September 1
1737 - Launch of the Belfast News Letter, now the oldest surviving newspaper in Ireland or Britain, and one of the oldest in the world
1729 - Death of dramatist, essayist and publisher Sir Richard Steele, the Dubliner who founded The Tatler and The Spectator
1789 - Marguerite Gardiner, née Power; Countess of Blessington; author, is born near Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
1814 - Birth of James O'Flanagan, author, in Fermoy, Co. Cork
1830 - Dublin Zoo opens
1830 - The “Wild Colonial Boy” is shot dead in a gun battle with police at Cambelltown, Sydney. Contrary to the popular song, “The Wild Colonial Boy” was John Donohue, transported from Ireland in 1824
1856 - Birth of Irish Nationalist Party leader John Redmond in Ballytrent, Co. Wexford
1864 - Roger Casement, British consular official and Irish nationalist, is born in Sandycove, Co. Dublin
1870 - Isaac Butt founds the Home Government Association; Home Rule is now the objective of constitutional nationalists
1913 - Protest by locked-out workers leads to serious riots in Dublin. Shops are looted and attempts made to tear up tram lines.
1972 - Tony Fleming is born in Virginia USA.
1999 - Van Morrison beomes the first inductee to The Hot Press Irish Music Hall of Fame.
1999 - Five-year-old triplets Jake, Melissa and Denis Doherty from Knockanes, Headford, Co. Kerry, arrive for their first day at school in Knockanes National School
Photo Credit: Eamonn Keogh
2000 - The number of people out of work falls to an 18-year low
2000 - The resumption of normal train services to Westport, Co. Mayo is celebrated with a platform party. Bemused but delighted passengers are greeted with delicacies and glasses of champagne laid on by the local Atlantic Coast Hotel, one of hundreds of establishments in the Mayo region hit financially by the 10 week rail stoppage
2002 - Hugh Orde, Northern Ireland’s new chief constable vows to crack down on paramilitary "godfathers" who have orchestrated a series of unsolved sectarian murders.
September 2
1022 - Maelsechlainn II - "The great high king of Ireland" - dies
1649 - Siege of Drogheda begins
1752 - The Gregorian calendar is adopted in Ireland and Britain, 170 years after mainland Europe: 2 September is followed by 14 September
1731 - Birth of Sir Lucius O'Brien, opposition politician, once described as 'a man who disagrees with the rest of mankind by thinking well of himself'
1784 - Sir Eyre Coote, the elder, dies of apoplexy at sea off Madras, while being pursued by French ships
1893 - Second Home Rule Bill passed by House of Commons
1933 - Cummann na nGaedheal, the Centre Party, and the National Guard, once known as the "Blueshirts", join forces to form Fine Gael
1942 - IRA Volunteer Tom Williams is hanged at Belfast's Crumlin Road Jail
1998 - Sinn Féin formally nominate Mid-Ulster MP Martin McGuinness as its representative to work with the International Commission on Decommissioning
2002 - Ireland forms an alliance with Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Greece in a bid to limit the expansion of nuclear energy
2002 - A Commission which includes loyalist paramilitaries calls on republican terror groups to join them in achieving calm along sectarian flashpoint areas.
September 3
1654 - The first Protectorate parliament meets; Ireland is represented by 30 members
1781 - Birth of William Sharman Crawford, radical politician, in Co. Down
1821 - The last day of George IV's visit to Ireland
1842 - In Kill, Co. Kildare, birth of John Devoy, journalist and leading member of the Fenians
1850 - Charters are granted to colleges in Belfast (now Queen’s University), Cork (now UCC) and Galway (now UCG), under the Universities (Ireland) Act
1854 - Birth of Fanny Parnell, Land League agitator and sister of Charles Stewart Parnell
1897 - James Hanley, novelist and short story writer, is born in Liverpool of Irish parents
1905 - Birth of James “Snowy” Dunne, widely regarded as one of Ireland’s greatest centre forwards. He played for Arsenal, Southampton and the Shamrock Rovers
1913 - A meeting of 400 employers with William Martin Murphy pledges not to employ any persons who continue to be members of the Irish Transport & General Workers' Union.
1943 - Birth of Liam Maguire, trade unionist and campaigner for disabled people
1963 - Death of poet Louis MacNeice
1972 - Mary Peters wins the women's pentathlon in Munich and becomes the first Irish woman to win an Olympic Gold medal
1998 - Near the scene of the explosion, US President Bill Clinton and British Premier Tony Blair unveil a plaque in memory of the Omagh bombing victims
1998 - New Garda powers come into force which open the way for a clampdown on hardline extremists
2000 - Dom Columba Marmion, a Dublin priest who is credited with curing an American woman of cancer, is beatified by Pope John Paul II
In the liturgical calendar, it is the feast day of St. MacNis, baptised by St. Patrick, and later consecrated Bishop by the Saint.
September 4
1798 - Cornwallis moves forward from Tuam to attack Castlebar
Humbert leaves Castlebar with 800 French troops and 1000 Irish rebels and moves into Co Sligo. His plan is to march to Ulster. Humbert marches all night. Rising takes place in Longford and Westmeath
1844 - Conspiracy judgment against Daniel O'Connell is reversed by House of Lords
1851 - John Dillon, Nationalist politician, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin
1922 - Dónal Foley, journalist, humorist and author of 'Man Bites Dog' column in the Irish Times, is born in Ring, Co. Waterford
1976 - Women protest against men-only bathing at the Forty Foot in Sandycove.
