Maurice Hayes

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Maurice Hayes (born 8 July 1927) is an Irish politician and was an independent member of the 21st and 22nd Seanads, nominated as a senator by the Taoiseach.

1 Life
2 Memberships
3 Sport

Life

Maurice Hayes was born in County Down in Northern Ireland.

After completing a PhD in English, he taught at St Patrick's Grammar School in Downpatrick. He left teaching to move into civic politics as Town Clerk of Downpatrick the administrative centre of the county.

In the troubled politics of Northern Ireland, where political parties tend to be sharply split along religious lines, Hayes has been viewed as an even-handed observer, who has written or contributed to major policy reports, such as one dealing with reforms to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the police force later renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

He has written numerous pieces of journalism and is the author of three books of memoirs, Sweet Killough: Let Go Your Anchor; Black Puddings with Slim: A Downpatrick Boyhood; and Minority Verdict: Experiences Of A Catholic Civil Servant. He is also the author or editor of works on conflict research, community relations and Irish writing.

Memberships

Current

He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the Research Ethical Committee of Queen's University Belfast medical school, a governor of the Linenhall Library, Belfast, and chairman of the National Forum on Europe. He is also a board member at Regtel.

He is also on the board of directors of Independent News & Media plc.

Former roles

Hayes is a former Northern Ireland Ombudsman and Boundary Commissioner, and was Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services (NI). He is a former chairman of the Community Relations Council (NI) and the Acute Hospitals Review Group.

He was chairman of The Ireland Funds in Ireland, the Irish branch of a major charitable group with worldwide contributors, which has made significant grants to groups dealing with social and business problems in Ireland.

Awards

Hayes was voted European Person of the Year in 2003.

Sport

A former county hurler, in the mid 1950s he became County Secretary of the Down Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and set a ten year plan for Down Gaelic football team to become the first team from Northern Ireland to win an All-Ireland football final. Within five years, Down won their first All Ireland trophy in 1960 and followed it with further successes in 1961, 1968, 1991 and 1994. With talent in the sixties such as Paddy Doherty, Joe Lennon and James McCartan Senior (whose son. James Jr, went on to win the All Ireland with Down in the 90s), Down should have won more All Ireland titles. No other Northern team won an All Ireland title until Derry won the All Ireland football title in 1993, since when northern teams have dominated the football championship.