Seán Hales

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Hiberno-English Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". Seán Hales (30 March 1880 – 7 December 1922) was an Irish political activist and member of Dáil Éireann from May 1921 to December 1922.[1]

Biography

Born John Hales in Ballinadee, Bandon, County Cork, one of nine children of Robert Hales, a farmer, and Margaret (Template:Nee Fitzgerald) Hales.[2] He and his brothers (Tom, William, and Bob) were involved in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence.[3]

At the 1921 elections Hales was elected to the Second Dáil as a Sinn Féin member for the Cork Mid, North, South, South East and West constituency.[4]

At the 1922 general election, he was elected to the Third Dáil as a pro-Treaty Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the same constituency. He received 4,374 first-preference votes (7.9%).[5] Shortly afterwards, the Irish Civil War broke out between the pro-Treaty faction, who were in favour of setting up the Irish Free State and the anti-Treaty faction, who would not accept the abolition of the Irish Republic.[6]

File:Sean Hales.jpg
Hales (left, in uniform) taken on 7 December 1922, the date of his assassination

On 7 December 1922, Hales was killed by anti-Treaty IRA men as he left the Dáil. Another TD, Pádraic Ó Máille, was also shot and badly wounded in the incident. His killing was in reprisal for the Free State's execution of anti-treaty prisoners. In revenge for Hales' killing, four republican leaders (Joe McKelvey, Rory O'Connor, Liam Mellows and Richard Barrett) were executed the following day, 8 December 1922.[7][8]

According to information passed on to playwright Ulick O'Connor, an anti-Treaty IRA volunteer named Owen Donnelly of Glasnevin was responsible for the killing of Hales. Seán Caffrey, an anti-treaty intelligence officer, told O'Connor that Donnelly had not been ordered to shoot Hales specifically but was following the general order issued by Liam Lynch to shoot TDs or senators if they could.[9]

A commemorative statue of Hales was unveiled at Bank Place in Bandon, in 1930.[10]

References

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  3. The IRA & its Enemies, Hart, Oxford University Press, 1998; Template:ISBN
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  7. Pat McCarthy, The Irish Revolution, 1912-23, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2015, ISBN 978-1-84682-410-4, pg. 115
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Template:Cork Mid, North, South, South East and West (Dáil constituency)/TDs Template:IRA Template:Authority control