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 |
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