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THE PRESIDENT AND the Taoiseach have led the tributes for influential economist and civil servant TK Whitaker, who passed away age 100 yesterday.
Whitaker was appointed as secretary general of the Department of Finance in the 1950s at the young age of 39.
He oversaw an economic expansion programme which reversed Ireland’s economic fortunes in the 1960s, increasing employment and spurring on foreign investment.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny today described Whitaker as “both incomparable and irreplaceable”.
“TK Whitaker was in every sense a national treasure,” said Kenny.
“He had an innate understanding of our patrimony – what we inherit from our ancestors – our ingenuity, our elegance, our intellect, our artistry, industry and kindness, and how we could put this to work for our country and our people.
TK Whitaker changed life, lives and generations in Ireland. In the last decades, he more than any other person was responsible for transforming our economy and public life.
“He had a rare vision for our country and its future. He was a gentleman and patriot. Today, as a nation, we mourn the passing of this outstanding man.
We celebrate and give thanks for his exemplary achievements on behalf of Ireland.
Influential
President Michael D Higgins said that Whitaker was “as fine an Irishman as there has been”.
“As an economist and as a public servant, he contributed enormously to the building of an independent Ireland,” said Higgins.
“He was recognised for this in the popular vote of him as the most influential Irish person of the last century.”
As well as his role in the Department of Finance, Whitaker served in various other roles throughout his life. He was a founder and president of the Economic and Social Research Institute from 1974 until 1987.
“He understood Ireland and its people at a profound level, but what is more, he loved Ireland deeply – its people, language and culture,” said Higgins..
May I convey my deepest sympathies to the Whitaker family on behalf of the Irish people at this sad time.
Finance minister Michael Noonan thanked Whitaker for his contribution to Irish life.
“TK Whitaker’s contribution to Irish society is widely known, and the respect with which he is held by politicians of all hues speaks volumes for his legacy as a public servant,” said Noonan.
We remember the man and his family at this time, we also recall the great achievements he has had in public policy and thank him for his contribution to public life in Ireland.
Whitaker last month celebrated his 100 birthday surrounded by his family.
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Good news!! We need any good news we get these days!! It’s all very depressing
@Craic-Hommy: hopefully the government will get its finger out and vaccinate before the vaccines go off. I know for a fact that hospitals and nursing homes here are still trying to source fridges to store them. They have only just started looking for them and there is currently a shortage of pharmaceutical fridges in Europe as they were bought by other countries in advance of the vaccine rollout
@Critical Thinker: Do you have a source for any on that ? You do get that nursing home don’t need to have the type of refrigeration needed to store vaccines, yea ? They are nursing homes, not vaccine storage warehouses. Given some of your posts over the past few days, you saying “I know for a fact” doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence that what you are claiming is actually factual.
@Tommy Roche: exactly once defrosted Pfizer’s vaccine is good at fridge temp for 5 days, Moderna’s for 30 days. Seems strange a nursing home wouldn’t already have pharmaceutical fridges, or at the very least a regular fridge designated for pharmaceuticals
@NotMyIreland: it’s not standard cold storage, the Pfizer one needs to be store at – 70oC. A standard fridge runs between 1 and 5oC, a freezer is – 18oC.
Based on reports, Pfizer have said they will provide equipment to store Vaccines at the right temp. Would assume that’s in Regional hubs rather than every nursing home and hospital. 5 days should be plenty of time to get from Regional hubs into ppls arms locally
@NotMyIreland: seems strange to you. That means theres two possibilities. Every retirement home everywhere in the country is completely wrong. Or you dont know. It only seems strange because you dont know what you’re talking about but unfortunately people these days dont recognise a lack of their own knowledge and come out with statements like “seems strange that…”. Assume that people in a field, a field that you presumably are not in, know better.
@Tommy Roche: I wouldn’t take anyone’s word either, unless they have a PHD in the said subject and we all know that no-one knows much about Covid as it’s a relatively new virus. It will take virologists at least 10 yrs to study rolling data and understand Covid.
Also all data (Quantitive & Qualitative ) is bias anyway simply because individuals reporting symptoms or side effects process these in different ways.
Can anyone tell me when theh should start to see results in Israel as they are way ahead of everyone else? They have nearly a quarter of their population done. Tje way they’re going they’ll be done by early to mid february.
@Vonvonic: in the past week, transmission has gone from 7600 to 3600. Deaths from 25 to 2. Though there’s no way of knowing if it’s the vaccination or any other measures. The UK doesn’t seem to be yielding results
@Vonvonic: that’s the first dose of the vacine, they looks to be in bother with the second dose and may not meet the timeline between doses for people
@Vonvonic: Vaccines are beginning to work in Israel but the second dose is clearly needed.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-data-shows-50-reduction-in-infections-14-days-after-first-vaccine-shot/
@TonyC – *Ventilation Is Key*: you can’t say it beginning to work if they are in lockdown as that’s meant to be reducing spread.
So you’d need data with no Lockdown.
Great stuff! Here’s hoping for a speedy-as-possible rollout. Best of luck to everyone waiting particularly anxiously
The anti everything’s won’t like that one bit
@sean Coady: I am generally pro vaccine but we are told this went through rigorous testing yet they can’t even say if it prevents transmission of the virus.
@john doe: normally the vaccines are tested for safety and efficacy first and not transmission. Whats the point of testing for transmission if lots of ppl have side effects (safety) or vaccine doesn’t work (efficacy). The transmission required the test to be carried out for a longer duration i.e. about 1 yr. Hence the normal vaccine to market timeline is 4-5 yrs not 6-10 months. Here we are seeing a very small timeline hence only safety and efficacy was targeted.
