" - and is currently using a walking stick as a result of an accident which fractured a bone in his back. "It's mending very slowly. I was cutting the grass and I slipped," he says, adding: "But it has left me with a great story. I can say I was telling a friend about it and he said `at your age you should be feeding the grass rather than cutting it'. Of course, no one would say such a thing to you, it's too cruel. But it's a good story, isn't it?" His humour is quick and very black. Returning to the subject of his schooldays he says a favourite pastime during both the War of Independence and the Civil War was visiting the local morgue "to see who had been killed during the night". The most famous corpse he saw was that of Michael Collins. "My father had been a great admirer of his," he says.

O'Driscoll claims never to have had political affiliations; "it made it so much easier for me to serve various administrations without belonging to any particular party". His family was largely apolitical, yet his youngest daughter, Liz McManus, is a TD, "and do you know which party she belongs to?" It is not clear if he is teasing her party, Democratic Left, or testing the extent of my political acumen.

Having worked with many of the major figures in 20th-century Irish history, who does he most admire? "Sean Lemass - without a doubt. He was extraordinary. As a minister he was remarkably quick and always ready to take responsibility, always prepared to adapt his policies if they weren't going well. I liked him a lot. He was a great reader though he hadn't gone to university."

O'Driscoll refers to Lemass's remarkable ability to assimilate information. On a more personal level, he says: "I was with him one time in Canada, it was during my period as chairman of Coras Trachtala, and we were staying overnight in Ottawa. Lemass was called by the former High Commissioner to Ireland, a man called Kearney, who invited him to play poker. Poker was Lemass's favourite game. The next morning he presented me with $100, and said `put it in the pool' - it was to pay for our drinks."

John Horgan's biography of Lemass, The Enigmatic Patriot (1997), is lying on a window sill beside the phone. A guest has been reading it. O'Driscoll praises the book and adds: "John Horgan - he used to be my son-in-law. It is a fine book and while I always felt I knew Lemass well, that book really does present him as a far more complex man than I had suspected." According to O'Driscoll, much of Lemass's success was due to the support and superb briefings he received from John Leydon, "an outstanding department head of Industry and Commerce as well as, during the war, Supplies".

Impressed by de Valera's political stature, if wary of describing himself as an admirer - "I couldn't say I was that. You must remember I was a diplomat" - O'Driscoll remembers calling on the then President on his way back from a retirement dinner he had attended in Belfast. "It was when I was leaving Bord Failte in 1971 and after this function, I decided to make my formal farewells. I remember the way de Valera looked at me, saying: `O'Driscoll, yes, you were a Lemass man'. I didn't know him well. He was an aloof character." He pauses and adds: "De Valera had a strange personality. Very different from the Irish. He was aloof and his appearance added to that. He was tall and determinedly intellectual. Quite a cold man, I would think. But as I say, I didn't really know him and he certainly was not particularly popular. Lemass was. If I had to name a single quality Sean had, it was decisiveness."

Of a later major figure in Irish politics, Charles Haughey, O'Driscoll says, "He's a very sociable guy" - the word "guy" sounds quite natural to O'Driscoll, whose language is invariably the relaxed side of formal. He is, however, precise. "Haughey - yes, he is sociable and popular. He knows how to enjoy himself." O'Driscoll remembers one clash with Haughey: "When I was at Bord Failte, Haughey came to me with a proposal. He was supporting a group of Americans who wanted to build a hotel at Dublin Airport. I had to refuse him because we were already committed to Hilton. Later that night I saw him at a drinks party and I went over to him and said something like, `No hard feelings'. Haughey's reply was characteristically spirited: `I won't forget it, you bastard'. "

He laughs at the memory. "There was another time I remember. I gave him lunch, along with the then Minister for Education [Donogh] O'Malley and the architect Michael Scott. We floated the idea of ROSC and at the end of it Haughey, then Minister for Finance, said he would support us but we should get someone else to supply the money." O'Driscoll secured the financial backing of the US Shipping Lines, headed by John Moore, later the US ambassador to Ireland.

