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- Slang: Today in Irish History
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January 1
1710 - Charles O'Conor, writer, historian and editor, is born in Kilmactranny, Co. Sligo
1767 - Maria Edgeworth, author of Castle Rackrent and one of the few women literary figures of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, is born
1790 - James Wills, clergyman and writer, is born in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon
1801 - The Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britain goes into effect
1801 - George Benn, historian, is born in Tandragee, Co. Armagh
1862 - Edward Harland's Belfast shipyard assumes the name 'Harland & Wolff'
1871 - Gladstone's Irish Church Act which disestablishes the Church of Ireland takes effect
1880 - Gretta Bowen, artist, is born in Dublin
1889 - Patrick McGill, navvy, novelist and poet, is born in Maas, Co. Donegal
1892 - Ellis Island becomes reception center for new immigrants. The first immigrant through the gates is Annie Moore, 15, of Co. Cork
1941 - On this date and through January 3, German bombs fall on counties Carlow, Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wexford and Wicklow
1990 - Northern Ireland Fair Employment Act becomes law
1998 - Foreign Affairs Minister David Andrews urges all sides to show the "greatest possible restraint" in the wake of a sectarian bar-room gun attack which plunges Northern Ireland into an uncertain New Year
1999 - The world's oldest priest, the Venerable Archdeacon Patrick Lyons, passes away at Limerick Regional hospital, just two months before his 106th birthday
2001 - Retired garda sergeant John Fahy from Kinlough, Co Leitrim catches the first salmon of the season. The accomplished angler is also the first salmon fisherman to insert a blue bar coded tag into the gills and mouth of a freshly caught fish. For the first time, every salmon caught by commercial fishermen or leisure anglers will have to be tagged, as part of a new controls on salmon fishing which are in effect as of this date
2002 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern helps write history by spending euros in his local news-agent.
2004 - Ireland takes over as President of the European Commission
2005 - Cork officially becomes the European Capital of Culture
2005 - Littlepace housing estate in Clonee struck by a small tornado
2005 - Death of Patrick Denis O'Donnell, military historian, writer and former Commandant of the Irish Defence Forces (b.1922)
2005 - Death of showjumper Paul Darragh (b.1953)
2006 - Philip Hogarty (aged 19) becomes the first road death on Irish roads in 2008 after being struck by a Garda patrol car in Tallaght. Philip was chairman of the Irish Chess Union
2005 - Death of Peter Caffrey, actor (b.1949)
2008 - Phase-out of incandescent light bulbs commences
2009 - Death if John Morrow, Presbyterian minister and peace activist
2010 - Death of Denis Keeley, 79, long-term partner of writer Philomena Lynott
2010 - Death of Michael Dwyer, 58, film Correspondent with The Irish Times
2011 - The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect allowing civil partnerships where hetero- and homosexual cohabiting couples have the same rights
2012 - Dr. Rhona Mahony becomes the first woman head of a maternity hospital in Ireland, taking up her post as master of the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin. She replaces Dr Michael Robson, whose term expired on December 31st. She was elected to the position by the hospital’s governors during 2011. From Dublin, the 41-year-old, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist and a specialist in foetal and maternal medicine, is married and has four children.
Photo Credit: Irish Times/Cyril Byrne
January 2
1602 - The Spanish force under Aguila surrenders Kinsale to Mountjoy
1793 - A Catholic Committee petition is presented to the king
1880 - Parnell begins his tour of the United States on this date
1910 - James Joyce and Eileen Joyce leave Dublin for Trieste, Italy
1920 - Recruitment begins for the 'Black and Tans', Britain's unofficial auxiliary army
1962 - Margaret Emmeline Conway Dobbs, Irish historian, language activist, and defender of Roger Casement, dies
1998 - Troops are ordered back on to the streets of Belfast and police patrols are intensified in a bid to foil loyalist attacks on Catholics in Northern Ireland
2000 - Patrick O'Brian, born Richard Patrick Russ, 85-year-old author of maritime novels dies in a Dublin hotel
2000 - A bronze life size statue of Fungi, the Dingle dolphin is unveiled in a special millennium ceremony
2001 - Ireland's third largest greyhound coursing meeting, Corn na Féile, is abandoned after saboteurs steal up to 30 hares.
2007 - Irish Becomes The 23rd Official Language Of the EU. It is accorded the status of a treaty language, which means it is regarded as an authentic text for treaties. As from 1 January, however, all key EU legislation are translated into Irish, with provisions put in place so that Irish can be spoken at council meetings. The move means the creation of 29 new posts in translation, revision and publication.
2008 - After 36 years in business, The Burlington Hotel in Dublin closes, with the loss of 400 jobs
2009 - Death of Tony Gregory, 61, Independent TD sitting in Dáil Éireann
2010 - Death of Eoin Neeson, 83: historian, author, journalist, former director of the Government Information Bureau
January 3
1663 - Thomas Crompton of Arklow, a clergyman, petitions the House of Lords that 'Constantine Neal of Wexford, merchant, refuseth to restore the bell belonging to the steepl (sic) of Arklow, which he saw in his possession'. An order is made for its restoration
1905 - Pádraic Fallon, poet and playwright, is born in Athenry, Co. Galway
1925 - Acclaimed singer, actor, comedian and performer Maureen Potter is born in Dublin
1940 - Emergency anti-IRA legislation is introduced in the Free State
1999 - Economic history is created with the much-heralded arrival of the euro on the international currency markets. Its first day of trading gets off to a smooth start in Australia, at 6.00pm Irish time.
2007 - Michael Yeats, the only son of the poet W. B. Yeats dies at age 86. A former Fianna Fáil Senator, he served both as a Senator and as Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, and was also one of Ireland's first members of the European Parliament.
January 4
1581 - James Ussher, scholar and Archbishop of Armagh and Dublin is born
1792 - The Northern Star, newspaper of the Belfast United Irishmen, first appears on this date
1921 - Martial law is extended to counties Clare, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford from this date
1937 - Mick O'Connell, Kerry Gaelic footballer, is born on Beginish Island, Co. Kerry
1969 - On a march from Belfast to Derry, the civil rights group People's Democracy is attacked at Burntollet Bridge
1975 - Eleanor Krott, Irish language scholar and lexicographer, dies
1998 - The LVF appoints a new commanding officer to take over from murdered godfather Billy Wright and in a chilling warning vows it will do all in its power to wreck the teetering peace process
1998 - The governments of Austria and Finland offer their countries as potential neutral grounds for the next wave of Northern Ireland peace talks
1999 - Venerable Archdeacon Patrick Lyons, who, aged 105 years was the world's oldest priest and who died on New Year's Day, is laid to rest in the grounds of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Ballingarry, Co. Limerick
2000 - Hundreds are evacuated as west and midland farmlands are flooded
Photo Credit: Kevin Clancy/Viewpoint
2000 - Top RTÉ broadcaster Maxi is set to win a host of new listeners in her new role as presenter/producer of Radio One’s Risin’ Time
2002 - According to a new survey, two out of every three people in Northern Ireland aged between 18-25 say they have no meaningful contact with opposing communities while, generally, people feel more segregated than they did before the North's first ceasefire in 1994
2002 - Irishmen under 25 are the worst-hit by rising unemployment, according to the latest European Union figures
2003 - A group of women begin an anti-war protest at a roundabout close to Shannon Airport against US Air Force landings there.
