Maurice Hayes

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.

Maurice Hayes was born in County Down in Northern Ireland, UK.

After completing a PhD in English at the Queen's University of Belfast, he taught at St Patrick's Grammar School in Downpatrick. He left teaching to become Town Clerk of Downpatrick the then administrative centre of County Down, succeeding his father in the role.

In the troubled politics of Northern Ireland, where political parties tend to be sharply split along pseudo-ethno-nationalistic lines, Hayes has been viewed as an even-handed observer, who has written or contributed to major policy reports, such as the Patten Commission 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 writes regularly for the Irish Independent. He 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.

He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the Research Ethical Committee of Queen's University Belfast medical school, and a governor of the Linenhall Library, Belfast. He is a long-serving member of the Scholarship Board of the O'Reilly Foundation. He is also a board member at Regtel.

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