O'Driscoll's public service career began when he entered the Civil Service as an executive officer in the Department of Agriculture in 1928. It was the beginning of a 20-year term during which he would also serve in the departments of Finance, Industry and Commerce, Defence and the then department of External Affairs. However, within a few years of joining he realised his chances of promotion might be curtailed without a degree, so he arrived at Trinity College, intent on securing an honours degree in order to qualify for the administrative grade. However, he was promoted to the grade by a selection board and settled for a pass BA. "I didn't mind. It gave me more time to play rugby. I was at Trinity for five years and I got my `terms' by examination rather than by attending lectures."

How important was college to him? "Very. I loved it. I had a wonderful time there, the best time perhaps?" Sport was another love and after his rugby days were over, he played squash and was a national racquets champion and international.

O'Driscoll often stresses that he lives in the present. Nostalgia seldom features in his comments but he does admit to being "extremely sentimental". Above all, though, he enjoys life. "I've had a great time," he announces, adding, "I've always been an optimist."

For a man who frequently responds to questions with an amused, "Oh, but that was a long time ago, and a memory gets old as well," he appears to have forgotten very little. Judging by his CV, a lengthy list of public appointments and international decorations from Spain, Italy, Greece and Denmark as well as an honorary doctorate of laws awarded by Trinity in 1963 in recognition of his public service, he was also incredibly busy. "Well, I was, but I had a great time. I always liked whatever I happened to be doing. It's a great advantage. I was lucky." As assistant principal of the Aviation Division of the Department of Industry and Commerce between 1936 and 1940, and again later in 1945 after peace was declared, he worked with Lemass, then Minister for Industry and Commerce, in the development of Irish civil aviation. O'Driscoll was also involved in the building of Shannon and Dublin airports and the organisation of various State services at each. For two years from 1946 he was the Irish representative on the Permanent Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal and in 1948 was appointed Irish Permanent Representative to the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation in Paris, where he lived until 1950. By then he was the father of three daughters, having married Elizabeth McKay from Co Antrim in 1941. The O'Driscolls enjoyed living abroad. "I loved living in Montreal, Paris was wonderful as well."

On their return to Ireland from France in 1950, he became assistant secretary of the Department of External Affairs. The following year, when Coras Trachtala was established with the aim of developing Ireland's exports to dollar areas, he was appointed its first chairman. "I was responsible for the setting up of the Irish exports centres in London, New York and Montreal."

In June 1955, after five intense years working with CTT, he was appointed Ireland's Ambassador to the Netherlands, but resigned some months later to become director general of Bord Failte. That job brought with it more travel and he addressed international travel conferences all over the world. On retiring from Bord Failte in 1971, he became executive director of the European Travel Commission, a position he held until 1986.

FOR almost 30 years, O'Driscoll and his wife have lived in Rathfarnham, Dublin, in a modernised gate lodge. Before that they lived in a house in Killiney: referring to the current, obscenely high house prices, he says: "To give you an example - that house we used to have, I recently spoke to the man who bought it. Did you know he had to pay more to have the roof re-done than we had paid for the entire house?"

Beyond the high, stone walls which shield the lodge from the outside world, the traffic rages - or, rather, stagnates. "It seems you can spend forever in a car now," he reflects. "But it is quiet here. I think Rathfarnham is one of the last outposts. My daughter Sara lives in the big house up the drive." It was her idea that her parents convert the former carriage house. Running the length of the long wall of the living room is a dramatic curtain. "I brought that material back from India, it's rather wonderful, isn't it?"

Having reached such a great age amuses him almost as much as it impresses me and he points out: "When I hear people referring to being 60, I stop and think `I was 30 before that person was even born'. It certainly is a long time to be around." Impatient with his stick, he apologises for walking so slowly. "But mind you, aside from my accident, I also have arthritis - it's one of the things that happens to you as you get older. So's that", and he points to the invalid lift attached to the stairs. "Never mind," he says cheerfully and mentions some of the books he has been reading.

Did he ever suffer from stress? "Stress. I've read about it and all the reasons for it, its possible cures and so on. But I must say, it has passed me by."