January 5
1787 - John Burke, genealogist and compiler of Burke's Peerage, is born in Elm Hall, Co. Tipperary 1881 - The trial of the Land Leaguers begins
1826 - Separate Irish currency is abolished and replaced by sterling
1871 - 33 Fenian prisoners, including Devoy, Rossa, O'Leary and Luby, are released by the British in a general amnesty
1885 - Hugh O'Brien is sworn in as Boston's first Irish mayor
1922 - Death of Kildareman Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer
1941 - Jennie Wyse Power, Irish patriot and women's rights activist dies
1944 - Louis Stewart, jazz guitarist, is born in Waterford
1976 - The Republican Action Force, a cover name for the IRA, admits to the brutal murder of ten Protestant workmen in what becomes known as the Kingsmill Massacre
2003 - A group of women maintains a vigil at Shannon Airport in protest at US Air Force landings there.
January 6
1562 - Shane O'Neill submits to Queen Elizabeth at Whitehall, but rebels again within months
1654 - Commissioners are appointed to allot the land of Oliver Cromwell's Connacht plantation to transplanted Irish
1794 - Frances Ball who, as Mother Mary Teresa founded the Sisters of Loretto, is born in Dublin
1800 - Author Anna Maria Hall, née Fielding, is born in Dublin
1839 - On this date, the Night Of The Big Wind or Oiche na Gaoithe Moire takes place; the most damaging storm in Irish history, some winds are estimated in excess of 130 m.p.h
1898 - Colonel James Fitzmaurice, Ireland's greatest aviator, is born in Dublin
1931 - Birth of novelist P.J. Kavanagh
1939 - First publication of the newspaper Irish Freedom
1940 - Johnny Giles, footballer and Republic of Ireland manager, is born in Dublin
1941 - Birth of Noel Pearson, theatre impresario and film producer
1998 - Embattled Northern Ireland Secretary of State Mo Mowlam receives the full backing of SDLP leader John Hume in her efforts to maintain the faltering peace process
2000 - Residents in counties in the west and midlands, coping with the effects of the most devastating floods to have hit the region in fifty years, brace themselves for another rainstorm
2000 - Families from all over Ireland join President Mary McAleese and her family in A´ras an Uachtaráin in Dublin to celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. Bay laurels from Bethlehem are planted to mark the 2000th anniversary since the birth of Christ
2003 - According to a study published today, the Irish language is on the brink of extinction unless radical measures are taken to arrest its decline
2003 - Farmers put 1,000 tractors on the country’s roads and head for Dublin at the start of the IFA’s five-day family farm survival campaign.
2003 - The campaign against the construction of a motorway near the ruins of Carrickmines Castle in South Dublin is stepped up as protesters re-erect a blockade to prevent large diggers moving onto the site.
In the liturgical calendar, today is Epiphany and the Feast of the Holy Family.
January 7
1878 - General John O'Neill, Fenian leader, dies
1899 - Elizabeth Bowen, novelist and short story writer, is born
1922 - Dáil Éireann votes 64 to 57 to accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty, creating the Irish Free State
2000 - Experts underline the important heritage value of a 19th Century relic that stands on the site of a disused copper mine. A conservation appeal is to be launched to safeguard a unique engine house at a mountain mine in the Beara peninsula. A rare surviving symbol of Cornish type mining technology, the structure is the primary surviving embodiment of a once thriving coppermining industry in Allihies, Co. Cork
2001 - Irish soil is sprinkled over the casket of Sister Theresa Egan as more than 2,000 mourners attend her funeral in St Lucia. The nun was brutally murdered while attending Mass last week
2003 - Gardaí adopt a zero tolerance-type approach to speeding after it emerges almost half of motorists in Dublin are still breaking the law in built-up areas.
January 8
1547 - Henry VIII suppresses the Chapter of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin; it will not be restored until 15 June 1555
1779 - Birth in Newry of actress Julia Glover
1860 - The Church of St Andrew in Suffolk Street, Dublin, is destroyed by fire
1871 - James Craig, Ist Viscount Craigavon, Unionist politician and PM of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1940, is born in Belfast
1873 - Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain is founded
1876 - Lucien Bul, inventor of the electrocardiograph, is born in Dublin
1916 - Evacuation of Gallipoli Peninsula in the Dardanelles is completed; there are100,000 casualties, mostly Australian, New Zealanders and Irish, in the eight-month campaign
1926 - Birth of international showjumper and equestrian Iris Kellett
1945 - Peggy Vonnaro grandaughter of Maggie Milligan and Jame Patrick Donlin is born.
1979 - An oil tanker explodes at Whiddy Island oil terminal on Bantry Bay, Cork, killing at least 50 people
1998 - The first licensed drug to treat mild to moderately severe Alzheimer's disease is launched in Ireland
1999 - French, Irish, English and Dutch relatives gather at the hilltop granite memorial sculpture in Bantry's Abbey Cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony in memory of those who perished when the oil tanker Betelgeuse blew up at the Whiddy Island oil terminal
1999 - The British Government comes under pressure to stop the early release of prisoners in Northern Ireland after an upsurge in paramilitary shootings and beatings
2000 - Thousands of acres are still flooded, roads blocked and farmyards remain under water after the River Shannon bursts its banks
2001 - All schools are to receive a CD ROM of one of the masterpieces of Western art — the Book of Kells. On behalf of the schools, the Minister for Education and Science, Dr Michael Woods, accepts the CD ROMs from Trinity College Library in Dublin and leading internet company, X Communications
2002 - Thousands of commuters experience delays after fallen cables knock out DART services at some of Dublin's busiest stations
2002 - Former Soviet leader Gorbachev sinks a pint of Guinness with Dublin Lord Mayor Michael Mulcahy in the famous Doheny and Nesbitt pub in Baggot Street.
2007 - Northern ireland’s Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine dies at age 53 after suffering a heart attack and later a stroke and a brain haemorrhage. A former UVF prisoner and a key figure in brokering the loyalist paramilitary ceasefire of 1994, a party statement is quoted as saying: "Unionism has lost the most progressive voice of this generation. Politics has lost a statesman. Our peace process has lost its most optimistic advocate and Ulster has lost a devoted son.”
2008 - First Irish expedition arrives at South Pole. Team leader Pat Falvey and Clare O'Leary, Sean Menzies and Jonathan Bradshaw, journeyed for 58 days to reach their destination. Dr O'Leary is the first Irish woman to make the trip. She is also the first Irish woman to climb Mount Everest.
January 9
1642 - 30 Catholics are killed by the Scottish garrison and English settlers at Island Magee, Co. Antrim
1873 - John J. Flanagan, hammer-thrower and shot-putter, is born in Kilbreedy, Co. Limerick
1900 - Birth of Harry Kernoff in London, artist; resident of Dublin from the time he was 14 years old
1904 - George Buchanan, poet, novelist and journalist, is born in Kilwaughter, Co. Down
1922 - Arthur Griffith is elected Taoiseach of Dáil Éireann after Eamon de Valera steps down
1929 - Brian Friel, playwright and author of Dancing at Lughnasa, is born near Omagh, Co. Tyrone
1951 - The Northern and Southern governments agree on the running of the Great Northern Railway
1952 - Birth of Danny Morrison, former publicity officer for Sinn Féin, and now a novelist
1962 - Birth of Ray Houghton, footballer
1998 - Mo Mowlam, risks her political future in talks with loyalist paramilitaries inside the Maze prison in a desperate bid to save the troubled Northern Ireland peace process
2000 - Boy band Westlife retains their place at the top of the charts to become the first act in more than a year to hang on at number one for longer than three weeks
2001 - For the first time ever, electric power comes to the tiny islands of Inishgort and Inishlyre in Clew Bay
2002 - Former soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, accepts the honour of being named the 71st Freeman of Dublin, following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela and members of U2
2002 - Police are attacked with bricks and bombs by rioters from both sides of the sectarian divide, as bigotry and violence flare again at the Holy Cross Primary School in Ardoyne, north Belfast.
