20th century executions in the Irish Republic (Eire).

There were 164 executions in the Irish Republic during the 20th century.  Twelve men and one woman were hanged under British civil jurisdiction between 1900 and 1911. Thereafter, there were no more executions for civilian crimes under British rule. However, 15 men were executed by firing squad for treason, under British jurisdiction, for their parts in the 1916 Easter Rebellion. (see below).
There were 102 executions during the Irish Civil War (1920-1923) with 91 men shot and 11 hanged. In September 1922, the Dáil (parliament) passed a resolution providing for the death penalty for terrorist offences, following trial by military tribunal. As a result, the provisional “26 counties” government executed 75 people in the 6 months from November 1922 to April 1923, all by firing squad at various locations.

All the hangings were carried out by the serving British hangman of the day at Dublin’s Mountjoy prison.  Mountjoy nowadays serves as a closed medium security prison and is situated in Phibsboro on Dublin’s North Circular Road. It was designed by Joshua Jebb, who had also worked on London’s Pentonville Prison, and opened in 1850.  The condemned cell, which is two standard cells knocked into one and boasts a fireplace at each end, is on the ground floor at the end of D Wing and is immediately across the landing from the “hanghouse”.  In this execution chamber are double parallel beams set into the gable walls from which a heavy steel chain hangs down for attachment of the rope.  The trap is of the normal double leaf pattern and operated by a lever.  In the pit below there is a large portable staircase for examining and removing the body after death.
The glass roofed “hanghouse” has been preserved by the prison’s governor, John Lonergan, who did not want to see a very important piece of Irish heritage disappear.  The only modification since it was last used in 1954 is the provision of a wooden railing around the drop to prevent visitors falling through. Repairs to the cracked glass in the roof were required as water was getting in and causing the chain to rust and also to the stairs leading down into the pit.

Mountjoy’s first hanging was that of Kevin Barry on the 1st of November 1920. Thirty five people, including one woman, were hanged for murder between 1922 (after Ireland had achieved independence) and 1954. Annie Walsh of Co. Limerick was executed on the 5th of August 1925 for the murder of her husband. (The British administration had reprieved all six females sentenced to death in the 17 years prior to independence). Her co-defendant, Michael Talbot, was hanged with her.
Twenty five year old Michael Manning became the last to be executed at Mountjoy in April 1954, for the murder of Catherine Cooper, an elderly nun.
There is a wooden plaque on the outside wall of the “hanghouse” bearing the names of the ten men hanged during the War of Independence. These were Kevin Barry, Patrick Moran, Thomas Whelan, Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Frank Flood, Bernard Ryan, Thomas Traynor, Edmund Foley & Patrick Maher.

Capital punishment was partially abolished in 1964, for all but a few very specific forms of murder, notably the murder of police officers (the Garda) or prison officers. The Dáil finally abolished it completely in 1990, when new legislation created a 40-year minimum prison term for exceptional murders. The last to be sentenced to death were Noel Callen and Michael McHugh for the murder of Garda Patrick Morrissey after a robbery in County Louth in 1985. Noel and Marie Murray came close to being the last to be executed, having been convicted of the capital murder of Garda Michael Reynolds, following an armed bank robbery in Dublin in 1975. They both refused to seek clemency, so to avoid international embarrassment, the president decided to impose it upon them whether they wanted it or not. On the 1st of November 1976, the Supreme Court quashed Noel’s capital murder conviction and substituted one of common murder and ordered a re-trial for Marie in 1977 - this time she was found guilty of only common murder. They were both released in 1992. Of the 11 people who received death sentences in Eire in the 1970's and 1980's, all have been released except the last two who were sentenced in 1985 - but they will never serve 40 years under the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, as a judge did not determine the sentence.

Date

Name

Age

Place

Crime/victim

Hangman

Tue

10/04/1900

Patrick Dunphy

34

Waterford

Sons, Eddie & John

Thomas Scott

Fri

11/01/1901

Timothy Cadogan

 

Cork (county)

Dr. Baird

James Billington

Thur

07/03/1901

James Toole

 

Dublin (Kilmainham)

Lizzie Brennan

Thomas Scott

Wed

23/04/1902

Thomas Keeley

28

Galway

Landlady – Mary Clashy

William Billington

Tue

30/12/1902

James Docherty

65

Sligo

Son

William Billington

Wed

07/01/1903

Joseph Taylor

25

Kilkenny

Mr. Daly (see Mary Daly below)

William Billington

Fri

09/01/1903

Mary Daly

40

Tullamore

Husband

William Billington

Thur

14/04/1904

James Campion

 

Kilkenny

Wife

William Billington

Fri

15/04/1904

John Kelly

 

Kilkenny

Wife

William Billington

Tue

25/04/1905

John Foster

 

Cork City

William Ryan - Soldier

William Billington

Tue

04/01/1910

Joseph Hefferman

27

Dublin (Kilmainham)

Mary Walker

Henry Pierrepoint

Wed

04/01/1911

William Scanlan

 

