When the State regularly made a killing

THE hanging men: Ireland has executed 29 people - the last in 1954. The Pierrepoint brothers carried out nearly all of them.

THE Irish State has executed 29 people, the last in 1954. The Pierrepoints, Tom and his nephew, Albert, did most of the hangings; they were paid £10, plus expenses, for their labours.

Albert used to leave a lit cigar while he did his work, returning to it once he was finished.These were conducted in the hang house at Mountjoy Prison, in Dublin. One of the most striking things about the executions described in Tim Carey’s Hanged for Murder: Irish State Executions was the bureaucracy.