Maurice Hayes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Senator | |
| In office 17 September 1997 – 13 September 2007 | |
| Constituency | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1927-07-08)8 July 1927 Killough,County Down,Northern Ireland |
| Died | 23 December 2017(2017-12-23) (aged 90) Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse | Johanna Hayes |
| Children | 5 |
| Education | St Patrick's Grammar School |
| Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast |
| Profession | |
Maurice Hayes (8 July 1927 – 23 December 2017) was anIrish public servant and, late in life, an independent member of the 21st and 22ndSeanads.[1] Hayes wasnominated by the Taoiseach,Bertie Ahern, in 1997 and re-nominated in 2002. He also served, at the Taoiseach's request, as Chairman of the National Forum on Europe in the Republic of Ireland.
Hayes was voted European Person of the Year in 2003.[1]
Hayes was born inKillough[2]County Down,Northern Ireland, in 1927.[3] He completed a PhD in English at theQueen's University Belfast, then taught atSt Patrick's Grammar School inDownpatrick.[4] He left teaching to become town clerk of Downpatrick the then administrative centre of County Down, succeeding his father in the role.[5]
In the troubled politics ofNorthern Ireland, where political parties tend to be sharply split along pseudo-ethno-nationalistic lines, Hayes was viewed as an even-handed observer.[6] He wrote or contributed to major policy reports, such as thePatten Commission dealing with reforms to theRoyal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the police force later renamed thePolice Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).[7]
Hayes also wrote numerous pieces of journalism, notably, and regularly, for theIrish Independent.[7] He was the author of three books of memoirs,Sweet Killough: Let Go Your Anchor;[2]Black Puddings with Slim: A Downpatrick Boyhood;[8] andMinority Verdict: Experiences Of A Catholic Civil Servant,[9] as well as author or editor of works on conflict research, community relations and Irish writing.[5]
Hayes was a formerNorthern Ireland Ombudsman and Boundary Commissioner, and was Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services.[4] He was a former chairman of the Community Relations Council and the Acute Hospitals Review Group.[7]
He was chairman ofThe Ireland Funds in the Republic of Ireland, a branch of a major charitable group with worldwide contributors, which has made significant grants to groups dealing with social and business problems.[10]
Hayes was also a long-serving non-executive director of Independent News & Media Plc, retiring in 2009 towards the culmination of a long running battle for control of the group between the O'Reilly family and Denis O'Brien led to a re-structuring of the Board.[10]
Hayes wasnominated by the Taoiseach,Bertie Ahern, in 1997 and re-nominated in 2002.[4]
He also served, at the Taoiseach's request, as Chairman of the National Forum on Europe in the Republic of Ireland.[11] The approach he devised to educate the population on the arguments over European issues was so successful that many other European countries adopted similar methods.[10]
In later life, Hayes was a member of theRoyal Irish Academy and the Research Ethical Committee ofQueen's University Belfast medical school, and a governor of theLinenhall Library, Belfast.[10][12][6] He was a long-serving member of the Scholarship Board of theO'Reilly Foundation.[3] He was also a board member atRegtel.[5]
Hayes was asked byMary Harney, when she was the Minister for Health in the Republic of Ireland, and theHSE to conduct a review into a scandal in the radiology department atTallaght Hospital on the outskirts of Dublin.[11]
Hayes was a countyhurler, who in the mid-1950s became County Secretary of the DownGaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and set a ten-year plan forthe county football team to become the first fromNorthern Ireland to win anAll-Ireland football final.[11] Within five years, Down had won their first All-Ireland trophy in 1960.[1] They followed it with further successes in 1961, 1968, 1991 and 1994.[11] No other Northern team won an All-Ireland title untilDerry won the football title in 1993.[6]
Hayes died inDowne Hospital after a long illness on 23 December 2017 at the age of 90.[3][5]
Hayes was voted European Person of the Year in 2003.[1]
He also received honorary doctorates from his alma mater; from bothQueen's University Belfast andUniversity of Ulster in the UK, as well asTrinity College, University of Dublin andNational University of Ireland in the Republic of Ireland.[1][7]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