2012 - Singer Bridie Gallagher passes away at age 87.
Known professionally as the 'Girl from Donegal', over a 50-year career she played everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall in London to Carnegie Hall in New York and Sydney Opera House. Born in Creeslough, Co. Donegal, Bridie Gallagher made her home in Belfast almost 60 years ago and it was there she was discovered by a Decca talent scout in 1956. Her first single for them - A Mother's Love's a Blessing - was an instant hit and within a few short years she was performing on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. The late 50s and 60s saw tens of thousands of Irish people emigrating. In Britain, America and Australia, Bridie had ready-made audiences who packed out the venues she played. In one particularly memorable show at the Albert Hall mounted police had to be used to hold back fans who blocked the surrounding streets.
January 10
1751 - Cornelius Bolton, politician, Volunteer and improving landlord is born
1814 - Aubrey Thomas De Vere, a poet who adapted early Gaelic tales, is born
1922 - Arthur Griffith is elected second president of the Irish Free State by Dáil Éireann
1952 - An Aer Lingus aeroplane, the St Kevin, crashes in Wales with the loss of 23 lives. It is the airline's second fatal crash
1969 - Civil rights leaders in Northern Ireland defying police orders and refuse to abandon their planned march through Newry in Co. Down
2000 - The Lodge and Spa at Inchydoney Island, Clonakilty, County Cork, is the AA Hotel of the Year
2002 - A new chapter in Irish literary history is written with the publication of The Last Tango in Ibiza, which was penned by first-time authors who include a nun and several grannies
2003 - Farmers drive 300 tractors into the city and hold a two-hour rally in front of Government Buildings at Merrion Square
2003 - Feared loyalist paramilitary chief Johnny Mad Dog Adair is arrested and sent back to jail. Adair will not now be released from prison until January 2005
2012 - Journalist Mary Raftery passes away after a short illness. She was 54. Well known for her work on the 'States of Fear' documentary series that revealed the extent of physical and sexual abuse suffered by children in the Irish childcare system, she also produced and directed the 'Prime Time Investigates: Cardinal Secrets' programme which led to the establishment of the Murphy Commission of Investigation into child sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese. Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty International Ireland said Ms Raftery's work transformed Ireland. Without the work that Mary did as a journalist (on the abuse of children), I don't think much of this would have surfaced."
Photo Credit & related Details: RTE
January 11
1836 - George Sigerson, physician, professor and writer, is born near Strabane, Co. Tyrone
1921 - The British government announces that any unauthorised person found in possession of arms, ammunition or explosives is liable to be executed
1925 - Birth of David Wylie Bleakley, writer and Northern Ireland Labour Party politician
1970 - IRA splits into Officials and Provisionals (Provos)
1972 - Padraic Colum, Longford poet and playwright, dies
1998 - The Government plays down reports of a rift between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
1999 - The Democratic Unionist Party warns that it would mount a legal challenge if Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam moves to announce a power-sharing Executive without the Assembly approving the new government structures
2000 - Furious farmers block the entrances to all the main meat processing plants in protest against the imposition of increased veterinary inspection charges
2002 - The country's population is set for another dramatic increase after Ireland records the highest birth rate and lowest death rate of all 15 EU member states in 2001.
January 12
1709 - Birth of Benjamin Burton, politician and Revenue Commissioner
1729 - Edmund Burke, orator, statesman and philosopher, is born in Arran Quay, Dublin
1765 - The Kinsale by-election caused by the death of John Folliott on this date is contested by Agmondisham Vesey and Richard Meade. Vesey wins by 64 votes to 48, but pays a price for being elected: William Dennis, vintner, receives £80 for Mr Vesey's entertainment. Three other innkeepers receive a total of £76 3s 6d for providing 'drink for Mr Vesey's health' and a further £14 9s for beer to the populace. His election agent, James Dennis, spends £46 12s 2d to send a coach and post-chaise to Dublin to collect voters. Vesey spends a further £12 7s 10d on 'a notice to disqualify John O'Grady as a Papist from voting'. Ben Hayes, fiddler, is paid £5 13s 9d. Vesey's election breakages bill amounts to £7 8s, exclusive of fines for 'a crowd of broke heads and crakt limbs'. James Kearney (a future MP for Kinsale) spends £16 4s 3d to bring voters to Kinsale on Vesey's behalf: this includes a post-chaise and hospitality on the four-day journey
1885 - Thomas Ashe, patriot and nationalist revolutionary, is born in Lispole, Co. Kerry
1887 - Molly Allgood, actress (stage name Máire O'Neill) and fiancée of Synge, is born in Dublin
1930 - Birth of Jennifer Johnston, author of How Many Miles to Babylon and The Railway Station Man
1947 - Matt Molloy of the Chieftains is born
1947 - Micheal O'Siadhail, poet and linguist, is born in Dublin
1951 - Birth of Steve Travers, surviving member of the Miami Showband massacre, and managing director of CAT Entertainments
1993 - A Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition government is formed, with Reynolds as Taoiseach
1998 - Political master strokes by Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair breath new life into the Northern peace process with a blueprint for peace which could replace the Anglo-Irish Agreement with a three-stranded government for the North
2000 - Despite the controversy over the book, Limerick people turnout in huge numbers to attend the sell out film premiere of Angela’s Ashes.
January 13
1695 - Jonathan Swift becomes Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
1800 - Daniel O'Connell makes his first public speech, opposing Union with England
1880 - Alexander Brenon, film director, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1931 - Mary Clarke, Maryknoll nun and martyr is born of Irish parents in NYC
1935 - Eibhin Nic Choill (Eleanor Hill) Irish Celtic scholar dies
1941 - James Joyce, considered by many to be one of the most important modern authors in English because of his revolutionary approach to the novel, dies in Zurich
1964 - Ulster golfer Ronan Rafferty is born
1998 - Northern Ireland takes another giant step towards peace after the political parties at Stormont accept the British and Irish governments blueprint as the basis for negotiation
2000 - A record-breaking 55 people are presented with the President’s Gold Awards at a special ceremony in A´ras an Uachtaráin
2000 - It is announced that a 1,000 year old treasure trove has been discovered by a tour guide cleaning up litter from a Co Kilkenny cave. The priceless Viking age silver and bronze jewellery is unique - nothing like them have been found in Ireland or elsewhere
2001 - One and a half copies of the most important piece of documentation of the 20th century in Ireland, the Declaration of Independence, is sold to a New York collector for £56,000
2003 - It is announced that the Government is to undertake a major review of Gaeltacht areas amid concerns of a dramatic fall-off in Irish language use in many areas.
2008 - After almost 60 years, Aer Lingus Service between Shannon and Heathrow comes to an end following a company decision in August 2007 to transfer its valuable Heathrow slots to Belfast.
January 14
1753 - Death of George Berkeley, Irish philosopher and Anglican
1775 - John Hely-Hutchinson, Provost of Trinity College, fights a duel with William Doyle over abusive newspaper articles. Doyle is ill and has to lean on a crutch at the duel; on being challenged he had initially complained of sore eyes, and 'objected to stand merely to be shot at, without the power of retaliation'. Neither party is injured. One of the Provost's sons wishes to fight a further duel with Doyle, but the authorities prevent this; they then go abroad and hold the duel, neither being injured
1871 - Alexander Sullivan, barrister and last King's Serjeant of Ireland, is born in Dublin
1937 - De Valera's new constitution, with its assertions of Ireland as a sovereign 32-county state, and its definition of Catholic morality and "women's place" is approved
1965 - Talks between Seán Lemass, Taoiseach, and Terence O'Neill, Northern Ireland Prime Minister, take place in Belfast
2000 - Unemployment drops to its lowest level in 19 years
2000 - Unionist politicians are furious after Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams claims that there could be a united Ireland by the year 2016, the centenary of the Easter Rising
2000 - Eco Warriors and the Green Party meet with members of Wicklow County Council in a last ditch attempt to get the local authority to abandon its controversial road widening scheme in the Glen of the Downs.
