Tom Hales (Irish republican)

Born at Knocknacurra, Ballinadee, near Bandon on a family farm owned by his father, Robert Hales, an activist in the Irish Land War and a reputed member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.[1]

Tom Hales joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913. He was a part of a group of Volunteers who planned to rise up in Cork during the Easter Rising of 1916, however they received last minute orders to stand down. By May 1916 Tom Hales and his brothers, Sean, Bob and William, were fighting with the IRA in west Cork during the Irish War of Independence.[1] A fifth brother, Donal, settled in Genoa from 1913, was appointed Irish Consular and Commercial Agent for Italy in February 1919. In this capacity he played a leading propaganda role; several letters from Michael Collins to Donal Hales still exist which were used by Hales to promote international awareness of the Irish conflict in Italian publications.[2]

Donal oversaw a failed attempt to import a substantial amount of weapons and ammunition (captured Austrian stock from the World War I) from Genoa in the spring of 1921, through the person of Gabriele D'Annunzio.[3] During the War, Tom was captured by the British Army in Cork and was badly beaten and tortured in an effort to make him disclose the whereabouts of prominent IRA figures, including Collins. He never broke, although his co-accused, Patrick Harte, suffered brain damage and died in hospital insane.[4]

During the Irish Civil War, Tom and Sean Hales fought on opposite sides, with Tom fighting against the Anglo-Irish Treaty with the "Irregulars" while Sean joined the newly formed National Army of the Irish Free State. Tom Hales commanded the Flying Column which attacked the Free State Army convoy at Béal na Bláth which resulted in the death of Michael Collins. Shortly thereafter, his brother, Sean, was shot to death under controversial circumstances connected with the Civil War.[5][6]

Hales was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork West constituency at the 1933 general election. Hales resigned from Fianna Fáil in June 1936 stated he could not support their policy on interning IRA members.[1] He failed to retain his seat as an independent candidate at the 1937 general election.[7] He also unsuccessfully contested the 1944 general election as an independent candidate and the 1948 general election as a candidate for Clann na Poblachta, he got 2,287 (7.93%) votes.[8][9] Hales died in 1966, aged 74.