Stephen Hayes (Irish republican)

For other people named Stephen Hayes, see Stephen Hayes (disambiguation).

Stephen Hayes
Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army
In office
April 1939 – June 1941
Preceded bySeán Russell
Succeeded byPearse Kelly
Personal details
Born(1902-12-26)26 December 1902
Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland
Died28 December 1974(1974-12-28) (aged 72)
St. John's Hospital, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland
PartyCumann Poblachta na hÉireann
Military service
Branch/service
Battles/wars

Stephen Hayes (26 December 1902 – 28 December 1974) was a member and leader of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) from April 1939 to June 1941.

Early life

Hayes was born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford. During the Irish War of Independence, he was Commandant of the Wexford Brigade of Fianna Éireann. He took the Anti-Treaty side during the Irish Civil War, during which he was interned in Curragh Camp.[1][2] In 1936 he was one of two candidates put foward by the Irish republican political party Cumann Poblachta na hÉireann for election to the 8th Dáil. In that years Wexford by-election he received 2.85 percent share of the vote but failed to get elected.[3][4][5]

Hayes was active in Gaelic Athletic Association circles in Wexford. In 1925, he helped Wexford win the Leinster Senior Football title. He also served as secretary to the county board for ten years, from the 1920s to 1930s.[1]

IRA activities

Hayes joined the IRA and was on the IRA Army Council in January 1939 when it declared war on the British government.[6][7] (see the S-Plan).

When IRA chief of staff Seán Russell departed on IRA business to the United States (and subsequently to Nazi Germany), Hayes became IRA Chief of Staff.[5][8][9] His time in office was marred by controversy and it is widely believed that he served as an informer to the Irish Police - the Garda Síochána.[10]

On 9 September 1939, Hayes was almost captured during a Garda raid on an IRA safehouse at 16 Rathmines Grove in Dublin. While Hayes evaded capture, many GHQ members were captured alongside a significant amount of cash. By early 1940, Hayes was the only member of executive council still active in Ireland - with Russell overseas and the remaining members imprisoned.[5]

As IRA Chief of Staff, Hayes sent a plan for the invasion of Northern Ireland by German troops to Germany in April 1940. This plan later became known as Plan Kathleen. He is also known to have met with German agent Hermann Görtz on 21 May 1940 in Dublin shortly after the latter's parachuting into Ireland on 5 May 1940 as part of Operation Mainau. Hayes is known to have asked Görtz for money and arms to wage a campaign in Northern Ireland but Gortz was reluctant to provide funds.[5] Shortly after this meeting the original Plan Kathleen was discovered. The discovery of the plan led to the acceleration of joint British and Irish military planning for a German invasion known as Plan W.[11]

On 15 August 1940 Hayes organized meeting of senior IRA men at an address on Rathgar Road, Dublin (Hayes was not in attendance). The meeting was raided by police and resulted in a gun battle in which two Detectives were killed and one wounded. Senior IRA men Paddy McGrath and Tom Harte were arrested, charged with the murders and tried by Military Tribunal, established under the Emergency Powers Act 1939. They challenged the legislation in the High Court, seeking a writ of habeas corpus, and ultimately appealed to the Supreme Court. They were represented in the courts by Seán MacBride. The appeal was unsuccessful, and they were executed by firing squad at Dublin's Mountjoy Prison on 6 September 1940.[12][13] At the time of these arrests Hayes was the IRA Chief of Staff. In his written confession Hayes admits to providing the address of the meeting to government officials which resulted in the capture of Harte and McGrath.[14]

The Officer Commanding (O/C) of the IRA's Northern Command, Seán McCaughey, arrived in Dublin in May 1941, and witnessed Hayes' use of non-IRA personnel and a largely dormant 'government of Ireland'. McCaughey demanded that the GHQ be re-organised, and Hayes appointed McCaughey and his adjutant Charles McGlade into IRA GHQ. Following a raid on the safe house McCaughey was staying in, he became distrustful of Hayes and was convinced he was an agent of the state.[5]

On 30 June 1941, McCaughey arranged to meet with Hayes at a safe house in Coolock, Dublin. When Hayes arrived, IRA men aligned to McCaughey kidnapped Hayes and took him to the Cooley Mountains, accusing him of being a spy for the Free State government.[5][15] From there, Hayes was taken to the Wicklow Mountains before ultimately Castlewood Park in Rathmines.[5] Hayes was court-martialed by three senior IRA men - Charlie McCarthy from Cork, Tom Farrell from Connemara and Pearse Kelly from Tyrone. All three sentenced him to death on 23 July 1941.[5][16] By his own account, he was tortured and court-martialed for treason by his comrades, and would have been executed, but McCaughey was concered by the lack of a written confession and Hayes bought himself time composing an enormously long confession (160 pages) which he only signed on the 28 August.[5]