January 15
1775 - Thomas Dermody, classical scholar and poet is born
1798 - Thomas Crofton Croker, antiquarian and folklorist, is born in Cork
1800 - The last session of the Irish parliament begins on this date
1821 - Thomas Clarke Luby, Fenian, is born in Dublin
1825 - Thomas, 2nd Viscount Newcomen, commits suicide after the failure of Newcomen's Bank
1835 - Birth of Patrick Guiney, soldier and politician, in Parkstown, Co. Tipperary
1860 - Eleanor Hull, Irish Celtic Scholar is born
1861 - Young Irelander Terence MacManus dies in San Francisco, CA
1939 - IRA Army Council and Republican survivors of 2nd Dáil Éireann declare war on England
1920 - Sinn Féin takes control of most borough and urban councils in local elections
1961 - Dave MacAuley, world flyweight boxing champion, IBF,1989-92, is born in Larne, Co. Antrim
1973 - Ireland joins the European Investment bank
1988 - Sean McBride, Irish patriot and human rights activist, dies.
2007 - Dublin-boorn actress Pauline Delaney, who is best known for her role in Circle of Friends and Into The West, passes away from complications caused by Parkinson's disease.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast of St. Ita.
January 16
1700 - Richard Levinge, an Irish MP and later a prominent Tory, is committed by the English House of Commons to the Tower of London until 11 April for speaking ill of his fellow Commissioners of Forfeited Estates
1707 - Robert Allen, a future MP, elopes with the daughter of Robert Johnson MP: Johnson writes to Ormonde on 16 January that Allen 'has stolen a marriage with my daughter; no consent or acquainting of him with me. I fancy they will find they have two very difficult fathers to persuade to part with anything to either of them.' In 1730 Allen will be satirized viciously by Jonathan Swift
1816 - Frances Browne, writer, is born in Stranorlar, Co. Donegal
1822 - Thomas Clark Luby, co-founder of the Fenian Brotherhood, is born
1900 - Frank Devlin, badminton player, is born in Dublin
1904 - In reaction to attacks on Jews in Limerick, Michael Davitt, a leader of the Irish Land League, protests "as an Irishman and a Catholic against this spirit of barbarous malignity"
1913 - Home Rule bill passes in the House of Commons
1920 - Percy French gives his last concert in Glasgow. He dies in Liverpool eight days later
1922 - Michael Collins takes over control of Dublin Castle from the British authorities on behalf of the new Irish state
1935 - Gobnaitt NiBhruadair (Albinia Broderick), Irish republican activist, dies
1981 - Northern Ireland civil rights campaigner and former Westminster MP, Bernadette McAliskey, is shot by gunmen who burst into her home at Coalisland in County Tyrone
2000 - For his adaptations of the work of William Shakespeare, Belfast born actor and director Kenneth Branagh becomes the youngest winner of the Gielgud award
2001 - Hough’s Pub in Lorrha, Co Tipperary retains the title of "The Cheapest Pint" in Ireland. Earning the respect of drinkers everywhere, Pat Hough won’t be raising the price of a pint of plain above £1.50
Photo Credit: Fergal Shanahan
2002 - Richard Haass, US President George Bush's special adviser on Northern Ireland, urges Sinn Féin to drop its objections to the new Police Board
2002 - Joe White of Rathmire, Co. Kerry becomes one of the oldest people in the country to pass the driving test. He began driving in Ireland more than 60 years ago, went to the USA and returned last year to find his Irish license had long lapsed. It took two attempts, but the sprightly 84-year-old proved age, bad roads or fast drivers need not be a barrier to passing the test.
January 17
1649 - Marquis of Ormond James Butler and the confederates sign a peace treaty which grants toleration for Catholics in exchange for troops
1815 - Marie-Louise O'Morphi, famous courtesan, dies in Paris
1856 - Joseph Hayden, Irish journalist, dictionary compiler and author of Dictionary of Dates, dies
1860 - Birth in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, of Douglas Hyde, playwright, folklorist, founder of The Gaelic League and the first president of Éire
1861 - Lola Montez (Marie Gilbert), dancer and courtesan dies in New York
1866 - Death of George Petrie, folk music collector who is credited with preserving many of Ireland’s irreplaceable harp tunes
1873 - T.C. Murray, playwright, is born in Macroom, Co. Cork
1964 - The Campaign for Social Justice (CSJ) is formed. It is the forerunner of the civil rights movement and begins a programme of publicising what it sees as widespread discrimination, in a number of areas of life, against Catholics in Northern Ireland
1992 - Seven Protestant constructions workers at a security base in Co. Tyrone are killed by an IRA bomb. The driver of their bus also dies
2000 - Galway city centre is brought to a standstill as hundreds of student nurses take to the streets to protest at plans to charge them to finish their nursing courses
Photo Credit: Andrew Downes/GreenGraph
2000 - A pair of King Billy’s gloves, worn during the battle of the Boyne, and the dress worn by Sinéad de Valera at the second inauguration ceremony of her husband, President Éamon de Valera, are unlikely companions in The Way We Wore, a permanent exhibition of the clothing and jewellery worn by Irish people from the1760s to the 1960s which opens at the National Museum, Collins Barracks.
2012 - The editor of the Sunday Independent, Aengus Fanning, died this morning. He was 69 year old.The Tralee man began editing the Sunday Independent in 1984. He is survived by his wife Anne and three sons.
In a statement, the chief executive of Independent News and Media, Gavin O'Reilly, described him as "possibly the greatest and most instinctively brilliant editor that Irish journalism has ever produced".
He said that Mr Fanning will be a huge loss to Irish journalism, but an even bigger loss to his family.
January 18
1667 - Cattle exports to England are prohibited
1671 - Catholic gentry present petition to Charles II
1779 - Cement Patent No. 1207 is issued to Sligo-man Bryan Higgins
1811 - Charles Kean, actor, is born in Waterford
1821 - Built by Henry Harris at a cost of £50,000, the Albany New Theatre opens in Hawkins Street, Dublin. It can accommodate up to 2,000 patrons. In August, George IV attends a performance and, as a consequence, a patent is granted. The name of the theatre is changed to the "Theatre Royal" to reflect its status as a patent theatre
1831 - Daniel O’Connell is convicted of conspiracy
1882 - On a successful speaking tour of America, the young Irish playwright, Oscar Wilde, newly famous at home and abroad, visits 62-year-old Walt Whitman
1913 - The Irish Transport and General Workers' Union strike ends
1928 - Birth of Daniel Bradley, physicist
1930 - Breandán Ó hEithir, writer and broadcaster, is born in Cill Rónáin, Aran Islands
1934 - Joseph Devlin, Irish nationalist dies
1937 - Birth of John Hume, nationalist politician, in Derry/Londonderry
1997 - Death of Gerard Slevin, the Corkman who designed the EU flag
1998 - The fourth revenge killing of a Catholic by LVF murder squads since ruthless warlord Billy Wright was gunned down, is committed in Maghera, Co. Derry
2000 - The improvement in the hospitality scene in Ireland is proven by the addition of 54 hotels and 27 restaurants to the prestigious Michelin Guide
2001 - The right of Travellers to pursue their traditional lifestyle on their own land was yesterday rejected by the European Court of Human Rights
2002 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pays tribute to the former Fianna Fáil TD, Jim Tunney, who died yesterday. Mr Tunney, was a former minister of state and deputy in Dublin North-West for two decades. He also served a term as Lord Mayor of Dublin and was co-chairman of the British-Irish inter-parliamentary body. A stylish dresser, he always wore a flower in his lapel and was called the Yellow Rose of Finglas by friends and colleagues. He was 78
2002 - Political history is made today as the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition becomes the longest-serving government in the State. After taking office on June 26, 1997, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's minority government is serving its 1,666th day in office.
