Senior civil servant who gave a lifetime of service

The holding of his funeral service in the Roman Catholic church St. Patrick’s Church in Downpatrick, followed by interment in the grounds of the Protestant Down cathedral was a final symbolic gesture regarding a man who was seen as always aiming to be a bridge builder in Northern Ireland.

He attended Queen’s University, completing a PH.D in English, and then took up a teaching post at St. Patrick’s Grammar School in Downpatrick.

He subsequently succeeded his father as town clerk of Downpatrick in 1955, serving in that role until the 1970s.

He entered the civil service and in 1973 was assistant secretary in the office of the ill-fated power-sharing executive. He went on to hold office as Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services and was the first Roman Catholic to hold the post of Northern Ireland Ombudsman.

During his career he held roles in many public bodies, including having a significant input in the deliberations which led to the Patten Report, leading to the creation of the PSNI.

He was chairman of the Community Relations Council for three years and also served in the Irish Senate, to which he was appointed by then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

In his latter years he sat on various bodies and was appointed to carry out a review into a scandal in the radiology department at Tallaght Hospital on the outskirts of Dublin for the Irish government. A Boundary Commissioner, he was also chairman of The Ireland Funds in the Republic of Ireland,

and a long-serving non-executive director of Independent News & Media Plc, until his retirement in 2009.

He also served as Chairman of the National Forum on Europe in the Republic of Ireland.

Dr. Hayes was a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the Research Ethical Committee of Queen’s University Belfast medical school, and a governor of the Linenhall Library.

Maurice Hayes was also author of three books of memoirs - Sweet Killough: Let Go Your Anchor; Black Puddings with Slim: A Downpatrick Boyhood; and Minority Verdict: Experiences Of A Catholic Civil Servant. He also authored or edited several works on conflict research, community relations and Irish literature and wrote numerous articles, being also a regular contributor to the Irish Independent newspaper.

A keen Gaelic games enthusiast, he was a hurler for County Down in his youth and a past County Secretary of the Down Gaelic Athletic Association. He is credited with setting in place a ten year plan for the Down Gaelic football team which culminated in Down being the first team from Northern Ireland to win the All Ireland trophy, in 1960. There were further successes in 1961, 1968, 1991 and 1994. He was also a keen supporter of, and fluent in, the Irish language.

During his career he received several honorary doctorates from Queen’s University Belfast and University of Ulster as well as Trinity College, University of Dublin and National University of Ireland in the Republic of Ireland. He was also voted European Person of the Year in 2003.

Tribute was paid to him by many in civic and political life in Northern Ireland, including Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, who said he was a man of great fairness and broadness of mind.

Historian Dr. Eamon Phoenix said that Dr. Hayes was “almost an institution in the wider Catholic community in Northern Ireland.”

Dr. Hayes funeral was attended by several hundred mourners at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Downpatrick, among them the Irish President, Michael D. Higgins. Nationalist politicians from both sides of the Irish border attended, as well as North Down independent unionist MP Lady Sylvia Hermon. Senior figures from within the Protestant church community including former Methodist Church president Rev Harold Good, and ex-Presbyterian moderator Rev John Dunlop were also

among those in attendance.

Canon Sean Rogan, a former teaching colleague, in his funeral tribute, said: “Maurice Hayes was a giant who strode the stage of life in so many and varied roles - but always the same Maurice of integrity, honesty and humility.”

Dr. Hayes was interred in the grounds of the Church of Ireland cathedral in Downpatrick. The 90 year old is survived by his wife Johanna (Joan), daughters and sons Clodagh, Margaret, Dara, Garrett and Ronan and their families.