‘Portrait of a Patriot’ published by Castlebar author

RESPECTED TK Whittaker is pictured on a visit to Castlebar Library back in 2009.?Pic: Ken Wright

‘Portrait of a Patriot’ published by Castlebar author


TK Whitaker biography embroiled in Haughey controversy due to footnote error

ACCLAIMED author, Anne Chambers’ new biography, ‘TK Whitaker: Portrait of a Patriot’ may have caused a brief media storm about the late Taoiseach Charles Haughey but the book will be remembered for its many other revelations about the life of the sprightly nonagenarian who helped shape modern Ireland.
Mr Whitaker (97) has a long association with north west Mayo where he bought and renovated an old schoolhouse, in Glencullen, near Bangor Erris in 1972.
In a chapter entitled ‘The Ivory Tower 1969-1976’, there is a  reference to then Finance Minister, Mr Haughey’s unavailability to deliver the Budget speech of 1970 because of a horse-riding injury. The book, however states that ‘Haughey’s injuries turned out to have been the result of a severe beating inflicted by persons unknown in a public house on the morning of budget day’.
Dr Whitaker is quoted as saying that: “His injuries were so severe - an iron bar having been used by his attacker or attackers - that he had been admitted as an emergency case to the Mater Hospital.”
However, the publishers and author subsequently clarified yesterday  that a  quotation attributed to Dr Whitaker was, in fact, ‘a direct quotation from Jack Lynch: A Biography by Professor Dermot Keogh’. The error was caused by a simple mistake in the sequence of footnotes to the particular chapter and will be rectified in future editions.
Earlier, Mr Haughey’s family released a statement dismissing the claims as ‘patently untrue’.
They said: “On the morning in question Mr Haughey was returning to the stables in Abbeville on his horse. He grabbed an overhead drainpipe to dismount from the horse and it reared up and jumped forward when the pipe broke. Mr Haughey fell from the horse and became unconscious.”
A native of County Down, ‘this personal and intimate’ biography reveals for the first time Mr Whitaker’s key role in the quest for peace in Northern Ireland. Voted ‘Irishman of the Century’ in 2002, he is mainly known for his key role as a civil servant, under then Taoiseach SeΡn Lemass, in providing a blueprint for economic regeneration in the 1950s.
A native of Castlebar, Anne  Chambers, who worked with him when he was Governor of the Central Bank in the 1970s, was given exclusive access to his personal papers and correspondence. While introducing the reader to the humour and compassion of this family man, she also uncovers his ‘hugely influential role in the economic, social and cultural evolution of the state’.

Home away from home
SPEAKING to The Mayo News yesterday, Anne Chambers, confirmed his deep love for County Mayo. “North Mayo holds a special place in Ken Whitaker’s heart from when, in 1972, he converted an abandoned schoolhouse into a family holiday home, to the present day. The lure of salmon fishing in the nearby Carrowmore lake and Owenmore river were undoubted attractions to the area. But that the house was located in one of the smaller Gaeltachts was also a statement of his support of the Irish language.
“Totally at home in his ‘home away from home’ Ken’s interest and affection for north Mayo has endured and he is regarded as a much respected local. Indeed his selection to the Senate in 1977 was hailed as an added seat for north Mayo.”

MORE “TK Whitaker: Portrait of a Patriot,”  by Anne Chambers, is published by Doubleday-Transworld and will be available in shops from Thursday, September 25 at an rrp of €24.99.