• 2 January – The South Irish Horse cavalry was formed as the South of Ireland Imperial Yeomanry.
• 7 January – Waterford Corporation passed a motion to confer the freedom of the city on John Redmond.
• 8 January – The Great National Convention took place in the Round Room of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Motions were passed regarding coercion,^{[clarification needed]} the Irish language and evicted tenants.
• 2 April – John Redmond was awarded the freedom of the City of Dublin.
• Spring to autumn – The Cork International Exhibition (1902) was held.
• 22 May – The White Star Liner SS Ionic was launched by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.
• 2 June – The centenary of the Congregation of Christian Brothers was celebrated with High Mass in the Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago.
• 22 July – Thomas Croke died at the age of 78 in Thurles. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cashel since 1875, he was the first patron of the Gaelic Athletic Association and a supporter of the Gaelic League and the Land League.
• August – The first part of the cliff path at The Gobbins, Islandmagee, was opened.
• 26 November – Ireland's Own magazine was launched.
• The Dunraven land conference^{[clarification needed]} started.^[1]
• The Roman Catholic St Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea, was completed.

• 2 April – W. B. Yeats's play Cathleen Ní Houlihan was first performed in Dublin.^[2]
• Michael McCarthy's Priests and People in Ireland was published.
• The Irish Literary Theatre project^{[clarification needed]} ended.^[1]
• Padraic Colum's anti-enlistment play, The Saxon Shillin' , was awarded a prize by Cumann na nGaedheal.
• Percy French wrote the comic song Are Ye Right There Michael?
• Augusta, Lady Gregory, published Cuchulain of Muirthemne, a retelling of Irish mythology in English.
• Walter Osborne painted his last work, Tea in the Garden, in Dublin.

Football edit

• International

  22 February – Wales 0–3 Ireland (in Cardiff)^[3]

  1 March – Ireland 1–5 Scotland (in Belfast)^[3]

  22 – March Ireland 0–1 England (in Belfast)^[3]

  Irish League

  Winners: Linfield F.C.

  Irish Cup

  Winners: Linfield F.C. 5–0 Distillery F.C.

• 2 January – Dan Keating, Ireland's oldest man and last surviving veteran of the Irish War of Independence (died 2007)^[4]
• 13 January – Francis Connell, cricketer (died 1983).
• 20 January – Kevin Barry, Irish Republican Army member (executed for his part in an operation resulting in the deaths of three British soldiers 1920).
• 26 February – Jim Hurley, veteran of the Irish War of Independence, Cork Gaelic footballer and hurler (died 1965).
• 25 April – Cormac Breslin, Fianna Fáil party Teachta Dála (TD) and Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann (died 1978).
• 29 April – Francis Stuart, writer (died 2000).
• 20 July – Jimmy Kennedy, songwriter (died 1984).
• 21 July – William Bernard Barry, politician in the United States (died 1946 in the United States).
• 16 August – Arthur Douglas, cricketer and rugby player (died 1937 in Northern Ireland).
• 4 September – Patrick Lenihan, Fianna Fáil party TD (died 1970).
• 11 September – Frank Ryan, member of the Irish Republican Army, editor of An Phoblacht, leftist activist and leader of Irish volunteers on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War (died 1944).
• 16 September – James Dillon, former leader of the Fine Gael party, TD and government minister (died 1986).
• 2 October – Alexander Montagu, 10th Duke of Manchester, born Viscount Mandeville, British Royal Navy officer and hereditary peer (died 1977 in England).
• 16 December – Billy King, cricketer (died 1987).
• 29 December – Edward Pakenham, 6th Earl of Longford, politician, dramatist, and poet (died 1961).
• December – Maurice Gerard Moynihan, civil servant and writer (died 1999).

  Full date unknown

  • Thekla Beere, civil servant (died 1991).
  • Frank Carney, playwright and civil servant (died 1978).
  • Maurice Gorham, journalist and broadcasting executive (died 1978).
  • Patrick MacDonogh, poet (died 1961).

• 20 January – Aubrey Thomas de Vere, poet and critic (born 1814).
• 12 February – Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, politician, diplomat, and traveller (born 1826 in Florence).
• 10 March – C. Y. O'Connor, engineer in Australia (born 1843).
• 21 April – Ethna Carbery, writer and poet (born 1866).
• 29 May – Edward Harrington, Member of Parliament (MP) for West Kerry 1885–1892 (born c.1852)
• 20 July – John William Mackay, businessman in the United States (born 1831).
• 22 July – Thomas Croke, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, founder patron of the Gaelic Athletic Association (born 1824).
• 23 December – Lucius Gwynn, cricketer (born 1873).

  Full date unknown

  • John O'Hart, genealogist (born 1824).

• 1902 in Scotland
• 1902 in Wales