2008 - After well over half a century, the Rev Dr Ian Paisley steps down as Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church He is succeeded by the Rev Ron Johnston.
January 19
1739 - Birth of Arthur Wolfe, 1st Viscount Kilwarden and Lord Chief Justice in Forenaghts, Co. Kildare
1787 - Birth in Cork of Mary Aikenhead, founder of the Irish Sisters of Charity and St. Vincent’s Hospital Dublin
1793 - Hugh Cane, MP for Tallow, dies from a fall down stairs
1920 - IRA attacks Drombrane barracks, Co. Tipperary
1949 - Dennis Taylor, snooker player and world champion in 1985, is born in Coalisland, Co. Tyrone
1963 - Playwright Teresa Deevy dies
1964 - Birth of Richard Dunwoody, jockey, in Comber, Co. Down
1983 - The Minister for Justice, Michael Noonan, reveals that the previous Fianna Fáil administration was involved in tapping the phones of Journalists Geraldine Kennedy and Bruce Arnold
1985 - Death of Dublin-born actor Wilfrid Brambell, aka Old man Steptoe
1988 - Dublin writer Christopher Nolan, who cannot move or speak because of an accident at birth, wins the Whitbread Book of the Year
1998 - The Northern peace process are close to collapse after a 52-year-old Catholic taxi driver is killed in an attack which bears all the hallmarks of the UDA/UFF
2003 - Disgraced celebrity chef Tim Allen moves to protect his multi-million euro family business, announcing he is ceasing all connection with the Ballymaloe Cookery School and hotel.
January 20
1621 - Patents are granted for plantations in parts of Leitrim, King's County, Queen's County and Westmeath
1841 - James Armour, Presbyterian minister and political activist is born in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim
1902 - Kevin Barry, medical student and nationalist revolutionary, is born in Dublin
1902 - In the House of Commons, John Redmond criticizes the use of concentration camps by the British in South Africa
1908 - The Municipal Gallery of Modern Art opens in temporary premises in Harcourt Street, Dublin. It is the first known public gallery of modern art in the world and is later to become the Hugh Lane Gallery named after its founder
1916 - Secret negotiations result in alliance of the Irish Citizen Army with the Irish Republican Brotherhood
1961 - John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as president of the United States of America, becoming the first Irish Catholic to be elected to that office
1968 - Birth of Charlie Swan, jockey
1973 - Whiskey In The Jar by Thin Lizzy enters the British charts
1998 - Hope remain high that the IRA ceasefire will hold despite escalating violence in the North and Sinn Féin's implacable opposition to the Anglo-Irish blueprint
1999 - The Loyalist Volunteer Force announces plans for a second round of arms decommissioning which could include the handover of explosives
1999 - One of the world's biggest software piracy investigations identifies over 6,000 Internet sites in Ireland copying and promoting illegal software
2000 - According to a major international survey, Ireland is one of the least corrupt countries in the industrial world
2002 - Rioting erupts on the streets of north Belfast as angry mobs throw petrol bombs and blast bombs at police.
2010 - Ireland's oldest woman has died at the age of 107. Bride O'Neill from Kilbarry in Co Cork trained as a nurse in England but returned home during the second world war to work in Dublin. She kept active even after her 100th birthday, and never married, smoke or drank.
January 21
1600 - Charles Blount, 8th Lord Mountjoy, becomes Lord Deputy of Ireland
1684 - Chidley Coote, future MP for Kilmallock, is granted £500 for the upkeep of six lighthouses
1793 - Louis XVI is executed in Paris; he is attended by an Irish priest, Fr. Edgeworth. Lord Edward FitzGerald is the only member of the Irish parliament not to appear in mourning following the execution
1861 - Katherine Tynan, poet, novelist and journalist, is born
1876 - James Larkin, organizer of Irish Transport and General Workers' Union and socialist politician, is born in Liverpool
1919- Daíl Éireann, chaired by Sean T. O’Kelly meets for the very first time at Mansion House in Dublin. As part of this meeting, the adoption and the ritual of 'the Turning of the Seal' establishing the Sovereignty of the Irish Republic is begun.
1919 - Two members of Royal Irish Constabulary are shot dead by Irish Volunteers including Seán Treacy and Dan Breen in an ambush at Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary: this is regarded as the first incident in the 'War of Independence' (Anglo-Irish War). Attacks on policemen continue for the rest of the year
1998 - A controversialL deal is agreed by the British and Irish governments to transfer the IRA gang which carried out the Guildford and Woolwich bombings to Portlaoise prison
1998 - The North is plunged into a new crisis after Benedict Hughes, a Catholic, is shot dead in south Belfast in the latest murder aimed at wrecking the peace process
1998 - The IRA dramatically rejects the Anglo-Irish Stormont settlement plan
2002 - Sinn Féin MPs will never sit in the British parliament, Gerry Adams vows as they move into Commons offices for the first time. Party policy is also changed to allow MPs to sit in the Dáil.
January 22
1761 - Birth of Henry Welbore Agar (Ellis), 2nd Viscount Clifden, perhaps the only person to sit consecutively in four different Houses of Parliament - the two in Ireland and the two in England
1856 - Alfred Godley, classical scholar and writer, is born in Ashfield, Co. Cavan
1901 - Queen Victoria dies; Edward VII accedes to the throne
1913 - Cardinal William Conway, Primate of All Ireland from 1963-1977, is born
1925 - Raymond Crotty, radical economist, is born in Co. Kilkenny
1967 - Eleanor McEvoy, musician, singer and songwriter, is born in Dublin
1972 - Éamon Broy, agent for Michael Collins, and later Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, passes away
1972 - The Republic of Ireland signs a treaty of accession to the European Economic Community
1997 - Death of Lilly Kempson, aged 99, the last surviving participant in the Easter Rising
1998 - It is announced that up to 1 million ounces of high grade gold have been discovered in a mine in Co. Monaghan that will result in the country's biggest ever gold mine going into production in two years time
1999 - Pop concerts can be held at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, without the need for planning permission, the Supreme Court decides in a unanimous decision
2002 - It is announced that one of the British Army's main bases in Northern Ireland is to close and its 500 soldiers moved back to Britain. Ebrington barracks in the Waterside area of Londonderry is expected to be cleared by the end of next year
2003 - Amid much fanfare and brouhaha, quads Kelly, Katie, Shannon and Amy Murphy return to Cork’s Erinville Maternity Hospital for their first birthday celebration
2011 - Cowen resigns but remains Taoiseach
Brian Cowen resigns as party leader of Fianna Fail He is expected to remain as Taoiseach until the election. Mr Cowen told reporters at his 2pm press conference in Dublin the decision would allow Fianna Fail to “elect a new leader and fight [the election] in a united and determined manner, free from internal distraction.”