September 5
1690 - Having failed to take Limerick, William leaves Ireland
1724 - In the guise of an Irish Patriot , M. B. Drapier, Jonathan Swift publishes "Drapier Letter III" - one of a series of letters designed to incite the people against a new coinage
1771 - Benjamin Franklin's visit to Ireland begins
1785 - Edmond Sexton Pery resigns as Speaker of the Irish parliament on grounds of ill health. John Foster is unanimously elected to replace him
1798 - Humbert defeats small government force at Collooney, but suffers serious casualties; he camps at Dromahair. Longford rebels attack Granard and are routed. Westmeath rebels occupy Wilson's Hospital
1890 - Birth of Richard Chenevix Trench, prelate, philologist and poet; the New English Dictionary, later the Oxford English Dictionary, was begun at his suggestion, in Dublin
1930 - The first edition of the Irish Press, a Dublin daily newspaper founded by De Valera as a platform for Fianna Fáil, is published
1934 - Birth of Kevin McNamara MP, former Labour spokesman on Northern Ireland
1950 - Birth of Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Fianna Fáil politician
1998 - President Clinton follows in the footsteps of John F. Kennedy and becomes a Freeman of Limerick. Today marks the end of his three-day visit to Ireland
1999 - History comes alive at Phoenix Park as the beating of the Millennium Drum signals the beginning of a week long celebration of Irish history and heritage
2000 - The Church of Ireland criticises Portadown Orange Order leader Harold Gracey for refusing to condemn the violence surrounding the Drumcree protest
2001 - The violent scenes of sectarian hatred witnessed at the Holy Cross school in Belfast make headlines in newspapers all over the world
2002 - US-owned communications equipment firm, Tellabs, announces it will close its Shannon plant in December with the loss of more than 400 jobs.
September 6
1798 - Humbert marches to Drumkeeran. Lake is still tailing Humbert
1813 - Isaac Butt, barrister, politician and founder of the Home Rule movement, is born in Glenfin, Co. Donegal
1831 - Birth in Rosscarbery, Co. Cork of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, one of the founders of the Fenian Brotherhood
1890 - Birth of Brinsley MacNamara, novelist, short story-writer and playwright
1936 - Birth of Bruce Arnold, journalist and author
1974 - 19 Prisoners escape from Porlaoise Prison
1981 - Death of Christy Brown, the handicapped Dublin author, who learned to type with his left foot
1987 - Cyclist Stephen Roche wins the World Professional Road Race Championship
1994 - Prime Minister of Dublin government meets with Sinn Fein President for the first time since the ratification of the 1922 Anglo-Irish Treaty
1999 - The £20 million Cavan town and Butlersbridge by-pass is officially opened by Environment Minister Noel Dempsey
2000 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pledges to the United Nations that Ireland will more than double its level of aid to the world’s poorest countries over the next seven years
2000 - Dublin's City Hall reopens after a two year, £4·5 million refurbishment programme
2002 - Death of Bobby Clancy of the Clancy Brothers.
September 7
1695 - Penal Laws are passed which restrict the rights of Catholics to have an education, to bear arms, or to possess a horse worth more than five pounds
1798 - Humbert crosses Shannon at Ballintra and camps at Cloone. Cornwallis crosses Shannon. Rebels at Wilson's Hospital are routed; this ends the rebellion in the midlands
1801 - Arthur Hill, 2nd Marquis of Downshire, former MP for Co. Down and one of the wealthiest landowners in Ireland, commits suicide
1823 - Kevin Izod O'Doherty, transportee, physician and politician, is born in Dublin
1892 - John L. Sullivan loses his world heavyweight boxing title to another Irish American, James Corbett
1913 - A large meeting in Sackville Street asserts the right of free speech, trade union representation and demands an enquiry into police conduct.
1921 - Frank Duff founds the Association of Our Lady of Mercy, later to be known as the Legion of Mary
1948 - Taoiseach John A.Costello declares the Irish Free State a Republic
1980 - Galway wins the All Ireland Final
2001 - It is announced that US President George Bush is sending his special envoy, Richard Haass, to Northern Ireland to sound out parties on the ailing peace process.

September 8
1783 - A second convention of Dungannon - a gathering of Volunteers from Ulster- is held and prepares the way for a National Volunteer convention on parliamentary reform
1798 - Battle of Ballinamuck - last major battle of "The Year of the French"; after a short fight, Humbert surrenders
1812 - John Martin, revolutionary, transportee and politician, is born near Newry, Co. Down
1830 - Thomas Nicholas Burke, Dominican friar, preacher and lecturer, is born in Galway
1852 - A conference of the Tenant League in Dublin adopts a policy of independent opposition in Parliament
1908 - Poet, educator and eventual Easter Rising rebel Patrick Pearse opens St. Edna's school for boys (Scoil Eanna), combining new European theories of education with a focus on the glory of the Gaelic past
1931 - Birth of Desmond Guinness, author and conservationist
1933 - Founding of Fine Gael Party
1980 - U2 plays the first of four consecutive Monday night performances at London's famous Marquee Club
1998 - A radical Government action plan aiming to cut thousands off the dole is launched
1999 - AB Airlines will cease operations on the Shannon to London Gatwick route at midnight
2000 - US President Bill Clinton announces he will visit Ireland in December
2000 - Clonakilty, Co. Cork claims the Best Village title in the prestigious European Entente Florale competition; in the town category, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, wins a bronze medal in the highly competitive environmental contest
2002 - The Kilkenny Cats beat the Co. Clare Banners and collect their 27th All-Ireland hurling title in front of 76,254 fans at Croke Park
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Disbode, a 7th century Irish missionary. According to German legend, the Irish saint founded the German wine industry when wine started pouring from his pilgrim’s staff.
