2 January – Today, the lowest temperature recorded in Ireland in the 20th century was −18.8 °C (−1.8 °F) at Lullymore, County Kildare. (The lowest on record in 1881 was −19.1 °C.)[1]
12 April – Patrick McGilligan, the last surviving member of the first government, celebrated his 90th birthday in Dublin. He died seven months later, on 15 November.
10 May – Petrol shortages due to a crisis in the Middle East caused long delays at petrol stations in Ireland.
2 June – Protesters opposed to the building of civic offices on the site of Viking excavations in Wood Quay, Dublin, occupied the area.
9 August – The first group of Vietnamese refugees arrived in Ireland.
27 August
British retired Admiral Lord Mountbatten of Burma (a cousin to the Queen), and two 15-year-olds, his nephew and boatboy Paul Maxwell, were killed by a bomb planted on his boat in County Sligo where he was holidaying. The Dowager Lady Brabourne died the following day of her injuries.
29 September – Pope John Paul II arrived at Dublin Airport for a three-day visit to Ireland. 1.25 million people, just over one-quarter of the population, welcomed him at a special mass in the Phoenix Park. Later in the day he spoke to 200,000 people at Drogheda, County Louth. He returned to Dublin in the evening where 750,000 people witnessed his motorcade passing through the city.
30 September – The Pope addressed 285,000 people at a youth rally in Galway, before travelling to Knock, County Mayo where a further 300,000 people heard him speak. He also visited Clonmacnoise.
1 October – On the final day of his visit, the Pope visited the Nunciature at Maynooth College and celebrated mass before 400,000 people in Limerick. He then left Shannon Airport for Boston in the United States.
23 November – In Dublin, IRA member Thomas McMahon was sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
5 December – Jack Lynch announced his resignation as Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil. He had led the party for thirteen years, spending nine as Taoiseach.
7 December
Charles Haughey was elected leader of the Fianna Fáil party.
31 December – 1979 was the worst year ever for industrial disputes in Ireland, costing the economy over 1,460,000 working days.
Undated – The Central Bank of Ireland postponed the issue of a new £20 note, blue in colour, bearing an image of the poet W. B. Yeats until January 1980 due to financial problems.