January 23
1774 - Dudley Cosby (Baron Sydney), former MP for Carrick, commits suicide: 'Our domestic news is first the death of Lord Sydney occasioned by a dose of Danish poison. His lordship to render himself agreeable to his lady upon their marriage stopped two issues he had in his thighs but found no ill effects until the 13th inst. when, after a night of great exercise by dancing, his temper and reason as appears since, was in some sort affected; however, not so much as to make those about him immediately suspect it or the consequence. He complained of indisposition and sent for a physician. He republished his will leaving his estate to Capt. Cosby of the Navy and added a codicil leaving the jewels he bought for his wife (whom in his delirium he was jealous of) and the family china to his sister Lady Farnham, after which being disappointed in an attempt to shoot himself and one to poison himself, he took on (this date) the dose which was sufficiently strong to carry him off in a few hours'
1803 - Arthur Guinness, founder of the Dublin brewery, dies
1881 - William O'Brien, trade unionist and Labour politician, is born near Clonakilty, Co. Cork
1898 - The United Irish League, a nationalist electoral organization, is founded by William O'Brien
1999 - Two blast bomb attacks target Catholic homes in the seaport town of Larne, Co Antrim
2000 - A historic show of Christian unity takes place as the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley, appeals to parishioners at Cork Masses to make contributions to a multi million pound restoration programme of a Protestant cathedral in Cork city centre
2000 - Five grey Seals are released into the sea at Cullenstown Strand, Co. Wexford. The seals had been kept in the seal sanctuary in Co. Dublin while recovering from injuries. This the largest amount of seals to be released at one time
Photo Credit: P.J. Brown
2000 - More than 20,000 people gather on the streets of West Belfast in memory of IRA teenager, Tom Williams, who was hanged in 1942 for his part in the murder of an RUC man
2001 - Irish airport charges are among the cheapest in the world, the latest independent study of the sector has found
2001 - It is announced that the State is in negotiation with a private landowner to purchase the internationally renowned Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren, Co. Clare
2003 - The Irish and British governments agree to plans for an all-out push to restore the North’s power-sharing Executive.
January 24
1851 - Charles Plummer, Irish language scholar and editor of Lives of the Irish Saints, is born
1920 - Death of Percy French, writer of many popular Irish songs, including the Mountains of Mourne
1921 - Patrick Scott, artist, is born in Kilbrittain, Co. Cork
1933 - Fianna Fáil wins a general election
1969 - Brian Faulkner resigns from his position as Prime Minister Terence O'Neill's minister of commerce, furthering the split in the Unionist party
1973 - Death of piper and folklorist, Willie Clancy
1974 - The official Unionist Party is founded
1978 - Eddie Gallagher and Dr. Rose Dugdale, both jailed for their part in the kidnap of Tiede Herrema, are married in Limerick prison
1998 - In west Belfast, Loyalists kill taxi driver, John McColgan by shooting him in the back of the head. It is the sixth sectarian murder in a week
1999 - After months of negotiations and two special delegate conferences, Democratic Left merges with the Labour Party
2000 - Tánaiste Mary Harney warns the IRA to begin decommissioning or run the risk of derailing the Northern peace process
2001 - Government sources say the resignation of Northern Secretary Peter Mandelson is not a major setback to the peace process
2002 - Irish doctors are among the worst-paid in Europe and charge less than they need to run a viable business, according to the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO).
January 25
1356 - The 1st Earl of Desmond dies; Kildare is his replacement as justiciar
1627 - Robert Boyle, physicist, chemist and alchemist, is born in Lismore, Co. Waterford
1777 - The Earl of Buckinghamshire, who eventually conceded free trade and some relief from the Penal Laws to Catholics and Dissenters, is sworn in as lord lieutenant
1831 - Edmund Hogan, Jesuit and scholar, is born in Cork
1924 - Charles McCarthy, trade unionist, is born in Cork
1924 - Tomás Mac Giolla, republican and socialist, and later, Workers' Party leader, is born near Nenagh, Co. Tipperary
1998 - The Irish Seaspray plant in Lettermore, Co. Galway is extensively damaged after two explosions rip through the facility and start a major fire
1999 - The Government descends into chaos over allegations that European Commissioner Pádraig Flynn received a donation of £50,000 ten years ago and that the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, knew about it
1999 - Ireland's first day centre for refugees is opened in Dublin by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
2001 - The new Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr. John Reid, pledges to carry forward the Good Friday Agreement
Photo Credit: Paul Faith
2001 - Thousands gather in Ballinamallard, Co. Fermanagh for the funerals of rally champion Bertie Fisher and two of his children, Emma, and Mark - also a renowned driver.
January 26
1316 - At the battle of Ardscull, Co. Kildare, Edward the Bruce defeats the army of Justiciar Edmund Butler. The Scottish dead are buried in the graveyard attached to the Dominican Priory in Athy which occupies the area on the east bank of the River Barrow. Among those buried are two Scottish chiefs, Lord Fergus Andressan and Lord Walter de Morrey
1699 - The second session of William III's second Irish parliament ends on this date
1716 - Birth of Lord George Sackville (-Germain), soldier, politician and MP for Portarlington
1799 - Thomas Charles Wright, officer in Bolivar's army and founder of the Ecuadorian naval school, is born in Drogheda, Co. Louth
1871 - Sir Arthur du Cros, pioneer of pneumatic tyre industry, is born in Dublin
1904 - Birth of Seán MacBride, IRA leader, politician, head of Amnesty International, and recipient of Nobel and Lenin peace prizes
1907 - Synge's Playboy of the Western World is performed for the first time at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; the audience riots because of the bad language and negative perspective on Irish peasant life
1998 - Fears of a backlash heighten in the North due to the removal from the peace talks of the Ulster Democratic Party because of the recent spate of sectarian murders
1998 - The trial of a Dublin man accused of the murder of journalist, Veronica Guerin, is adjourned until June by the Special Criminal Court
1999 - Irish swimming takes its first step towards a fresh beginning following a series of child sex abuse scandals with the creation of a new identity, Swim Ireland
2000 - Tánaiste Mary Harney announces that the new minimum pay rate of £4.40 per hour will apply from April 1
2000 - Amid reports that Britain is drawing up emergency legislation to re-impose direct rule on Northern Ireland, the IRA faces renewed pressure to start decommissioning its arsenal
2000 - Supporters of ancient herbal remedies stage a wake in Dublin mourning the death of the free availability of the herb St John’s Wort, which can now only be obtained on prescription
2001 - Motorists crossing Dublin’s East and West Links will have to pay an extra 20p following a VAT hike
2001 - AN Bord Pleanála gives the go ahead for a £35 million leisure, residential and shopping development in Limerick.
2011 - Micheál Martin is elected leader of Fianna Fáil. Martin beat the competition of finance minister Brian Lenihan, tourism minister Mary Hanafin, and social protection minister Éamon Ó Cuív.He rplaces Brian Cowan who stepped down on January 22. During his accepytance speech, the new leader apologises for mistakes he and the Government made in managing the economy but said the most important thing was to learn from these mistakes.
January 27
1885 - Charles Stewart Parnell turns the first sod for the West Clare Railway
1944 - Birth of Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, founder of NI Peace Movement
1975 - Mother Mary Martin, founder of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, dies in Drogheda
1999 - The peace process and the IRA ceasefire are thrown into chaos following the mysterious death of ex-Provo killer turned supergrass Eamon Collins
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams indicates that the IRA will not deliver arms ahead of the Ulster Unionists’ February deadline.
