Memoriam: Thomas Kenneth Whitaker

Abstract

Thomas Kenneth (T.K.) Whitaker is generally regarded as the greatest Irish public servant of the twentieth century. A graduate of London University by external study, he was a career civil servant from 1934 to 1969. Appointed to the position of Secretary of the Department of Finance in 1956, Whitaker is best known for leading the team of economists in the Department who prepared the ground-breaking study Economic Development which set out to explore the factors behind Ireland’s economic decline in the post war period. Early versions of some of the ideas in that study were presented by him at the Society and the study was also influenced by academic economists and other public servants who were actively involved in meetings of the Society during the 1950s. The study paved the way for direct political engagement with a major and highly successful transformation of the Irish economy, moving steadily over time from a policy of protectionism and self-sufficiency towards competition and an increasingly outward export focus, centred on integration into the European & global economies and on the development of exporting industries.