• President: Seán T. O'Kelly
• Taoiseach: Éamon de Valera (FF)
• Tánaiste: Seán Lemass (FF)
• Minister for Finance: Seán MacEntee (FF)
• Chief Justice: Conor Maguire
• Dáil: 14th
• Seanad: 7th

• 18 January – Sinn Féin decided to contest all 12 constituencies in the next Westminster elections in Northern Ireland.
• 15 March – Up to 10,000 civil servants marched on O'Connell Street in Dublin demanding a just wage.
• 16 March – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. asked the American Congress to support a United Ireland.
• 27 April – Maud Gonne MacBride died at her home in Dublin aged 88.
• 1 May – The BBC brought into service the first television transmitter in Ireland, at Glencairn (Belfast).^[1]
• 3 June – Five hundred unemployed men marched to Kildare Street demanding employment, not dole.
• 6 July – A thousand unemployed people sat on O'Connell Bridge for 15 minutes of protest.
• 2 August – Murlough Bay in the Glens of Antrim was chosen as the future grave of Roger Casement. Taoiseach Éamon de Valera called for the return of his remains.
• 29 August – Kilmainham Gaol is to be preserved as a national monument.
• 30 August – A new synagogue was dedicated in Terenure in Dublin (designed by Wilfrid Cantwell).^[2]
• 1 September – The Great Northern Railway was sold to the governments of the Republic and Northern Ireland and managed by a joint board.
• 21 September – The Irish Ploughing Team left Dublin for the World Ploughing Championships in Canada.
• 20 October – Busáras opened in Dublin^[1] (designed by Michael Scott), CIÉ's country bus station and the first significant international style building in Ireland.
• 28 October – Three Independent TDs of the 14th Dáil became members of Fianna Fáil.
• 30 October – Standish Vereker, 7th Viscount Gort, purchased Bunratty Castle to restore it.
• 17 November – The Great Blasket Island was depopulated.
• 18 December – The Censorship Board banned almost 100 publications on the grounds that they were indecent or obscene.

• 5 January – Samuel Beckett's play Waiting For Godot had its first public stage première in French as En attendant Godot in Paris.^[1] His novel The Unnamable was also published in French this year.
• 5–26 April – The first An Tóstal festivals of national culture^[1] (devised by Seán Lemass) were held.
• 8 August – Chester Beatty Library in Dublin opened to the public.^[1]
• Writer Brian O'Nolan was obliged to retire from his senior post in the Civil Service.^[3]

Association football edit

League of Ireland

Winners: Shelbourne

FAI Cup

Winners: Cork Athletic 2–2, 2–1 Evergreen United.

Golf edit

• Irish Open is won by Eric Brown (Scotland).

• 6 January – Noel Dempsey, Fianna Fáil TD for Meath West and Minister for Transport.
• 27 January – Ger Loughnane, Clare hurler, manager of Galway hurling team.
• 28 January – Hugo Hamilton, writer.
• 4 February – James Stirling, Irish physicist and academic.
• 12 February – Des Smyth, golfer.
• 15 February – Tony Adams, Irish-American screenwriter and producer (d. 2005)
• 24 February – Eoin Ryan, Fianna Fáil TD, MEP for Dublin.
• 5 March – Brian Kerr, soccer manager, Republic of Ireland national side manager.
• 6 March – James Bannon, Senator, Fine Gael TD for Longford–Westmeath.
• 11 March
  • Derek Daly, motor racing driver.
  • Mary Harney, Tánaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats.
  • Tom McCormack, Kilkenny hurler.
• 15 March – Richard Bruton, Deputy Leader of Fine Gael, TD for Dublin North-Central.
• 31 March – Breeda Moynihan-Cronin, Labour Party (Ireland) TD.
• 28 April – Paul Darragh, showjumper (died 2005).
• 16 May – Pierce Brosnan, actor.
• 17 May – Mary Flaherty, Fine Gael TD and junior minister.
• 30 May – Colm Meaney, actor.
• 31 May – Jerry Kiernan, long-distance runner
• 7 June – Kathleen Lynch, Labour Party TD for Cork North-Central.
• 12 June – John Moloney, Fianna Fáil TD for Laois–Offaly.
• 18 June – Neil O'Donoghue, American football placekicker.
• 7 July – Jim Glennon, Fianna Fáil politician and TD.
• 29 July – Frank McGuinness, playwright, translator and poet.
• 14 August – Maureen Beattie, Scottish actress.
• 19 August – Tom Parlon, President of the IFA (1997–2001), Progressive Democrat TD representing Laois–Offaly.
• 1 September – Catherine Murphy, Independent TD.
• 18 September – Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, bank official, Sinn Féin TD representing Cavan–Monaghan.
• 20 September – Joe Waters, soccer player.
• 23 September
  • Paudge Connolly, independent TD.
  • Dessie Ellis, Sinn Féin councillor in Dublin City Council, IRA prisoner, first person extradited to the United Kingdom under the 1987 Extradition Act.
• 26 September – Dolores Keane, singer and musician.
• 3 November – Michael O'Regan, journalist (d. 2024 in Ireland)
• 11 November – Jimmy Holmes, soccer player.
• 26 November – Marian Harkin, Member of the European Parliament representing North-West, Independent Teachta Dála representing Sligo–Leitrim.
• 3 December – Nickey Brennan, Kilkenny hurler, President of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

  Full date unknown

• Patrick Deeley, poet.
• Rita Kelly, poet.
• Sheila O'Donnell, architect.

• 11 February – Valentine McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee, Labour MP in the United Kingdom (born 1871).
• 22 February – John Caffrey, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 near La Brique, France (born 1891).
• March – Louisa Watson Peat, writer and lecturer, died in the United States (born 1883)
• 13 April – Alice Milligan, nationalist poet and author (born 1865).
• 15 April – John Dignan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Clonfert (born 1880).
• 17 April – Tom Sharkey, boxer (born 1873).
• 3 June – Philip Graves, journalist and writer (born 1876).
• 14 July – Frank Fahy, Sinn Féin MP and later Fianna Fáil TD, member of 1st Dáil, Ceann Comhairle (born 1880).
• 23 July – Maude Delap, marine biologist (born 1866).
• 12 September – James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, Unionist politician and first Governor of Northern Ireland (born 1869).
• 3 October – Sir Arnold Bax, English composer (born 1883).
• 17 October – Jack Rochford, Kilkenny hurler (born 1882).
• 30 October – John Counihan, farmer and salesmaster, Independent member of 1922 Seanad (born 1879).
• 1 November – Thomas F. O'Higgins, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister (born 1890).
• 16 November – T. F. O'Rahilly, linguist and Irish language scholar (born 1882).
• 25 December – Patsy Donovan, Major League Baseball player and manager (born 1865).

References edit