Dr TK Whitaker dies aged 100: What chance another Ken Whitaker?

ANY appraisal of the life, times, work, and achievements of Dr TK Whitaker could just as easily be judged as an appraisal of the life, times, and development of this Republic and, to a lesser degree, modern democracies everywhere. 

Dr Whitaker, who has died a month after he celebrated his 100th birthday, is revered as the architect of modern Ireland and was selected through a public poll, in 2001, as the Irish person of the last century.

That he, a civil servant, won that accolade, despite the claims of revolutionary leaders and those who established our parliamentary system, recognises how his 1958 Economic Development began the process that changed this country from what it was — something like Enver Hoxha’s Albania; almost as poor, but greener, with more rain, hurling, autocratic religious leaders, and pitiless emigration — to something that can be recognised as the catalyst for today’s Ireland. That vote, which ignored those celebrated with such fervour in the year just passed, suggests we are not as convinced by the fantasies of revolution as we pretend.