Noel Hartnett (1909–1960) was an Irish politician, barrister, broadcaster and writer. He was a Clann na Poblachta member of Seanad Éireann from 1951 to 1954. Until the 1940s, Hartnett was Junior Counsel to former IRA Chief of Staff Seán MacBride in a number of defences of IRA prisoners. In 1946, the pair represented the deceased hunger-striker Seán McCaughey at an inquest into his death, which embarrassed the government of Éamon de Valera by exposing the poor conditions at Portlaoise Prison.Hartnett - whose family were all supporters of de Valera and the Fianna Fáil party he founded - was then dismissed from his position at Radio Éireann, the Irish broadcasting company, under the influence of de Valera. Hartnett left Fianna Faíl soon after and joined Clann na Poblachta, the new political p