September 9
872 - Earliest verifiable date of a Viking invasion of Ireland in Dunrally
1831 - 30,000 punds is allocated to establish "national" system of elementary education in Ireland
1845 - The arrival of the potato blight in Ireland is reported in the Dublin Evening Post
1852 - The last day of the Tenant League Conference in Dublin
1893 - House of Lords rejects Second Home Rule Bill
1922 - The newly elected Daíl Éireann meets to frame its constitution and elects William T. Cosgrave President of the Executive Committee
1963 - Cardinal William Conway becomes Primate of All Ireland
1978 - U2 support The Stranglers at the Top Hat Ballroom in Dublin before a crowd of 2,500 people, their biggest to date. The band is paid 50 pounds
2001 - Protestant residents of Ardoyne defy church leaders and politicians by continuing their protest outside north Belfast's Holy Cross primary school
2001 - Family, friends and fans pay tribute to actor Joe Lynch during a special commemorative mass at the Catholic Pro-Cathedral in Dublin
2001 - Three suspected IRA members - Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan - are transferred from La Modelo federal prison to a high security jail in Bogota over fears for their safety
2002 - Bob Geldof delivers a moving speech at the launch of the world’s first genocide centre in Nottinghamshire
2002 - Castletown, Co. Laois, is declared Ireland’s Tidiest Town
In the liturgical calendar, this is the feast day of St. Kieran, founder of the great monastery at Clonmacnois. He dies on this date in 545.
September 10
1315 - Battle of Connor. Major victory for Edward Bruce in his invasion of Ulster
1602 - "Red" Hugh O'Donnell dies in Simancas, Spain; evidence suggests he was poisoned by an English spy
1641 - Oliver Cromwell seizes Drogheda
1763 - The Freeman's Journal is founded in Dublin by Charles Lucas
1831 - Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, Fenian, is born in Rosscarbery, Co. Cork
1850 - In Thurles, it is the final day of the first canonical synod of the Irish church, summoned by Paul Cullen
1916 - While serving in the Dublin Fusiliers during World War I, Irish poet Tom Kettle dies in attack on Ginchy
1919 - Dáil Éirean outlawed by the English as a "dangerous association."
1923 - The Irish Free State is admitted into the League of Nations
1985 - The first heart transplant takes place in Ireland
1987 - The third leg of the U2 Joshua Tree tour opens in New York's Nassau Coliseum
1998 - Students queue for food at an emergency soup kitchen and advice centre, set up in a bid to ease the impact of the stress and strain caused by one of the greatest accommodation shortages ever experienced in Dublin
1998 - Gerry Adams and David Trimble finally come face-to-face in an historic move aimed to bring to an end decades of mistrust between the two sides
2001 - Westport, Co. Mayo wins the Tidy Towns competition.
September 11
1649 - Massacre at Drogheda. Cromwell captures the town and slaughters the garrison
1766 - John Bligh, former MP for Athboy, who suffers from the delusion that he is a teapot, marries suddenly and unexpectedly at nearly 50 years of age. Between now and his death in 1781 he will father at least seven children, 'in spite of his initial alarm that his spout would come off in the night'
1919 - Dáil Eireann is suppressed as a ‘dangerous association’ by the British government and membership is deemed to be a crime
1922 - Proportional representation for local elections is abolished in Northern Ireland
1998 - British troops are withdrawn from the streets of Belfast in response to the ongoing republican and loyalist cease-fires
1998 - The Northern Ireland Office announces that more than 200 loyalist and republican prisoners will be freed from the Maze Prison before the end of the year
2000 - Gina Adair, the wife of jailed loyalist paramilitary boss Johnny Adair is thrown out of the public gallery after disrupting proceedings at the Northern Ireland Assembly
2000 - Picturesque Kenmare completes a unique double by becoming the first town in the country to take the prize as both Ireland’s Tidiest Town and Ireland’s Best Kept Town
2001 - President Mary McAleese goes on RTÉ Radio to express her shock and horror at the terrorist attacks in the US. In the wake of the attacks, the government immediately begins reviewing security arrangements
2002 - In a gesture of support and solidarity, schools, shops and businesses come to a symbolic halt at 1.46pm - the precise moment, Irish time, that the first terrorist hijacked plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center in NYC one year ago.
2008 - The Irish government-owned training yacht Asgard sinks in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of France. All crew and trainees are rescued by the French coastguard after managing to get onto life rafts. They are taken to a hotel on the nearby island of Belle Isle where they are recovering from their ordeal. Trainees pay up to 430 euros to spend a week on board the vessel, which has taken part in Tall Ships events.
September 12
1653 - Ireland and Scotland are represented by six and five members respectively in the 'Barebones' parliament which is in effect from 4 July to this date
1798 - Rebels attack Castlebar and are repulsed
1907 - Louis McNeice, poet and classical scholar is born in Belfast
1919 - Dáil Éireann is declared illegal
1951 - Birth of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
1957 - Birth of Mal Donaghy, former NI and Manchester United player
1983 - The first episode of RTÉ’s Glenroe is broadcast
1999 - It is announced that every household in Ireland is to receive a millennium candle to light when the sun sets on New Year’s Eve
2001 - Irish aid agencies pull out of Afghanistan amid growing fears of a possible US retaliation on the Taliban regime and Osama bin Laden
2001 - Families in Limerick take in American tourists grounded since 9/11 at Shannon Airport after all flights in and out of the US are cancelled.
In the liturgical calendar, it is the feast day of St. Ailbe, Bishop of Emly, Tipperary.
