The Mayo News

Wit, wisdom and knowledge: Whitaker at 92


Daniel Carey

THE current recession shouldn’t blind us to the many ‘significant advances’ that have taken place in Ireland over the last century, TK Whitaker told an audience at Mayo County Library in Castlebar on Thursday evening last.
The former economist and public servant, voted ‘The Irishman of the 20th century’ in an RTÉ programme in 2001, kept the large crowd entertained with his insight and wit. Less than a month short of his 93rd birthday, he shared anecdotes involving a number of public figures and took questions on a range of subjects.
Born in 1916 in Rostrevor, Co Down, Whitaker was educated by the Christian Brothers in Drogheda, Co Louth. Noting that his mother had lived to a ripe old age, he joked: “When people ask me what the secret of longevity is, I say: you have to choose your mother very carefully!” Joining the Department of Finance as a clerical officer, he was appointed Secretary to the department in 1956, aged just 39. The publication two years’ later of his ‘Economic Development’ is regarded as a landmark in Irish history.
He made his mark in other fields too, accompanying Sean Lemass on his historic visit to Northern Ireland in 1965 and advising Jack Lynch against sending troops over the border in 1969. He later served as Governor of the Central Bank, Chancellor of the National University of Ireland and President of the Royal Irish Academy, and was a member of Seanad Éireann.
A believer in free trade over protectionism, he advocated ‘voluntary bilingualism’ rather than the replacement of English by Irish, and he supported the principle of consent as a necessary precursor to Irish reunification.
His interest in salmon fishing has made him a regular visitor to Mayo, and he received a warm reception from those in attendance, one of whom said he hoped Whitaker would be ‘here for your 100th’.
The nonagenarian spoke warmly about Jack Lynch, ‘a very likeable man’, whose sense of humour he illustrated with a couple of stories. On one occasion, Whitaker accompanied Lynch to Stormont, where their limousine had snowballs thrown at it. Stepping out into the cool Belfast air, they could hear Ian Paisley bellowing: “No Pope here!” Quick as a flash, Lynch turned to Whitaker and said in a soft Cork voice: “Which one of us does he think is the Pope?”
Asked about the prospect of International Monetary Fund intervention in Ireland, Whitaker said the IMF is ‘unjustly being made into the bogeyman’ but said he ‘wouldn’t like to dwell’ on what it might do if called in. He recalled one visit by an IMF representative from England whose grim picture of the Irish economy led the then Finance Minister, Charles Haughey, to flounce out of the room – “the only time in the history of the IMF,” Whitaker said with a smile, “that a minister treated them like that.” Whitaker did his best to smooth the situation with the English official, telling him that Haughey had ‘fraught nerves’, and every year since, they have exchanged Christmas cards.
Whitaker also discussed the Irish language (answering two questions as Gaeilge), meeting French President Charles De Gaulle, Ireland’s membership of the euro, the peace process, the beginning of The Troubles in 1969 (when he ‘weighed in on the side of caution’ after the prospect of sending troops into Northern Ireland was mooted) and the need for competitiveness in the Irish economy.
The economist noted that over the last century, the country has made huge strides – life expectancy, educational opportunities and the standard of living had all changed for the better during his lifetime. Perhaps he was thinking of the national fortitude that underpinned these advances when he proclaimed “There is hope that Ireland will re-emerge from the recession before too long.”
One member of the audience, agog at Whitaker’s breadth of knowledge and wisdom, commented on his way out: “I reckon they should make him Taoiseach.”

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