Also its the main reason that none of the vaccines have full approval. Its only emergency use which means some data is still being generated.
@Amod Gokhale: ok thanks for the explanation
Hopefully will help speed up the full removal of restrictions in 2021, we really can’t go into 2022 with restrictions still in place.
@Jason Walsh: all along I’ve been very factual on this whole thing. Avoiding the hyperbole you always get on these boards. Dealing with what we know. But personally I think going by what we know, the vaccines we have available and what is coming down the line. And the new tests in trials that may give accurate results in less than 30 mins. I’d be confident that we’ll be done with any major restrictions by the end of the year. Some counties might require vaccine certs to enter, and perhaps some countries that still have significant levels of infection might limit large gatherings but I’d be surprised if there are any of the current restrictions that we have here still in place. The only way would be if the vaccines fail. In which case we’d be well and truly fooked. But I’m hopeful.
Good news but does anyone know more information about the allergies people are getting from it?
@Full Circle: No.
The people in the White House during the siege who got covid had all had the first round of vaccinations and were wearing masks. According to CNN, they reckon they caught it from their republican colleagues who had also had the first round of vaccines but we’re not wearing masks. The article didn’t clarify, though, if the republican colleagues had also tested positive. Anyway, if the CNN article is true, it shows us that one round only does not prevent transmission even when other measures are in place. Their symptoms were possibly mitigated.
@Critical Thinker: But when did they recieve the first dose. It takes up to 4 weeks to get the full immune response.
@Critical Thinker: not just a case of not wearing masks.
The republicans flat out refused to wear masks!
@Critical Thinker: 1. Some of the Republican senator weren’t rearing masks in the cramped safe room during the Trump cult riot.
“The lockdown room was a safe space for lawmakers under siege. Now some say maskless Republicans made it a coronavirus hot spot”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/capitol-riot-coronavirus-lockdown-room-super-spreader/2021/01/12/db00d85c-54f8-11eb-a931-5b162d0d033d_story.html
2. It takes 4 weeks after the first Pfizer/BioTech vaccine dose to reach maximum immunity, that is 1 week after the 2nd dose (given 3 weeks later). Since the first doses were given on Monday Dec 14, just over 4 weeks ago, there are only a small number of people who have reached optimal immunity so far.
@David Jordan: what the optimal immunity figure yet is very unclear.
Would be good to get data after the second dose and not data from Lockdown reduction as it’s not going show up as much.
Assuming Protection and celebration for a vaccine that’s no real world efficiency seems like it should at least tell us sooner rather than later hopefully the data.
Anyone with prior infection can’t be counted as vaccine immune either.
So the vaccine doesn’t prevent Covid-19 but prevents the person who gets Covid from having symptoms and they are saying they’re not sure if it prevents transmission? Surely this is worse? Someone could have Covid, not know they have it cause they’ve been vaccinated and then spread it? Or am
I picking this up all wrong!!?
@NiamhStilwell: where did you get that from the article? They said it clearly stopped transmission in animals. They expect the same in humans.
Data needed on everything still.
Should remember there’s no real world efficiency data yet and the % protected is not known .
Seems like many people might be over optimistic in what the vaccine can or can’t do but that’s what continued enforced Lockdowns do to society.
Efficacy: The benefit that a vaccine provides compared to a placebo, as measured in a clinical trial. To test a coronavirus vaccine, for instance, researchers compare how many people in the vaccinated and placebo groups get Covid-19. Effectiveness, by contrast, is the benefit that a vaccine or a drug provides out in the real world. A vaccine’s effectiveness may turn out to be lower or higher than its efficacy
@Rory Mac Daibhéid: I think guys like you want this to continue. The vaccine is fine. Relax.
@Eugene Norman: no I would rather we stopped focusing on covid in the summer. Plus I’m relaxed.
You seem to have created a narrative about me which is incorrect.
The vaccine is fine , and that’s probably the efficiency we’ll get .
It’s fine, similar to flu vaccine I’d am assuming but as this is new technology who knows it could be as high as the trail efficacy.
I think it wrong message to deliver that this vaccine Protects you.
It potentially might Protect the majority of people but the majority of people don’t get severe covid.
So we are back to the same problem, Protecting the most vunerable.
Which is not been done so far successfully.
@David Jordan: do you know if the republicans who were there also tested positive? I don’t have access to that wapo article and it didn’t specify on CNN. I would be interested to find out if symptoms were mitigated. Though I imagine it would be very hard to tell from a small number of people as the virus affects everyone very differently
What is the point of this vaccine if not to prevent transmission?
I am pro vaccine and have had many, however my confidence in this one is affected by them not knowing what it does, especially after all the testing that we are told has been done!
@john doe: the point is purely to stop severe covid developing.
The immune system recognises the virus and does it’s function and doesn’t go into overdrive.
If it doesn’t stop transmission but stops illness it’s doesn’t matter much after all 97% of cases don’t need hospitalistions or ICU or worse so if 20% of the most vunerable are protected the rest of the population would not be experiencing much illness then.
One of the problems with this and all Viruses is that it looks it will continue to mutate and might be around like a yearly flu type illness.
Nobody can predict or know best , guesswork mainly.
It’s important to remember everyone should optimise their Immune System if possible and that message doesn’t get much attention in the agenda been pushed.
@john doe: they are just being cautious. By the way even if it reduced severity only we could still open up most, or all, of society.
At what point do they put the chip in? Is it the lorry drivers that do it?
A long road ahead…think 2024
@WreckDefier: a short road. Think 2021
What else would he say??!!
Well the vaccine is supposed to stop us catching it Right?
So if you haven’t caught it, how can you pass it on?
have your say