<P> Capital punishment in the Republic of Ireland was abolished in statute law in 1990, having been abolished in 1964 for most offences including ordinary murder . The last to be executed was Michael Manning, hanged for murder in 1954 . All subsequent death sentences, the last handed down in 1985, were commuted by the President, on the advice of the Government, to terms of imprisonment of up to 40 years . The Twenty - first Amendment of the constitution, passed by referendum in 2001, prohibits the reintroduction of the death penalty, even during a state of emergency or war . Capital punishment is also forbidden by several human rights treaties to which the state is a party . </P> <P> Early Irish law discouraged capital punishment . Murder was usually punished with two types of fine: a fixed éraic and a variable Log nEnech; a murderer was only killed if he and his relatives could not pay the fine . The Senchas Már's description of the execution of the murderer of Saint Patrick's charioteer Odran has been interpreted as a failed attempt to replace pagan restorative justice with Christian retributive justice . </P>

Who was the last man to be hanged in ireland