Maurice Hayes

Maurice Hayes (8 July 1927 – 23 December 2017) was an Irish public servant and, late in life, an independent member of both the 21st and 22nd Seanad. Hayes was nominated 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.

Hayes was born in Killough County Down, Northern Ireland, in 1927. He completed a PhD in English at the Queen's University Belfast, then 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 was viewed as an even-handed observer. He wrote 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).

Hayes also wrote numerous pieces of journalism, notably, and regularly, for the Irish Independent. He was 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, as well as author or editor of works on conflict research, community relations and Irish writing.

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

He was chairman of The 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.

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.