T. K. Whitaker

{{short description|Irish economist, civil servant and politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = T. K. Whitaker

| image = T._K._Whitaker.jpg

| office = Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland

| taoiseach = {{ubl|Jack Lynch|Liam Cosgrave}}

| term_start = 1 May 1969

| term_end = 8 September 1976

| predecessor = Maurice Moynihan

| successor = Charles Henry Murray

| office1 = Senator

| term_start1 = 27 October 1977

| term_end1 = 13 May 1982

| constituency1 = Nominated by the Taoiseach

| birth_name = Thomas Kenneth Whitaker

| birth_date = {{birth date|1916|12|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = Rostrevor, County Down, Ireland

| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|1|9|1916|12|8|df=yes}}

| death_place = Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland

| resting_place = Shanganagh Cemetery, Shankill, Dublin, Ireland

| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Nora Fogarty|1941|1994|end=her death}}|{{marriage|Mary Moore|2005|2008|end=her death}}}}

| children = 6

| alma_mater = University of London (BA), (MSc)

}}

Thomas Kenneth Whitaker (8 December 1916 – 9 January 2017) was an Irish economist, politician, diplomat and civil servant who served as Secretary (administrative head) of Ireland's Department of Finance from 1956 to 1969, as Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland from 1969 to 1976 and as a Senator from 1977 to 1982, after being nominated by the Taoiseach. He is considered one of the most influential civil servants in the history of the Irish State, with his economic policies greatly influencing the development of modern Ireland.{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/tk-whitaker-obituary-1.2930820 | title=TK Whitaker obituary | newspaper=The Irish Times }}

Early life and education

Whitaker was born in Rostrevor, a small town in the south of County Down, to Roman Catholic parents on 8 December 1916, and was reared in Drogheda, County Louth, in modest circumstances. Neither of his parents were from Ulster. His mother, Jane O'Connor, came from Ballyguirey East, Labasheeda, County Clare.{{Cite book|last=McCormack|first=W. J.|author2=Gillan, Patrick|title=The Blackwell companion to modern Irish culture|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|year=2001|location=Oxford|page=606|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANgdh-3cMowC&pg=PA606|isbn=978-0-631-22817-2}} His father, Edward Whitaker, hailed from County Westmeath and was assistant manager of a linen mill.{{Cite book|last=Ó Muircheartaigh|first=Fionán|author2=Whitaker, T.K.|title=Ireland in the coming times: essays to celebrate T.K. Whitaker's 80 years|publisher=Institute of Public Administration|year=1997|location=Dublin|page=[https://archive.org/details/irelandincomingt00omui/page/1 1]|url=https://archive.org/details/irelandincomingt00omui|url-access=registration|isbn=978-1-872002-93-4}} He received his primary and secondary education at the local CBS in Drogheda.{{Cite book|last=Greene|first=Ted|author2=Whitaker, T.K.|title=TK Whitaker: His Life and Times|publisher=Ted Greene|year=2019|location=Drogheda|page=49|isbn=978-0-9554518-2-9}} He studied mathematics, Celtic studies and Latin by correspondence course at University of London, and was awarded external degrees in economics: a bachelor's degree in 1941 and a master's degree in 1952.{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/tk-whitaker-obituary-1.2930820 | title=TK Whitaker obituary | newspaper=The Irish Times }}

Career

In 1956, Whitaker was appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance, at the age of thirty-nine. His appointment took place at a time when Ireland's economy was in deep depression. Economic growth was non-existent, inflation apparently insoluble, unemployment rife, living standards low and emigration at a figure not far below the birth rate. Whitaker believed that free trade, with increased competition and the end of protectionism, would become inevitable and that jobs would have to be created by a shift from agriculture to industry and services. He formed a team of officials within the department which produced a detailed study of the economy, culminating in a plan recommending policies for improvement. The plan was accepted by the government and was transformed into a White Paper which became known as the First Programme for Economic Expansion, and quite unusually this was published with his name attached in November 1958. The programme which became known as the "Grey Book" who many argue brought the stimulus of foreign investment into the Irish economy. However other reforms such as the Department of Industry and Commerce's export profits tax relief introduced in 1956, were opposed by Whitaker.{{Cite journal |last1=Barry |first1=Frank |last2=Daly |first2=Mary |title=Mr. Whitaker and Industry: Setting the Record Straight |url=http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/58446/03%20Barry%20article_ESRI%20Vol%2042-2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |journal=Economic & Social Review |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=159–68}}

Before devoting himself to poetry, Thomas Kinsella was Whitaker's private secretary.{{Cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/kinsellas-wife-reveals-her-hurt-at-the-poets-words-of-love-26522803.html|title=Kinsella's wife reveals her hurt at the poet's words of love|newspaper=Independent.ie|access-date=10 January 2017}} TK Whitaker opposed the low tax strategy.

In 1977, Taoiseach Jack Lynch nominated Whitaker as a member of the 14th Seanad. He served as a Senator from 1977 to 1981, where he sat as an independent member.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Thomas-K-Whitaker.S.1980-06-20/|title=Thomas Whitaker|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=23 October 2015}}

In 1981, he was nominated to the 15th Seanad by Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, where he served until 1982. FitzGerald also appointed him to chair a Committee of Inquiry into the Irish penal system, and he chaired a Parole Board or Sentence Review Group for several years.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

