Francis Mahon Hayes

Francis Mahon Hayes (2 March 1930 – 26 June 2011) was an Irish lawyer and ambassador.

Early life He was educated in University College Dublin and King's Inns. Called to the bar in 1952, he practiced for a time before going to work at the Land Registry, moving later to the Department of Justice and then to the Department of External Affairs as it was then called.

Career in foreign affairs

As assistant legal adviser in the department, he provided legal advice on the Free Trade Agreement with Britain signed in 1965.

In 1977 Hayes became Ambassador to Denmark, while still attending the Law of the Sea Conference which lasted until 1982. He subsequently became head of mission at the UN, first at Geneva and later in New York. Hayes served on the International Law Commission 1987 -1991, the only Irish person to have done so. After his return to headquarters Hayes served as deputy secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs until his retirement in 1995.

Later life

After retirement he served on the Constitution of Ireland Review Group under T.K. Whitaker. He acted as consultant to the Palestinian Authority on the drafting of a constitution and advised the Institute for European Affairs on a constitution for the EU.

Publications

Hayes, Mahon, The Law of the Sea: the role of the Irish Delegation at the Third United Nations Conference , Royal Irish Academy, 2011. Hayes, Mahon and Kingston, James, Ireland in international law: the pursuit of sovereignty and independence, in Tonra, Ben and others, Irish Foreign Policy, 2012.