September 13
1494 - Edward Poynings, best known for his introduction of "Poynings Law," which prevented the Irish Parliament from meeting without royal permission and approval of its agenda, is appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland
1803 - Death of John Barry, a native of Ballystampson, Co. Wexford, Commodore in the US Navy and renowned as the Father of the American Navy
1903 - Padraic Pearse arrives in Ros Muc, County Galway and takes up residence at his cottage in Inbhear
1912 - In a speech at Dundee, Winston Churchill announces his support of a policy of devolution for Ireland, Scotland and Wales
1999 - Former US Senator George Mitchell returns to Northern Ireland as he embarks on the second week of his review of the Good Friday Agreement
1999 - Clonakilty, Co. Cork wins the Tidy Town competition.
Photo Credit: Dave Parker
September 14
1607 - Hugh O'Neill, Ruari O'Donnell and other chiefs of their families depart Lough Swilly for the continent in what has become known as the 'Flight of the Earls"
1647 - Lord Inchiquin, a royalist turned Parliamentarian, sacks the Irish Catholic Confederate garrison at the Rock of Cashel
1752 - The Gregorian calendar is adopted in Ireland and Britain, 170 years after mainland Europe: 2 September is followed by 14 September. There are protests and riots by people who are convinced that they have lost 12 days out of their lives
1824 - Sir Frederick Falkiner, impoverished former MP for Athy, Co. Dublin and Co. Carlow commits suicide in Naples
1852 - Death of Arthur Wellesley, alias the Duke of Wellington. The Dublin born soldier served as MP for Meath before eventually becoming Prime Minister of Britain
1886 - Birth of author Alice Milligan
1907 - Edel Quinn, promoter of Legion of Mary in Africa, is born near Kanturk, Co. Cork
1955 - Dr. Kathleen Lynn, Irish Citizen Army officer, dies
1971 - Ian Paisley founds the Democratic Unionist Party
1982 - Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, dies in a car crash
1994 - At a London auction, Bono pays $53,400 for Charlie Chaplin's costume from The Great Dictator
1998 - Sinn Fein is warned by First Minister, David Trimble, that it could not take up seats in the new Northern Ireland Assembly's ruling executive until the IRA's vast armoury of weapons are decommissioned
1999 - Clonfert Cathedral which ranks in importance with the Great Pyramids and dates back to the 12th century, joins the millennium list of the 100 Most Endangered Monuments. The list is compiled by The New York Times and in the past has included such famous landmarks as the Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru and the Aztec site of Teotihuacan in Mexico City
Photo Credit: Kevin Clancy
1999 - UFF "godfather" Johnny Mad Dog Adair is released from the Maze Prison
1999 - The Pro-Agreement parties resume talks with former US Senator George Mitchell during the second week of his review of the Good Friday Agreement
1999 - Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern begins his official visit to Russia
2000 - Roy Keane, Pauline McLynn and Samantha Mumba are among the stars who are honoured at the Millennium Irish Post Awards held at the Millennium Brittania Hotel in Grosvenor Square
2001 - Following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, as many as 15,000 Irish people are stranded in the US and Canada awaiting flights to Ireland
2001 - The Irish government declares a national day of mourning; schools, businesses and shops are shut down in an unprecedented gesture of sympathy following Tuesday's attack on the World Trade Center.

September 15
1851 - Sir William Whitla, physician and professor, is born in Co. Monaghan
1865 - Police raid and close the Irish People offices; Rossa, Luby and O'Leary are arrested
1866 - John Blake Dillon, Young Irelander and co-founder of The Nation, dies in Killarney
1881 - First soccer international in Ireland; England beats the Irish squad Total crowd receipts: £9.19s.7d
1889 - Birth in Castlebar of singer Margaret Burke Sheridan
1905 - Pat O'Callaghan, physician, hammer-thrower and first man to win an Olympic gold medal while representing Ireland, is born near Kanturk, Co. Cork
1976 - Anne Letitia Dickson is elected leader of the Unionist Party of Northern ireland, becoming the first woman to lead a political party in Ireland
1997 - Sinn Fein joins multiparty peace talks in Northern Ireland
1999 - The Corrs, the Cranberries and the Chieftains take the lion’s share of £15.6 million collected by the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) on behalf of Irish song writers
2000 - Sonia O'Sullivan leads the Irish team at a spectacular Olympic opening ceremony in Sydney, Australia
2001 - Aer Lingus, Delta and Continental Airlines resume services to and from Ireland. The first trans-Atlantic flights to the US leave for New York, Newark, Chicago and Washington. Priority status is given to all relatives of the victims and injured in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.
September 16
1732 - Birth in Castletown, Co. Clare of Thomas O'Gorman, physician, wine trader and courtier in France; made a chevalier by Louis XV
1798 - Small French force under James Napper Tandy makes brief landing on Rutland Island, Co. Donegal
1798 - Belfast United Irish leaders arrested
1808 - William Trench, land agent and author, is born near Portarlington, Co. Laois
1830 - Birth in Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow of Patrick Moran, Archbishop of Sydney, first Australian cardinal, and church historian
1845 - Death of Thomas Davis, revolutionary, poet, and political theorist
1865 - Fenian newspaper, Irish People, ceases publication
1870 - Birth in Dublin of John Pius Boland, nationalist politician and Ireland's first Olympic gold medalist
1906 - Trevor G. McVeagh, cricket, hockey, squash and tennis player, is born in Athboy, Co. Meath
1925 - Charles Haughey, Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach, is born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
1934 - Singer, guitarist and founder of the Dubliners, Ronnie Drew, is born in Dublin
1941 - Sixteen soldiers are killed in the Glen of Imaal, Co. Wicklow, while testing mines
1945 - World renowned Irish tenor, John McCormack, dies in Dublin
1998 - Irish-owned Musgrave Group becomes the biggest food distribution company in the country after signing an historic franchise deal with supermarket chain Roches Stores
1998 - Books of condolences opened in the aftermath of the Omagh tragedy are closed. More than 150,000 people from across Northern Ireland are estimated to have signed the books.