Whitaker also served as Chancellor of the National University of Ireland from 1976 to 1996. He was also President of the Royal Irish Academy and as such, a member of the Board of Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland, from 1985 to 1987. He had had a very strong love for the Irish language throughout his career and the collection of Irish poetry, An Duanaire: Poems of the Dispossessed 1600–1900, edited by Seán Ó Tuama and Thomas Kinsella was dedicated to Whitaker.{{Cite news|url=http://www.beo.ie/alt-tk-whitaker.aspx|title=TK Whitaker|last=Nic Giolla Phádraig|first=Bernardine|date=March 2004|newspaper=Beo!|language=Irish|access-date=11 January 2017}} From 1995 to 1996 he chaired the [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721123405/http://www.constitution.ie/constitutional-reviews/crg.asp Constitution Review Group], an independent expert group established by the government, which published its report in July 1996.{{Cite book|last=Constitution Review Group|year=1996|title=Report of the Constitution Review Group|publisher=Stationery Office|location=Dublin|isbn=0-7076-2440-1}}

Awards and recognition

Whitaker received many national and international honours and tributes for his achievements during his lifetime, most notably the conferral of "Irishman of the 20th Century" in 2001{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/president-pays-tribute-most-influential-9594303|title=President pays tribute to 'inspiring' TK Whitaker who dies aged 100|last=O'Shea|first=Cormac|date=10 January 2017|newspaper=irishmirror|access-date=10 January 2017}} and Greatest Living Irish Person in 2002.{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/whitaker-named-ireland-s-greatest-living-person-1.1126779|title=Whitaker named Ireland's greatest living person|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en-US|access-date=10 January 2017}} In November 2014, the Institute of Banking conferred an Honorary Fellowship on Whitaker and created an annual T.K. Whitaker Scholarship in his name.{{Cite web|url=http://www.iob.ie/?q=Dr.T.K.Whitaker|title=The Institute of Banking honours Dr T.K. Whitaker|website=iob.ie|access-date=10 January 2017}} In April 2015, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award by University College Dublin's Economics Society for his outstanding contribution to Ireland's economic policy.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

In November 2016, to mark his centenary year, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council acknowledged Whitaker's "outstanding and progressive contribution to Irish public service and to society". The Cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Cormac Devlin, presented a special award to Whitaker which was accepted by Ken Whitaker on behalf of his father.{{Cite press release|title=Taoiseach Launches New TV Documentary Series|date=11 June 2003|publisher=ESB|url=http://www.esb.ie/main/news_events/press_release209.jsp|access-date=11 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030817080126/http://www.esb.ie/main/news_events/press_release209.jsp|archive-date=17 August 2003}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.dlrcoco.ie/en/news/general-news-press-releases/d%C3%BAn-laoghaire-rathdown-county-council-acknowledges-tk-whitaker%E2%80%99s|title=Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council acknowledges T.K. Whitaker's enormous contribution to Ireland|date=15 November 2016|publisher=Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council|access-date=11 January 2017}}

Whitaker Square

Whitaker Square in the Grand Canal Dock area of Dublin 2 is named in his honour. The offices of the Economic and Social Research Institute are located on the square.

Personal life

Whitaker married Nora Fogarty in 1941; they had six children. After his wife's death in 1994,{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/tk-whitaker-obituary-1.2930820|title=TK Whitaker obituary|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=10 January 2017}} he remarried, to Mary Moore in 2005. The couple were invited to Áras an Uachtaráin in 2006 for his 90th birthday by the President of Ireland.{{Cite press release|title=President marks 90th birthday of Dr T K Whitaker|publisher=Áras an Uachtaráin|url=http://www.president.ie/index.php?section=2&newsletter=18&sub=9&lang=eng|access-date=11 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605031404/http://www.president.ie/index.php?section=2&newsletter=18&sub=9&lang=eng|archive-date=5 June 2011}} Mary Moore Whitaker died in 2008. T.K. Whitaker turned 100 in December 2016 and died a month later on 9 January 2017, having survived both of his wives.{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/leaders-pay-tribute-to-tk-whitaker-on-100th-birthday-1.2896651|title=Leaders pay tribute to TK Whitaker on 100th birthday|newspaper=The Irish Times|first=Stephen|last=Collins|date=8 December 2016|access-date=11 December 2016}}

Whitaker and his family spoke Irish at home. The family spent a good deal of time in the North Mayo Gaeltacht after buying and renovating a former schoolhouse in Glencullen Lower, near Bangor Erris, in 1972.Anne Chambers, T.K. Whitaker: Portrait of a Patriot (Transworld Publishers, 2015), p. 335 Whitaker was also a keen salmon angler in the nearby Carrowmore Lake and Owenmore.{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/tk-whitaker-obituary-1.2930820 | title=TK Whitaker obituary | newspaper=The Irish Times }}{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/ken-made-his-work-accessible-to-us-all-35368469.html | title=Ken made his work accessible to us all }}

References

{{cite book|url=http://opac.oireachtas.ie/AWData/Library3/Library2/DL006590.pdf|title=Programme for economic expansion|volume=Pr. 4796|series=Official publications|author1=Department of Finance|author2=Department of Industry and Commerce|location=Dublin |publisher=Stationery Office|date=11 November 1958}}
[http://www.oreillyfoundation.ie/index.php?c_id=7 Scholarship Board, photo and short profiles], oreillyfoundation.ie; accessed 11 January 2017.
{{YouTube|VNhsGA2h2JM|An interview with T.K.Whitaker}}, TG4, 2006

=Footnotes=

External links

[http://www.graceomalley.com/T.K.+Whitaker+Portrait+of+a+Patriot.php T.K. Whitaker: Portrait of a Patriot (biography by Anne Chambers)], graceomalley.com; accessed 11 January 2017.

{{s-ttl|title = Chancellor of the National University of Ireland

|years = 1975–1996}}

Category:1916 births

Category:2017 deaths

Category:Alumni of the University of London

Category:20th-century Irish economists

Category:Irish civil servants

Category:People from Rostrevor

Category:O'Reilly Foundation

Category:Members of the 14th Seanad

Category:Members of the 15th Seanad

Category:Presidential appointees to the Council of State (Ireland)