January 28
1610 - The crown and the Irish Society of London, a consortium of city companies, agree to carry out the plantation of Derry (hence Londonderry), Coleraine and part of Tyrone
1635 - The City of London and the Irish Society of London are found guilty of mismanagement and neglect of Derry/Londonderry plantation; they are sentenced to a fine of £70,000 and forfeiture of Derry/Londonderry property
1742 - Clotworthy Skeffington, 2nd Earl of Massereene, is born in Co. Antrim
1786 - By charter, the Irish Academy becomes the Royal Irish Academy
1807 - Birth in Co. Wexford of Sir Robert McClure, polar explorer
and discoverer of the North-West Passage
1818 - The Iberno-Celtic Society is founded to preserve and publish the best ancient Irish literature
1852 - Louis Brennan, inventor, is born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
1892 - Birth in Limerick of David Mary Tidmarsh , WWI Ace
1873 - Patrick Malley is killed by his son William Malley at Calla, a remote district of Errismore Co. Galway. J.M. Synge based his story The Playboy Of The Western World on the tragedy
1877 - George Fitzmaurice, Irish Renaissance playwright, is born
1935 - Laurence White Jr. is born in Brooklyn New York, USA.
1939 - Death of William Butler Yeats
1941 - The Emergency Powers Act provides for the censorship of press messages to places outside the Free State
1941 - Birth of Fublin artist, George Potter
1967 - Helena Moloney, republican and trade unionist, dies in Dublin.
1981 - Daniel O’Donnell makes his first professional appearance, at a club in Thurles as part of his sister Margo’s band
1993 - The IRA bombs Harrods for the third time in 20 years. Four people are injured
2000 - Death of well known Irish actor, Tony Doyle, star of popular programmes such as Ballykissangel and The Riordans
2000 - Nobel Peace laureate, John Hume, issues a plea to the IRA for a last minute gesture on decommissioning to ensure the Northern Ireland peace process does not founder
2001 - Mighty Munster moves a step closer to Heineken European Cup rugby glory when they defeat Biarritz 38 29 in the quarter final Photo credit: Des Barry
2002 - Winds of up to 90mph leave 3,000 homes in the west and north-west without power supply for several hours
2003 - It is announced that actor Peter O’Toole, nominated seven times for an Oscar for his work in films as diverse as the historical epic Lawrence of Arabia and the nostalgic comedy My Favourite Year, will receive an honorary Academy Award at this year’s Oscar ceremonies.
2007 - Sinn Féin ardfheis votes overwhelmingly in favour of a leadership motion expressing support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Speaking moments after the vote is taken, party President Gerry Adams describes the decision as "truly historic" and says the potential had been created to change the political landscape of the island "forever."
2011 - Taoiseach Brian Cowen announces he will seek to dissolve the Dáil next Tuesday at which time he will also announce the date of a General Election.
January 29
1768 - Oliver Goldsmith's The Good-Natured Boy is first performed at London's Covent Garden
1794 - Archibald Hamilton Rowan, United Irishman, tried on charge of distributing seditious paper
1967 - The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) is formed
1976 - Explosions rock London's West End. One person is injured. The IRA later takes responsibility
1998 - The British government bows to pressure and announces a new judicial inquiry into the killing of 14 unarmed civil rights marchers in Derry on January 30, 26 years ago
1998 - Former Taoiseach Jack Lynch is rushed to Accident and Emergency at the Meath Hospital, Dublin shortly before 10pm. His condition is described as not life-threatening
1999 - The future of the Apple computer plant in Cork is thrown into doubt with the news that up to 600 jobs are expected to be lost
1999 - One of the youngest members of the Church of Ireland, Rev. Canon William Paul Colton, is elected Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. He succeeds the Rt. Rev. Roy Warke
2001 - Ulster Unionist deputy leader John Taylor pulls out of the running for the next General Election
2002 - Rock superstars U2 battle to save their Dublin recording studios from being pulled to the ground. The millionaire musicians tell a hearing at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin that the musical heritage of their Hanover Quay site should be enough to save it from demolition.
2011 - Irish finance bill passes final hurdle - the senate. The finance bill is a condition of Ireland's 85bn euro (£72bn) bailout package. The approval leaves the way clear for a general election to be called.
January 30
1845 - Birth of Kitty O'Shea, mistress and later, the wife of Parnell
1859 - Edward Martyn, playwright, co-founder of Irish Literary Theatre, and Sinn Féin president, is born in Tulira, Co. Galway
1864 - The National Gallery of Ireland opens
1865 - Birth of John Hughes, sculptor, in Dublin
1900 - The Irish Party reunites ten years after it split
1920 - Tomás MacCurtain is elected Lord Mayor of Cork for Sinn Féin
1947 - Jim Larkin, Irish labor leader dies
1972 - In what is to become known as Bloody Sunday, the British Army kills 13 civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside district of Londonderry. A 14th marcher later dies of his injuries
1984 - Death of Luke Kelly, lead vocalist and 5-string banjo member of the Dubliners
1990 - Haughey resigns as Taoiseach
1998 - Relatives of those killed during the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry's Bogside, gather to remember their dead. It is a ritual observed every year, but this year it is given extra poignancy by the announcement of a new inquiry into the killing of 14 unarmed civilians by the Parachute Regiment
1998 - Thousands participate in a united peace rally to protest at recent sectarian killings
1998 - Buried in the sand at Lahinch for almost 100 years, the ship-wrecked Elizabeth McClean emerges to allow a salvage operation to take its valuable cargo. The 58-foot schooner, laden down with Liscannor stone, sank off the Clare coast in 1904, bound for Glasgow
2000 - Three RUC officers are injured and another man is in serious condition after mobs attack them in Derry and Belfast
2002 - Figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that Dubliners have more money to spend than everyone else in Ireland with people in Laois, Offaly and Kerry having the least
2002 - Publicans warn Health Minister Micheál Martin not to proceed with a proposed ban on smoking in pubs after he announces changes to tough anti-tobacco laws, which will allow him to ban smoking in all or part of licensed premises
2003 - Vintners claim that next year's ban on smoking in pubs will be unworkable and accuse Health Minister Micheál Martin of overreacting.
2011 - Thousands of people join what is intended to be the last Bloody Sunday march in memory of the fourteen people who lost their lives on 30 January 1972 when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march in Derry's Bogside area. A number of options are now being considered to mark future anniversaries, including an annual gathering of remembrance at the Bloody Sunday monument, a remembrance Mass, a human rights weekend and an annual Bloody Sunday lecture.
January 31
1800 - William Pitt, 'the younger', Prime Minister of Britain, advocates the union of Britain and Ireland
1864 - Birth of Matilda Knowles, botanist
1881 - Anna Parnell sets up the Committee of the Ladies' Land League in Dublin
1913 - The Ulster Volunteer Force is founded by the Unionist Council, posing a threat to the legitimate government
1953 - The Princess Victoria, a British Railways car ferry steamer, bound for Larne in Northern Ireland, sinks in the Irish Sea in one of the worst gales in living memory, claiming the lives of 128 passengers and crew. Among the passengers who perish are the Northern Ireland Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Major J. M. Sinclair, and Sir Walter Smiles, the Ulster Unionist MP for North Down
1998 - Two men are arrested as they transfer cannabis resin with an estimated valued of £5 million into a vehicle in a wooded area near Cahir, Co Tipperary
1999 - The end of an era in maritime history is reached as the high-tech world takes over from the old, manually-operated morse code radio services. For over 100 years, the dot-dash-dot system operated by radio officers served shipping well, but is now superseded by a state-of-the-art communications network. Marine Minister Michael Woods marks the historic occasion at at Valentia Coast Radio Station, Co. Kerry, as the use of Morse ends in this country, Belgium, Denmark and Iceland
1999 - Irish American business tycoon, Jay Michael Cashman splashes out a reported £250,000 to tie the knot with his film producer sweetheart, Christy Jean Scott, in a glittering ceremony in the 15th-century ruined Franciscan Abbey. It is the first wedding in the abbey in 500 years
2000 - Seventeen fishermen from a blazing Spanish trawler off the Clare coast are rescued by the Irish Coast Guard
2000 - President Bill Clinton and Northern Ireland peace envoy George Mitchell are among those nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize
2003 - The coast guard remains on standby off the north-west coast for a major pollution incident as damage to the Panamanian-registered Princess Eva tanker, carrying 55,000 tonnes of oil, is assessed.