September 17
1711 - John Holwell, surgeon and survivor of 'Black Hole of Calcutta' is born in Dublin
1798 - 3000 French troops depart for Ireland from Brest
1903 - Frank O'Connor, (pseudonym of Michael O'Donovan), short-story writer and author of poetic translations from Irish is born in Cork
1913 - In Newry, Edward Carson says that a Provisional Government will be established in Ulster if Home Rule is introduced.
In Dublin, labour unrest grows with a march 5,000 through the city.
1920 - Birth of Chaim Herzog, former president of Israel, born in Belfast and educated in Dublin
1930 - The Free State is elected to the council of the League of Nations
1937 - Ten young men, potato-pickers from Achill Island, die when a bothy catches fire on a farm at Kirkintilloch, Scotland
1976 - The founders of the Peace Movement, Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, are awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace
1999 - Interest rates for thousands of home owners tumble as the mortgage war escalates
2003 - Mrs Harriet O'Donovan Sheehy unveils the new stamp of her late husband Frank O'Connor at St Patrick's National School, Gardiner's Hill, Cork.
Photo Credit: Gerard McCarthy.
September 18
1846 - James Standish O'Grady, novelist, is born in Castletownbere, Co. Cork
1867 - Kelly and Timothy Deasy are rescued in a Fenian attack on a police van in Manchester during which a police sergeant is shot dead
1889 - Kathleen Behan, née Kearney, 'Mother of All the Behans' and folk singer is born in Dublin
1851 - Anne Devlin, friend and comrade of Robert Emmett, dies in Dublin
1914 - Home Rule Act on Statute Book but is suspended for the duration of World War
1941 - Stephen Hayes, a former IRA chief of staff, is kidnapped on 30 June; he later claims to have been 'court martialled' and tortured by the IRA; Seán McCaughey is convicted of his kidnapping on this date
1944 - Kathleen Murphy Stewart is born in Wilmer (now known as Rosemead) California USA.
1964 - Death of Sean O’Casey in England.
September 19
1757 - Having been funded by a bequest from Jonathan Swift, St Patrick's Hospital for the insane, Dublin, is opened
1889 - Seán Keating, painter, is born in Limerick
1880 - Parnell delivers his famous speech at Ennis in which he introduces the term for non-violent protest - boycotting. Parnell asked his audience, 'What are you to do with a tenant who bids for a farm from which another has been evicted?' Several voices replied, 'shoot him!' Parnell answered: "I wish to point out a better way, a more Christian way which will give the lost man an opportunity of repenting. When a man takes a farm from which another has been evicted, you must shun him on the roadside, on the streets, in the shop and even in the place of worship by putting him in a "moral Coventry." You must show him your detestation of the crime he has committed"
1881 - Kate Coll and Juan Vivion de Valera are married in St. Patrick’s Church, Greenville, New Jersey. Just over a year later the couple give birth to Éamon
1905 - Death of Dr. Thomas Barnardo. Dublin-born Barnardo opened his first home for destitute boys in Stepney in 1870
2000 - Aodhnait Fahy, Ireland's top student is given £30,000 to allow her to pursue the course of her dreams at Oxford University. She swept the board in this year's Leaving Cert with nine A1s - the highest ever result in the country
2000 - Fishermen all around the coast tie up their boats in protest at the £15 million hike in their fuel bill which, they claim, will put many of them out of business before Christmas.
Photo Credit: Denis Minihane
September 20
1689 - The Enniskillen Protestants defeat Jacobite forces at Boyle, Co. Roscommon
1784 - Sir Richard Griffith, geologist and civil engineer, is born in Dublin
1803 - Robert Emmet, Irish patriot, is executed in Dublin. Emmet becomes a hero of Irish nationalists, largely on the basis of his stirring speech from the dock: "Let no man write my epitaph...When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then let my epitaph be written"
1847- Birth in Carron, Co. Clare of Michael Cusack, GAA founder
1911 - Anna Catherine Parnell, Irish patriot, dies
1918 - Republican newspapers are banned by English
1920 - Black and Tans raid Balbriggan, Co. Dublin
1920 - Kevin Barry is captured
1960 - Frederick H. Boland becomes president of the United Nations Assembly
1968 - Traffic wardens appear in Dublin for the first time.
September 21
1170 - MacMurrough and the Normans march on the Norse kingdom of Dublin, avoiding an Irish force that awaits them to the south of it. Dublin falls to them on this date. Some Norsemen, including the king of Dublin, Askulv, flee to the Hebrides or the Isle of Man
1601 - A Spanish army under Don Juan del Aguila lands at Kinsale
1703 - The first Irish parliament of Queen Anne is called; Alan Brodrick is unanimously elected Speaker
1728 - Philip Embury, founder of the American Methodist Church, is born in Ballingrane, Co. Limerick
1745 - The Jacobites are victorious at Prestonpans
1795 - 'Battle of the Diamond' between (Protestant) Peep o' Day Boys and (Catholic) Defenders near Loughgall, Co. Armagh leaves 30 Defenders dead and leads to the foundation of the Loyal Orange Institution (later the Orange Order) '...to defend the King and his heirs as long as they shall maintain the Protestant ascendancy'
1827 - Michael Corcoran, Union General, is born in Co. Donegal
1881- Revolutionary Éamonn Ceannt, is born in Glenamaddy, County Galway
1909 - Artist Tom Carr is born is Belfast
1932 - Birth of Mariga Guinness, née Princess Hermione Marie Gabrielle von Urach, Countess Württemberg; co-founder of Irish Georgian Society
1949 - The Republic of Ireland soccer team beats England 2-0 at Goodison Park - England’s first defeat by a foreign side
1981 - Death of author Christy Brown
1999 - Delegations from the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Féin meet at Stormont for their first direct talks in two months
1999 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pledges support for Arafat and the Palestinians
2000 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern condemns the missile attack on the MI6 HQ in London
Photo Credit: Eamonn Farrell/Photocall/Ireland!
