FROM THE TIMES DECEMBER 8, 1922
Dublin was profoundly shocked today at the news that one of the members of the new Free State Parliament had been murdered in the city’s streets, while another had been seriously wounded. Mr Sean Hales member for West Cork, the late Michael Collins’s constituency, and Mr Padraig O’Maille, member for Galway, who yesterday was elected Deputy-Speaker of the new House, had luncheon together at the Ormond Hotel, Ormond Quay. At about 2.30 they left the hotel to attend the meeting of Parliament and, having called a jaunting car, were shaking hands with the proprietor, who is a relative of one of them, when they were attacked by a band of armed men who were lying in wait for them along the quays. Several shots were fired, and Mr Hales fell immediately, shot through the temple and the lungs.
Mr O’Maille was wounded in the back and side, but fortunately his wounds are unlikely to prove fatal. While the shooting was in progress a touring car carrying a British non-commissioned officer and a driver passed along the quays. The soldiers heard the shots and saw three men running away. The car was stopped at once and the NCO, drawing his revolver, gave chase. He pursued them through a maze of back streets, firing as he ran, but they dashed into a tenement house and disappeared. When the Parliament assembled at 3 o’clock President Cosgrave announced the news of the murder, and the whole House was thunderstruck. All stood in silence for a few minutes, and then the House adjourned,
The death of Sean Hales is regretted deeply by everybody who knew him. In the days of the fighting against the British he was a prominent leader of the IRA in County Cork, and, with his bother Tom, was one of the most badly “wanted” men in Southern Ireland. When the Treaty was signed, however, he showed a spirit of great moderation, and his influence in Co Cork was largely responsible for the success of the Collins-Griffith policy in that part of the country. Mr Padraig O’Maille is one of the most popular members of the Irish Parliament. He is a well-known Celtic scholar, and easily the most fluent Irish speaker in the Dail. He is a remarkably fine type of Irishman and a physical giant.
