FRANK BOUCHIER-HAYES,
Madam, - Exactly 80 years ago, on December 7th 1922, Sean Hales TD was shot dead on his way to a Dáil meeting. This barbaric act occurred a day after the formal establishment of the Irish Free State.
The country was still in the throes of a civil war, and it is perhaps one of the saddest ironies of that conflict that while Michael Collins was dining in Bandon with General Sean Hales on August 22nd, 1922, prior to embarking on what was to be his final journey, Hales's brother Tom was busy planning the ambush that would result in Collins's death.
Fine Gael members would do well to remember that Sean Hales has an even closer association with their party than had Michael Collins. On the day Hales died, he was due to attend a meeting concerned with the setting up of a new political party, Cumann na nGaedheal, to represent the views and concerns of those who had adopted a pro-Treaty stance. This party would, a decade later, merge with the Centre Party and the Blueshirts to form Fine Gael.
Hales was described by John L. O'Sullivan as being "a truly great man who next to Collins was the best organiser I ever met". In the brief time allotted to him to forge a political career, he arranged jobs for people, obtained money from the government for the local industrial school because they "did everything they possibly could for me and we must not forget them", and reinstated "evicted tenants" of his relatives.
Much media attention was given over this year to the unveiling of a national memorial to Michael Collins in Clonakilty, but many years ago a national memorial to Gen Sean Hales was erected in Bandon. It still stands proudly in the centre of the town, and this, coupled with the fact that the local Fine Gael branch is named after him, ensures that Hales will be remembered not only for his military ability but for his political acumen. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK BOUCHIER-HAYES,
Newcastle West,
Co Limerick.