 At the 1921 elections Hales was elected to the Second Dáil as a Sinn Féin member for the Cork Mid, North, South, South East and West constituency.At the 1922 general election, he was elected to the Third Dáil as a pro-Treaty Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the same constituency.He received 4374 first preference votes (7.98%).