Chris Patten, the final British Governor of Hong Kong, and who chaired the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, will officially open the archive of Maurice Hayes at NUI Galway, at an official event next month.
Lord Patten of Barnes, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and formerly British Secretary of State for the Environment, and a European Commissioner from 1999 to 2004, will officially open the archive of Maurice Hayes on Tuesday March 12, before giving a public lecture entitled, ‘A European identity: some reflections on the career of Maurice Hayes on the opening of his archive at NUI Galway’.
Maurice Hayes (1927-2017 ) was chair of the Community Relations Commission (1969-1972 ); Assistant Secretary to the Northern Ireland Power-Sharing Executive (1973-74 ); member of the Secretariat of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (1975 ); Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (1987-1991 ); sat as an Independent in Seanad Éireann (1997-2007 ); chairman of the Ireland Funds; and member of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, (1998-1999 ).
He also served as chair of the Government’s National Forum on Europe (2001-2009 ), and received the European of the Year award in 2004. He wrote regularly for the Irish Independent, had a strong commitment to the Irish language, and was also a vital figure in Down’s GAA successes in the 1960s.
The Maurice Hayes Archive consists of 64 boxes and covers his entire career, including speeches, correspondence, records, and papers from his membership of various working parties, commissions, conventions and other organisations. There is also material relating to local government, the GAA, his time at the Department of Health and Social Services, and source material for his autobiographies. The archive will be open to scholars and the public.
Registration to attend the Maurice Hayes Memorial Lecture is essential. Booking is through tinyurl.com/y2j43jxz