Cork

Sister in law

John Ellis

Thur

29/11/1923

William Downs

25

Mountjoy

Det. Insp. Thomas Fitzgerald

John Ellis

Wed

12/12/1923

Thomas Delaney

38

Mountjoy

Robbery murder of Patrick Hogan (74)

Tom Pierrepoint

Wed

12/12/1923

Thomas M' Donagh

42

Mountjoy

Murder woman

Tom Pierrepoint

Sat

15/12/1923

Peter Hynes

40

Mountjoy

Thomas Grimstone

Tom Pierrepoint

Thur

13/03/1924

Jeremiah Gaffney

23

Mountjoy

Thomas Brosnan

Tom Pierrepoint

Fri

01/08/1924

Felix McMullen

26

Mountjoy

Garda Patrick O’Hallaran

Tom Pierrepoint

Tue

28/07/1925

Cornelius O' Leary

40

Mountjoy

Patrick O’Leary (brother)

Tom Pierrepoint

Wed

05/08/1925

Annie Walsh &

31

Mountjoy

Husband, Edward

Tom Pierrepoint

Wed

05/08/1925

Michael Talbot (nephew)

24

Mountjoy

Helping above murder

Tom Pierrepoint

Thur

15/07/1926

James Myles

22

Mountjoy

John Smith snr. & jnr.

Tom Pierrepoint

Wed

24/11/1926

James M' Hugh

31

Mountjoy

Robbery/murder of old man

Tom Pierrepoint

Thur

09/12/1926

Henry M' Cabe

48

Mountjoy

4 members McDonnell family
(his employers) plus 2 other servants

Tom Pierrepoint

Thur

29/12/1927

William O' Neill

19

Mountjoy

Mary Farrell

Tom Pierrepoint

Wed

29/08/1928

Gerard Toal

18

Mountjoy

Miss Mary Callan

Tom Pierrepoint

Thur

25/04/1929

John Cox

33

Mountjoy

Jacon Kuntz

Tom Pierrepoint

Thur

04/08/1931

David O'Shea

34

Mountjoy

Rape/murder of Ellen O’Sullivan

Tom Pierrepoint

Thur

29/12/1932

Patrick McDermott

26

Mountjoy

John McDermott (brother)

Tom Pierrepoint

Fri

05/01/1934

John Fleming

32

Mountjoy

Wife, Ellen

Tom Pierrepoint

Fri

17/06/1937

John Hornick

 

Mountjoy

James Redmond

Tom Pierrepoint

Sat

07/01/1939

Dermot Smith

33

Mountjoy

Cornelius Dennehey

Tom Pierrepoint

Fri

06/09/1940

Patrick McGrath

 

Mountjoy

I.R.A. murder

Firing squad

Fri

06/09/1940

Thomas Harte

 

Mountjoy

I.R.A. murder

Firing squad

Tue

07/01/1941

Daniel Doherty

29

Mountjoy

Hannah Doherty (cousin)

Tom Pierrepoint

Wed

23/04/1941

Henry Gleeson

39

Mountjoy

Mary McCarthy

Tom Pierrepoint

Sat

09/08/1941

Richard Goss

26

Maryborough
(Portlaoise)

Shot at police

Firing squad

Thur

18/12/1941

Patrick Kelly

31

Mountjoy

Mary Breheny

Not known

Thur

05/03/1942

George Plant

38

Maryborough
(Portlaoise)

Murder

Firing squad

Thur

12/11/1942

Maurice O' Neill

 

Mountjoy

Shot at police

Firing squad

Wed

02/06/1943

Bernard Kirwan

39

Mountjoy

Lawrence Kirwan (brother)

Tom Pierrepoint

Thur

12/08/1943

William O' Shea

24

Mountjoy

Wife, Maureen

Tom Pierrepoint

Fri

01/12/1944

Charles Kerins

 

Mountjoy

Murder police officer

Tom Pierrepoint

Mon

19/03/1945

James Lehman

 

Mountjoy

Wife, Margaret

Not known

Mon

31/03/1947

Joseph McManus

41

Mountjoy

Alice Gerard (girlfriend)

Albert Pierrepoint

Wed

24/11/1948

William Gambon

28

Mountjoy

John Long

Albert Pierrepoint

Tue

20/04/1954

Michael Manning

25

Mountjoy

Rape/murder of Catherine Cooper (nun)

Albert Pierrepoint

 

In May 1916, 14 men were shot by firing squad in the Quarry Yard at Dublin’s Kilmainham Jail and one more (Thomas Kent) at Cork Barracks, having been convicted of treason for their parts in the 1916 Easter Rebellion.  Kilmainham Jail has been restored and is now open to the public. Plaques mark the place where these executions were carried out.

 

Tom Clarke

Wednesday 3rd May

Thomas MacDonagh

Wednesday 3rd May

Padraic Pearse

Wednesday 3rd May

Joseph Mary Plunkett

Thursday 4th May

William Pearse

Thursday 4th May

Ned Daly

Thursday 4th May

Michael O'Hanrahan

Thursday 4th May

John MacBride

Friday 5th May

Eamonn Ceannt

Monday 8th May

Michael Mallin

Monday 8th May

Conn Colbert

Monday 8th May

Sean Heuston

Monday 8th May

Thomas Kent