2000 - Gardaí arrest a man in connection with the bombing of Nelson’s Pillar in O’Connell Street, Dublin, 34 years ago
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announces that Ireland will put its airports, airspace, refuelling facilities and garda intelligence at the disposal of the US in the battle against terrorism.
2006: Golfing history on Irish soil.
The Ryder Cup officially opens at the K Club in Co. Kildare. It is the first time golf's premier team tournament has come to Ireland and to date, it is the biggest sporting event ever staged in the country.

September 22
1601 - Battle of Kinsale
1626 - Charles I offers twenty-six concessions ("graces") to the Irish in return for subsidies to expand his army
1798 - Colonel Trench marches from Castlebar and takes Ballina
1821 - Patrick Moore, Confederate General, is born in Galway
1864 - Col. James Mulligan, who commanded "Mulligan's Irish Brigade," dies of wounds sustained at the 3rd Battle of Winchester
1884 - The gunboat HMS Wasp is wrecked off Tory Island, Co. Donegal, with the loss of 52 lives; there are eight survivors
1913 - 12,000 Ulster Volunteers parade at the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society's show grounds at Balmoral (Belfast) in protest at the Home Rule Bill.
1913 - In Dublin the food ship, The Hare, arrives bringing forty tons of food raised by British trade unionists.
1920 - Mid-Clare Brigade, IRA, kill six policemen near Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare
1928 - The first professional artist ever to appear on British television, Irishwoman Miss Peg O’Neil, gives "a charming entertainment, chatting and smiling, and telling Irish stories." The broadcast takes place at Olympia on the first day of the Radio Exhibition
1943 - Robert Ballagh, artist, is born in Dublin
1998 - RUC chief constable Ronnie Flanagan announces further reductions in the level of British troop patrols
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pushes for a decommissioning timetable from the IRA
1999 - Ferry sailings resume following unofficial 24 hour strike action by SIPTU members which disrupted sailings out of Dublin and Rosslare, affecting almost 1,000 passengers
2001 - High-ranking British and Spanish diplomats join President McAleese and Britain's Prince Andrew to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Kinsale
2002 - David Trimble calls on all IRA members to quit the paramilitary organisation and join its political wing to save the Northern peace process.
September 23
1586 - At the battle of Ardnaree in Co. Mayo, Sir Richard Bingham, governor of Connacht, surprises a force of redshanks (Scottish mercenary light infantrymen) engaged by the Burkes of Mayo; 1,000 redshanks and 1,000 camp followers are killed. Bingham hangs the leaders of the Burkes
1641 - The Gaelic Catholics of Ulster stage an uprising against the Scottish Presbyterian planters
1970 - Sir Arthur Young announces his resignation as chief constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary
1992 - The IRA destroys Belfast's forensic science laboratory with a huge bomb
2001 - Kevin Boland, who resigned from the Fianna Fáil Government during the 1970 Arms Crisis, dies after a short illness. He was the son of Gerald Boland, a 1916 veteran, confidant of Eamon de Valera, and long-time FF government minister; his uncle was the celebrated War of Independence hero, Harry Boland
1999 - Bob Geldof, Bono and other members of an international lobby group meet with Pope John Paul II to discuss the cancellation of third world debt repayments
Photo credit: AP Photo/Arturo Mari
2002 - The Listowel Races in Co. Kerry begin. For the first year in its history, which dates to 1858, it will be a seven-day meeting.
September 24
1661 - Faithful Tadpole is admitted as a clerical vicar choral of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin
1786 - Birth of Charles Bianconi, Irish passenger-car entrepreneur
1798 - United Irishman, Bartholomew Teeling, is hanged in Dublin
1801 - James Moore O'Donell, former MP for Ratoath, is killed in a duel with Major Denis Bingham in a feud over Co. Mayo politics
1880 - Mayo agent, Captain Charles Boycott, was sent to a 'moral Coventry.' He described his plight in a letter to The Times: "...people collect in crowds upon my farm and order off all my workmen. The shopkeepers have been warned to stop all supplies to my house. My farm is public property, I can get no workmen to do anything, and my ruin is openly avowed as the object of the Land League unless I throw up everything and leave the country"
1944 - Birth in Dublin of Eavan Boland, a poet who helped develop Arlen House, a feminist publishing company
1959 - Ireland's first Ban Garda recruit - woman police-officer - is introduced to RTÉ listeners
1998 - Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne admits that the Real IRA leaders who ordered the Omagh bombing will probably never be prosecuted
1998 - First Minister David Trimble and his deputy Séamus Mallon are divided over the set-up of the Assembly's power-sharing Executive
2000 - Boy band Westlife makes British pop history by becoming the first act to have six consecutive number one singles.
