This section pays tribute to Eoin’s extraordinary career as a leading activist for LGBTQ+ people over the past few decades in the words of those who loved, knew, and worked with him.
Read the online RIP.ie condolence book for Eoin. A selection of tributes is included below.
“I will always remember him as someone very special, honest, quiet spoken but steely, determined to keep the focus on the principle of equality, and a gentle persuader, a great colleague.”
Anne Colley
“I had the honour to work and share an office with Eoin when I joined GLEN in 2006, from him I learned so much. He was generous in sharing his experience and wisdom. He championed the value of evidence based research as a tool to bring positive change, he wrote meticulously, he thought and felt deeply. He was quirky and funny. He talked a lot! He was warm and giving and thoughtful. His work on equality had an enormous and lasting impact, his steadfast and diplomatic persuasion as part of the Government’s Colley Group (2006) alone paved the way for access to marriage being opened to same-sex couples. He shared a vision that being LGBT would be unremarkable, that LGBT people could aspire to whatever they chose and were capable of doing. We’re a long way towards that vision, thanks to Eoin. I will be forever grateful for the enormous contribution Eoin has made to my life. Rest in Peace.”
Sandra Irwin-Gowran
“Along with Íde O’Carroll, the book Lesbian & Gay Visions of Ireland was a landmark moment in Irish LGBT+ Studies. His brilliance, empathy, and bold infectious wit are the things I remember best. Eoin’s stalwart support for feminist causes is worth noting here, alongside his important work for LGBT+ and other rights in Ireland. I’m very glad to have spent time with him and Josep in New York, they were the best of good company, wonderful human beings both. Lovely to hear these euologies online today, they capture his essence so well. Eoin will be sorely missed.“
Tina O’Toole & Siobhán O’Dowd
Eoin Collins 