On 2 September, McCaughey was arrested by Gardaí,[16] stalling Hayes' execution further.[5] On 8 September, Hayes was left unguarded and managed to steal a gun before throwing himself out a window to escape and handing himself in to the Garda for protection.[5][17] Hayes gave evidence against McCaughey and others, and McCaughey was later convicted by a special military court on 18 September 1941 for Hayes kidnapping.[5] After a long hunger and thirst strike in Portlaoise prison, McCaughey died on 11 May 1946.[18][5]

Hayes was later sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the Special Criminal Court on account of his IRA activities.[1][2][5] Upon his release and until his death Hayes held that his confession was fiction, made under duress and torture. The controversy surrounding the confession of Hayes was never authoritatively settled.[5]

Within IRA circles, Hayes is still considered a traitor and an informer.[19] One of the main allegations against him was that he informed the Garda Síochána about IRA arms dumps in Wexford. However, this was later blamed on a Wexford man named Michael Deveraux, an officer of the Wexford Battalion of the IRA who was subsequently abducted and executed by an IRA squad in County Tipperary on Hayes’ orders. George Plant, a Protestant IRA veteran, was later executed in Portlaoise for Devereux's murder.

Later life

After his release, Hayes worked as a fishery bailiff in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, and was later employed by Kavanagh & Kent veterinary surgeons in Enniscorthy .[5] He also held a clerical position at Wexford County Council.[2] His brother, Thomas Hayes, was a member of Enniscorthy Urban Council and a former member of Wexford County Council.[20][5]

He died at St. John's Hospital in Enniscorthy on 28 December 1974, aged 71.[2][5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Obituary: Stephen Hayes dies at 71". Irish Independent. 30 December 1974. Retrieved 30 January 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ a b c d "Obituary: Mr. Stephen Hayes". New Ross Standard. 3 January 1975. Retrieved 30 January 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ Took, Christopher; Donnelly, Seán (1 April 2022). By Election 35: 17 August 1936 (Report). ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 23 April 2025. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Wexford: 1936 by-election". IrelandElection. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Dempsey, Pauric J.; Boylan, Shaun (October 2009). "Hayes, Stephen". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.003880.v1. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  6. ^ "McCaughey's Doom". Time Magazine. U.S.: Time Publishers. 29 September 1941. Archived from the original on 3 June 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  7. ^ Carolan, Thomas (15 August 2004). "The IRA's All Time Low". Workers Liberty. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  8. ^ Bowyer Bell, J. (1997). The Secret Army: The IRA. Transaction Publishers. p. 159. ISBN 9781560009016. LCCN 96003011. OCLC 1151164981. OL 966615M – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ Coogan, Tim Pat (2002). The I.R.A. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 134. ISBN 978-0312294168.
  10. ^ MacEoin, Uinseann (1997). The IRA in the Twilight Years 1923 -1948. Dublin: Argenta Publications. p. 438. ISBN 978-0951117248.
  11. ^ Fisk, Robert (1983). In Time of War, Ireland, Ulster and the Price of Neutrality 1939-45. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 150. ISBN 0-8122-7888-7.
  12. ^ High Court and Supreme Court Re: McGrath and Harte [1941] Irish Reports 68
  13. ^ Clark, Richard. "20th century executions in the Irish Republic (Eire)". capitalpunishmentuk. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  14. ^ "Special Communiqué issued by the army council regarding Stephen Hayes conspiring with the Irish Free State Government" (Press release). Irish Republican Army. 10 September 1941. p. 3. MS 48,290/14/1. Retrieved 1 April 2022 – via National Library of Ireland.
  15. ^ MacEoin, pg 518
  16. ^ a b MacEoin, pg 446
  17. ^ Flynn, Barry (2011). Pawns in the Game. Cork: The Collins Press. p. 109. ISBN 9781848891166.
  18. ^ "The Forgotten Hunger Strikes". hungerstrikes.org. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  19. ^ Bower Bell, pg. 211.
  20. ^ "Stephen Hayes". New Ross Standard. 17 January 1975. Retrieved 30 January 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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