September 25
1697 - During William III's reign, Catholic clergy are banished by Act of Parliament
1819 - George Salmon, mathematician and professor of divinity, is born in Cork
1880 - Viscount Mountmorres is killed near Clonbur, Co. Galway
1917 - Thomas Ashe dies in the Mater Hospital in Dublin from the combined effects of a hunger strike and forced feeding at Mountjoy Jail. The following famous and much repeated Sean O’Casey quote "You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea... you cannot confine it in the strongest prison cell that your slaves could ever build" was made on the subject of the death of Thomas Ashe
1961 - Ronnie Whelan, Home Farm, Liverpool, Reading and Republic of Ireland footballer, is born in Dublin
1983 - 38 IRA prisoners break out of the Maze prison, 19 succeed in escaping
1999 - Sam Tamsanguan from Wilton’s Restaurant in London wins the world oyster opening championship title at the 45th annual Galway Oyster Festival
1999 - Protestant civil rights marchers blatantly defy a Belfast City Council ban to lay a wreath at the cenotaph to the victims of the Troubles during the so-called Long March
2000 - Sonia O'Sullivan wins a silver medal in the 5,000 meters at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia
Photo Credit: Patrick Bolger
2002 - Saying "He is no longer acceptable in our organisation," Loyalist chief Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is dumped by the leadership of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association.
September 26
1289 - 'All men of good will to the king', both Irish and English, in Munster and Leinster are summoned to Buttevant in Leix (Queen's County). A ten-day expedition which begins on this date, subdues and forces the local Irish into an uneasy peace
1713 - Charles Lucas, physician, MP and political radical, is born in Ballingaddy, Ennis, Co. Clare
1902 - James Dillon, politician and Fine Gael leader is born in Dublin
1930 - Saor Éire, a republican/socialist party, is founded by Peadar O'Donnell, Seán MacBride and other IRA members; it, the IRA and ten other organizations are declared illegal in the Free State on 23 October, and the Catholic Church excommunicates members of all 12 organizations. Saor Éire is soon dissolved
1932 - De Valera opens the 13th Assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva
1957 - Shamrock Rovers become the first League of Ireland team to play in the European Cup — they lose 6-0 to Manchester United
1997 - U2 plays its first-ever show in Greece, in the city of Thessaloniki
2000 - Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble warns that the Good Friday Agreement could vanish over plans for new policing arrangements and the IRA’s failure to disarm
2000 - Financier George Finbar Ross, whose Gibraltar-based International Investments company went bust in the mid-eighties owning millions to Irish investors, is cleared of the bulk of the charges against him
2001 - Thousands of teachers will be docked up to £500 each because of industrial action they took prior to last year's State exams
In the liturgical calendar, today is Feast day of St. Colman.
September 27
1662 - An "act for encouraging Protestant strangers and others to inhabit and plant in the kingdom of Ireland" is passed in the Irish Parliament under Charles II
1725 - Patrick Darcy, scientist and soldier, is born in Kitulla, Co.Galway
1891 - Charles Stewart Parnell makes his last public appearance at Creggs, Co. Galway
1926 - Tim O'Keeffe, publisher, is born in Kinsale, Co. Cork
1954 - Brian Mullins, Dublin Gaelic footballer, is born in Dublin
1957 - Launch of the Royal Showband
1971 - Heath, Lynch and Faulkner meet for talks at Chequers
1973 - The first in an annual series of ecumenical conferences is held at Ballymascanlon, Co. Lout and is attended by representatives of al the main churches
1998 - Tony Blair calls for a crisis meeting with David Trimble, Seamus Mallon and Gerry Adams to try to break the deadlock which has arisen over the decommissioning of arms
1998 - Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson announce they will donate a six-figure libel payout to a memorial fund for the victims of the Omagh bomb massacre
1999 - The Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute opens in Thurles, Co Tipperary
2000 - Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams accuses David Trimble of attempting to manufacture another artificial crisis in Northern Ireland
2000 - Thirty-three years after it was made, censors lift the ban on a film adaptation of James Joyce’s epic novel Ulysses
2001 - British Airways announces it is to close its Belfast-Heathrow route with 160 job losses. BA's decision also means it will suspend its daily service to Gatwick from Shannon and Cork
2001 - Entrepreneur Denis O'Brien is ordered to leave the Oireachtas committee inquiring into the CIE rail signalling project after telling Deputy Seán Doherty he is unfit to be its chairman.
2008 - Six nurses made history yesterday when they graduated from university and became the first in the HSE-South region to qualify to prescribe a specific range of drugs. Up until now, only doctors could prescribe the medications involved. But under a programme introduced in 2007, nurses working in midwifery, coronary care, A&E and other areas will be able to prescribe medications from a specific category list. Pictured at the ceremony yesterday in Cork University Hospital were, from left, Helen O'Callaghan from Ballincollig, Aine Hurley from Tower and Claire O'Brien from Ardfield.
September 28
1678 - 'Popish plot' is alleged in England
1690 - Marlborough takes Cork for the Williamites
1703 - Francis Annesley is expelled from the Irish Commons for his part in The Report of the Commissioners appointed by Parliament into the Irish Forfeitures, printed in London, containing the paragraph: 'And indeed it does appear to us, that the Freeholders of this Kingdom, through length of time and by contracting new friendship with the Irish, or by inter-purchasing with one another, but chiefly through a general dislike of the disposition of the forfeitures, are scarce willing to find any person guilty of the late rebellion, even upon full evidence.' The House has found that Annesley 'scandalously and maliciously misrepresented and traduced the Protestant Freeholders of this Kingdom and thereby endeavoured to create a misunderstanding and jealousy between the people of England and the Protestants of this Kingdom'
1725 - Sir Arthur Guinness is born in Celbridge, Co. Kildare. There is much debate as to Sir Arthur's birthdate. Many sources say September 24, although there is no evidence to support that claim. Charles Mosely 'Burke's Peerage and Barontage says that March 2nd was the date Arthur made his debut. To end all the speculation, in 1991 the Guinness Company chose September 28th. To confuse matters further, in 2009, Guinness celebrated its 250th birthday; but it would appear that many people are interchanging the birth of the stout with the founder of the company who makes it. No matter. Whatever the date, Arthur's Day is cause for a celebration with substance.
