Sir, - It was with great sadness I read in your edition of April 28th that Tom Barrington had died. It was my great privilege to have known Tom. I would rate him, together with T.K. Whitaker, the late Michael Killeen (IDA) and Brendan O'Regan, as one of the significant people in the founding of modern Ireland.
Tom's contribution was particularly expedient then as indeed it is today in a fast-changing Ireland. One of his key messages was how slowly the "system" and big organisations work in the face of change. He spoke at a seminar we ran here in Clare in 1981. He said: "On the lintels of very many organisations could well be written the motto over the King's Inn: Nolumus Mutari - don't bother us with change." He used to argue that inertia is endemic to many big organisations. The channels through which the lifegiving sap is spread throughout the whole get choked. The organisation goes into decline and drags down with it large numbers of those who work in it.
In the Institute for Public Administration Tom ran many courses for public servants on initiating or adapting to change. The invariable reaction he used to get was: "There is no problem so far as we are concerned, but it's our bosses you should have here." Bring the bosses and the reaction was the same right up to the top.
At a time of extraordinary change in Ireland we have a lot to learn from Tom Barrington's work, writings, ideas. Some big organisations are less relevant today because they failed to adapt. Creative people move away from them and apply their skills in other ways.
We should not forget that public servants like Tom Barrington laid the foundations for major change. They were patriots in the true sense. Developers seem to be driving a lot of the change taking place today. There is still a lot of room for the creative public servant who will think ahead, envision and not just react.
The country owes a lot to Tom Barrington and people like him. In his passing let us not forget his creative and courageous contribution. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis. - Yours, etc.,
Fr Harry Bohan, Shannon, Co Clare.