The Hayes affair can be declared as the start of the end for the IRA. It is one of the most debated topics even today and no one is quite sure who is right or wrong. J Bowyer Bell seems convinced in Hayes innocence while Joe Cahill is convinced of Hayes guilt. It’s a drawn out affair that caused a split in the northern IRA and southern IRA and lead to radical leaders being praised and revered. The Stephen Hayes affair occurred during the months of April 1941 to September 1941; However Hayes starting out already had a lot to prove as chief of staff since he was the successor to Russell. But, from the very start Hayes was already seen as a failure in the eyes of men such as McCaughey, He was “flabby, grey-faced, with a reputed weakness for …show more content…
From this point on we have two different stories Hayes account and McCaughey account. They both begin on June 30th McCaughey put his plan into action for eliminating Hayes. In a safe house in Coolock, McCaughey arranged for Liam and four other escaped convicts to kidnap Hayes. Dougherty was allowed to escape but Hayes was taken away in a car and driven to a hidden room in Cooley Mountains. The captors that kidnapped Hayes were under the impression that Hayes was a traitor to the IRA. Hayes account beginning by with the fact that the captors at first tried interrogating Hayes but when he was unable to answer any of their questions satisfactory they began clubbing him in the head and later on pounding with revolvers. Hayes impressively remained silent and McCaughey, impatient, threated to shoot him in if refused to answer the …show more content…
However this displeased most IRA men who supported McCaughey because they wanted Hayes to be executed as soon as possible to prove a point. Hayes under pressure on August 28th signed his confession but this was still not enough for McCaughey who wanted Hayes to reveal all his informants and fellow conspirators. Since the GHQ was so distracted by trying to figure our whether Hayes was guilty or not, they were often neglecting their IRA duties and all wanted to shoot Hayes to end the distractions. In the confusion of the IRA McCaughey was arrested on his way to interrogate Hayes because the police force was able to recognize him as a member of the IRA. The GHQ in his absence decided that the perfect day to kill Hayes would be the All- Ireland Football Final at Croke Park and Dublin would be full of thousands and the police would be too distracted too find Hayes murder. However on the morning of September 8th Hayes was able to escape and hobbled into the Rathmines police station. The GHQ after Hayes escapes and unable to receive advice from McCaughey because he was prison went to Sean MacBridge for advice on what do about the botched situation. He advice them to send out copies of Hayes confession to select