Read about Arthur's Birthday.
1912 - Edward Carson, leader of Ulster Unionists, stages signing of "Southern League and Covenant" against Irish Home Rule
1920 - Cork No. 2 Brigade, IRA, attacks and captures a military barracks in Mallow, Co. Cork. English forces later burn and sack the town
1960 - RTÉ broadcasts a report on the re-opening of Bunratty Castle to the public after extensive refurbishing
1964 - Divis Street riots follow Ian Paisley's insistence that the RUC remove the Tricolour from a window at Sinn Féin’s Belfast headquarters
1978 - Pope John Paul I dies after just 33 days in office aged 65 - the shortest reign in the entire history of the Papacy
1987 - U2 is joined by the New Voices of Freedom choir onstage at Madison Square Garden in New York for a performance of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern vows to hand over all necessary papers to the Flood Tribunal investigation into alleged planning irregularities
1998 - The final strains of the Last Post symbolically close a 200-year-old military history in Fermoy and Ballincollig as the Tricolour is lowered and the troops leave the barracks. Both camps are closing and the soldiers are being transferred to Cork
1999 - The home of dual Olympian and arguably Ireland’s greatest ever athlete, the late Dr Pat O’Callaghan, is demolished in his adopted Clonmel to make way for a Rehab training facility
1999 - Larchill Arcadian Gardens in Co. Kildare win's the top prize in the ESB Community Environment Awards
2000 - The Ulster Unionist Party warns that it may withdraw from all North South bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement unless guarantees are forthcoming on IRA decommissioning, and policing
2000 - According to official figures, the number of mobile telephone connections in Ireland exceeds the fixed line total for the first time
2000 - A call for the IRA to be disbanded is made by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern when he reiterates the view that Fianna Fáil cannot go into government with Sinn Féin while that party remains linked to an armed force.
September 29
1155 - A proposal for the invasion of Ireland by Henry II is discussed at the Council of Winchester and rejected, though soon after, Henry obtains a papal privilege approving the invasion
1603 - Rory O'Donnell kisses the king's hand and is created Earl of Tyrconnell
1678 - Count Peter Lacy, soldier, governor of Livonia (Latvia) and field-marshal in the Russian army, is born in Killeedy, Co. Limerick
1732 - Birth of Sir Henry Cavendish, politician and master of shorthand, who recorded parliamentary debates
1778 - Birth in Dublin of Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy
1798 - Tandy and other Irish political prisoners in Hamburg are handed over to British authorities
1826 - Charles Cornwallis Chesney, professor of military history, is born in Kilkeel, Co. Down
1836 - Michael Mulhall, publisher and statistician, is born in Dublin
1854 - Birth in Kinvara, Co. Galway of Francis Arthur Fahy who wrote the song, Galway Bay
1898 - Fenian Thomas Clarke is released from Portland Prison
1905 - Francis Llewellyn Harrison, musicologist, is born in Dublin
1908 - Birth of film star Greer Garson in Co. Down
1929 - The last active Fenian, John Devoy, dies
1930 - George Bernard Shaw refuses a peerage
1972 - Kathleen Daly Clarke, Irish patriot, dies
1979 - Pope John Paul II arrives in Dublin for the first ever papal visit to Ireland
1999 - Smyth’s bar on Haddington Road in Dublin, is sold ‘virtually’ and otherwise in Ireland’s first Internet broadcast property auction
2002 - In Co. Wicklow, five paintings, including two by the renowned artist, Rubens, are stolen in another raid on Russborough House which has a history of art thefts.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast of St. Michael, the Archangel. Read our article Celebrating St. Michael's Day in Old Ireland.
September 30
1430 - A great council meets at Dublin on on this date; it states that Irish enemies and English rebels have conquered almost all of Limerick, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Wexford, Carlow, Kildare, Meath and Louth, so that hardly anything but Co. Dublin remains in the colony
1598 - The English poet Edmund Spenser is appointed Sheriff of Cork
1691 - The first recorded meeting of the Presbyterian general synod of Ulster is held at Antrim
1852 - Sir Charles Stanford, composer, is born in Dublin
1900 - Arthur Griffith forms Cumann na nGaedheal, which later becomes Sinn Féin
1949 - Birth of Finance Minister, Charlie McGreevy
1959 - World premiere of the Sean O’Riada’s film Mise Éire, at Cork Film Festival
1994 - Michael Flannery, Irish patriot, dies in New York City
1997 - U2 performs in Tel Aviv, Israel for the first time
1998 - Northern Secretary Mo Mowlam holds out the prospect of troops being removed permanently from the streets of the North if paramilitary groups hand in their weapons
1998 - Gerry Adams warns there must be no slippage in full implementation of the Good Friday settlement
1998 - The first appearance together of David Trimble and Séamus Mallon on a Labour platform draws an enormous and spontaneous ovation from the 3,000 delegates attending the party conference in Blackpool
1999 - The Rev. Ian Paisley meets with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on the question of arson attacks on churches in the border area
Photo credit: PA/Chris Bacon
2001 - Ireland assumes presidency of the United Nation's Security Council
2001 - Thousands of Irish, New Yorkers and Irish-Americans pay tribute to the many Irish people who died in the terrorist attacks. Bishop John Buckley of Cork celebrated the mass with the Bishop of Killaloe at the Roman Catholic Holy Trinity church in Manhattan.

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