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 War of Independence (against Britain, 1919-1921) and the Civil War (1922-23) 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 damage to the stairs leading down into the pit.

Mountjoy’s first hanging was that of James Toole on the 7th of March 1901 for cutting the throat of his girlfriend Lizzie Brennan. Thirty three people, including one woman, were executed at Mountjoy between 1901 and 1954. Annie Walsh of Co. Limerick was hanged 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 nurse.
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 (members of the Garda) or prison officers. The last to be sentenced to death were Noel Callan and Michael McHugh for the murder of Garda Patrick Morrissey after a robbery in County Louth in 1985, in which McHugh fired the fatal shot. 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. The Dáil finally abolished the death penalty completely in 1990, when new legislation created a 40 year minimum prison term for exceptional murders. Of the 11 people who received death sentences in Eire in the 1970's and 1980's, all have now been released including Noel Callen and Michael McHugh who were sentenced to life with a minimum of 40 years, in 1985. On July 18, 2013, the Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that Callan and McHugh are eligible for remission of one quarter of their sentences. This would have made Callan eligible for parole in July 2015. However the court denied his request to be released from prison immediately on the grounds that he was entitled to custody credits for his pre-trial detention back in 1985. Noel Callen was released from Castlerea prison on the 31st of November and 2015 and Michael McHugh was released from Portlaoise Prison on the 1st of December 2015.

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	62	Mountjoy	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	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	Robert Baxter
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 (nurse)	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	Tuesday 9th May
Sean MacDiarmada	Friday 12th May
James Connolly	Friday 12th May

102 executions were carried out during the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War for terrorist murders and treason. Most of these were by military firing squad and were typically carried out in batches. John Ellis carried out the hangings in Mountjoy prison, as he was the U.K.’s principal executioner at the time.

Day	Date	Name	Place	Method
Mon	01/11/1920	Kevin Barry	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
Tue	01/02/1921	Cornelius Murphy	Cork	Firing squad
Mon	28/02/1921	John Allen	Cork	Firing squad
“	“	Thomas O'Brien	Cork	Firing squad
“	“	Daniel Callaghan	Cork	Firing squad
“	“	John Lyons	Cork	Firing squad
“	“	Timothy McCarthy	Cork	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Mahoney	Cork	Firing squad
Mon	14/03/1921	Thomas Whelan	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
“	“	Patrick Moran	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
“	“	Patrick Doyle	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
“	“	Bernard Ryan	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
“	“	Thomas Bryan	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
“	“	Frank Flood	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
Mon	25/04/1921	Thomas Traynor	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
Thur	28/04/1921	Maurice Moore	Cork	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick O'Sullivan	Cork	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Ronayne	Cork	Firing squad
“	“	Thomas Mulcahy	Cork	Firing squad
Mon	02/05/1921	Patrick Casey	Cork	Firing squad
Mon	16/05/1921	Daniel O'Brien	Cork	Firing squad
Mon	06/06/1921	Thomas Keane	Limerick	Firing squad
Tue	07/06/1921	Patrick Maher	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
“	“	Edmund Foley	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
“	“	William Mitchell	Dublin (Mountjoy)	Hanging
Fri	17/11/1922	Peter Cassidy	Dublin (Kilmainham)	Firing squad
“	“	Richard Tuohy	Dublin (Kilmainham)	Firing squad
“	“	John Gaffney	Dublin (Kilmainham)	Firing squad
“	“	James Fisher	Dublin (Kilmainham)	Firing squad
Fri	24/11/1922	Erskin Childers	Dublin	Firing squad
Thur	30/11/1922	Joseph Spooner	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Farrally	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	John Murphy	Dublin	Firing squad
Fri	08/12/1922	Rory O'Connor	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Liam Mellows	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Joseph McKelvey	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Richard Barrett	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Stephen White	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Joseph Johnstone	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Mangan	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Nolan	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Brian Moore	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	James O'Connor	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Bagrel	Dublin	Firing squad
Fri	29/12/1922	John Phelan	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	John Murphy	Dublin	Firing squad
Mon	08/01/1923	Ley Dowling	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Sylvestor Heaney	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Lawrence Sheehy	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Anthony O' Reilly	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	Terence Brady	Dublin	Firing squad
Fri	12/01/1923	Thomas McKeown	Dundalk	Firing squad
“	“	Thomas Murray	Dundalk	Firing squad
“	“	Thomas Murphy	Dundalk	Firing squad
Mon	15/01/1923	Frederick Burke	Roscrea	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Russell	Roscrea	Firing squad
“	“	Martin O' Shea	Roscrea	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Macnamara	Roscrea	Firing squad
“	“	James Lilis	Carlow	Firing squad
Sat	20/01/1923	James Daly	Tralee	Firing squad
“	“	John Clifford	Tralee	Firing squad
“	“	Micheal Brosnam	Tralee	Firing squad
“	“	James Hanlon	Tralee	Firing squad
“	“	Cornelius McMahon	Limerick	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Hennessey	Limerick	Firing squad
“	“	Thomas Hughes	Athlone	Firing squad
“	“	Micheal Walsh	Athlone	Firing squad
“	“	Herbert Collis	Athlone	Firing squad
“	“	Stephen Joyce	Athlone	Firing squad
“	“	Martin Burke	Athlone	Firing squad
Mon	22/01/1923	James Melia (20)	Dundalk	Firing squad
“	“	Thomas Lennon (19)	Dundalk	Firing squad
“	“	Joseph Ferguson (27)	Dundalk	Firing squad
Thur	25/01/1923	Micheal Fitzgerald	Waterford	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick O' Reilly	Waterford	Firing squad
Fri	26/01/1923	Patrick Cunningham	Birr	Firing squad
“	“	William Conroy	Birr	Firing squad
“	“	Colum Kelly	Birr	Firing squad
Sat	27/01/1923	Patrick Geraghty	Portlaoise	Firing squad
“	“	Joseph Byrne	Portlaoise	Firing squad
Tue	13/03/1923	Henry Keenan	Mullingar	Firing squad
“	“	Micheal Greery	Mullingar	Firing squad
“	“	James O' Rourke	Dublin	Firing squad
“	“	William Healey	Cork	Firing squad
“	“	James Parle	Wexford	Firing squad
“	“	Patrick Hogan	Wexford	Firing squad
“	“	John Creane	Wexford	Firing squad
Wed	14/03/1923	John Larkin	Drumboe Castle	Firing squad
“	“	Timothy O' Sullivan	Drumboe Castle	Firing squad
“	“	Daniel Enwright	Drumboe Castle	Firing squad
“	“	Charles Daly	Drumboe Castle	Firing squad
Sat	14/04/1923	James O' Malley	Tuam	Firing squad
“	“	Micheal Monaghan	Tuam	Firing squad
“	“	Francis Cunnane	Tuam	Firing squad
“	“	John Newell	Tuam	Firing squad
“	“	John Maguire	Tuam	Firing squad
“	“	Martin Moylan	Tuam	Firing squad
Wed	25/04/1923	Edward Greaney	Tralee	Firing squad
“	“	Reginald Hathaway	Tralee	Firing squad
“	“	James McInery	Tralee	Firing squad
Wed	02/05/1923	Christopher Quin	Ennis	Firing squad
“	“	William Shaughnessey	Ennis	Firing squad

Back to main contents page.