- Details
- Slang: Today in Irish History
- Hits: 1282
February 1
1177 - John de Courcy invades Ulster and seizes Down; he defeats its king, Rory MacDonlevy, twice, even though the northern clergy use sacred relics as talismans on MacDonlevy's behalf
1315 - Edward the Bruce of Scotland and his Irish allies win the battle of Skerries in Kildare
1754 - Denis O'Neal, having been convicted of a footpad robbery and sentenced to death, is executed on this date despite an appeal to the Chief Secretary by Charles O'Neill, MP for Randalstown, to have him spared
1796 - Theobald Wolf Tone, United Irish leader, arrives in France seeking assistance
1814 - The Belfast Academical Institution - later the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, a Presbyterian college - is opened
1815 - Daniel O'Connell, having killed Norcot d'Esterre in a duel fought on this date, repudiates violence
1878 - Thomas MacDonagh, patriot, poet, critic and scholar, is born in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary
1895 - Birth of Sean Aloysius O'Fearna, better known as film director, John Ford
1925 - The Derry to Burtonport train crashes in Co. Donegal, killing 14 people
1967 - The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement is founded
1994 - The US Government breaks its policy of "censorship by visa denial" and allows Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams to make a speech in New York City
1998 - Up to 40,000 people march through Derry to commemorate the 26th anniversary of Bloody Sunday
1998 - It is announced that the partial filming of the Steven Spielberg film 'Saving Private Ryan' at Curracloe beach in Co. Wexford last summer brought over £4 million to the local economy. The Normandy D-Day landings of 1944 were re-created at the beach during four weeks of filming last July and August
2002 - Thousands of commuters and motorists are stranded by freak tides, heavy wind and rain. Rush hour traffic grounds to a halt thanks to fallen trees, downed power-lines and heavy flooding
2003 - Roy Keane's controversial autobiography is nominated at British Book Awards
2008 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visits Ballymena to meet Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley in his Co Antrim constituency. Dr. Paisley says the Taoiseach's visit to north Antrim is a historic day, and Mr Ahern says his visit is another tangible benefit of the ongoing peace process.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Brigid. It is also celebrated in the Celtic nations as Imbolc - the first day of spring.
2011 - Following the dissolution of the 30th Dáil by President McAleese on the advice of Taoiseach Brian Cowen, it is announced that a general election will take place on February 25th.
Photo Caption: Taoiseach Brian Cowen with wife Mary and daughters Maedhbh and Sinead leaving Áras an Uachtaráin. Photo Credit: Maxwells
February 2
1172 - Last day King Henry II holds his court in Dublin
1172 - The Synod of Cashel: the Bishops of Ireland, under duress, pledge allegiance to Henry II of England
1806 - Birth of painter, Daniel Maclise, in Co. Cork
1880 - Charles S. Parnell addresses the U.S. Congress
1882 - Birth in Dublin of James Joyce
1882 - James Stephens, poet and novelist, is born in Dublin
1903 - Birth of Hilton Edwards, actor and producer
1918 - Former Heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan dies
1922 - James Joyce's "Ulysses" published in Paris - on his birthday
1936 - Birth of Tony Ryan, aviation entrepreneur, in Co. Tipperary
1939 - Desmond O'Malley, Fianna Fáil politician and leader of the Progressive Democrats, is born in Co. Limerick
1972 - The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed by a furious crowd of demonstrators protesting over the shooting deaths of 13 people in Londonderry on Sunday, January 30
1998 - Terror gangs on both sides of the religious divide in the North issue threat and counter-threat as fears grow of another bloody month of sectarian slaughter
2000 - It is announced that cars in the pot holed county of Cavan are failing the National Car Test in bigger numbers than any other part of the country
2000 - The founding President of the University of Limerick, Dr Edward Walsh, is praised for his role in the development of the college at the launch of a book “University of Limerick — a Celebration” which charts the history of UL
2001 - Edna O’Brien receives a lifetime achievement award from the society for Irish writers, Irish PEN, in recognition of her work which spans 25 years
2002 - Spring tides after a full moon, driving rain, gale force southerly winds and low pressure all contribute to the highest water levels on the River Liffey in Dublin since 1924
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast of Candlemas.
February 3
1537 -Thomas FitzGerald, Lord of Offaly and five of his uncles are executed in London. This is the end of the FitzGeralds as a major power
1744 - Lord Netterville, indicted in August 1743 for the murder of Michael Walsh, is tried by his peers in the parliament house and honourably acquitted
1801 - Prime Minister William Pitt resigns over royal veto on Catholic emancipation
1881 - Irish Land League organizer Michael Davitt is arrested again in Dublin
1896 - Lady Jane Wilde (Speranza), poet, nationalist and the mother of Oscar, dies in London
1911 - Death of Dublin-born Robert Noonan, better known as Robert Tressell, author of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
1919 - Harry Boland and Michael Collins engineer Eamon de Valera's escape from Lincoln Jail in England. He is dressed as a woman
1929 - Val Doonican, entertainer, is born in Waterford
1939 - Amanda M'Kittrick Ros, novelist and poet, dies
1998 - Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, warns that substantive progress in the Northern peace talks would not be made by Easter unless the parties start discussing a single document containing the outline proposals for an agreement
1998 - Northern Ireland politician, Billy Hutchinson, facing a death threat from the Loyalist Volunteer Force brands the outlawed terror group as "a bunch of thugs, drug dealers and police informers"
2001 - It is announced that Irish celebrities in showbusiness, sport and the world of writing are among the top earners in England and Ireland. The Irish stars on the rich list include U2, The Corrs, Enya, Ronan Keating, Pierce Brosnan, Eddie Irvine, Roy Keane, Marian Keyes and Maeve Binchy
2001 - The Department of the Marine appeals for help in identifying a long legged deep sea creature, which was netted off the Kerry coast. A seasoned specialist on rare fish says he is baffled by the strange grasshopper like specimen found in nets 220 miles from the shore
2002 - British abortion providers are taking legal advice after Golden Pages inform them they are pulling ads for their services from its 2003 directory
2002 - Gales of up to 65 miles per hour ground flights at Dublin Airport and cause a Delta flight carrying 167 passengers and 14 crew to overshoot the main runway. No passengers are injured.
February 4
1775 - Birth of Robert Emmett, Irish patriot
1816 - Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire and former MP for Portarlington and Armagh Borough, dies from a fall from his horse in St James's Park, London
1830 - O'Connell enters parliament, having taken the new oath of allegiance
1868 - Birth of Irish patriot and revolutionary, Countess Constance Markievicz, née Gore-Booth
1921 - Sir James Craig succeeds Lord Edward Carson as Ulster Unionist leader
1962 - The first colour supplement is published by The Sunday Times
1992 - An off-duty RUC officer in Belfast kills three people in a Sinn Féin office before commiting suicide
1992 - Mary Robinson becomes the first Irish President to visit Belfast
2000 - Iseult Law, great-granddaughter of poet Francis Stuart, and hundreds of mourners pay a final tribute to the legendary writer at his funeral in Fanore, Co. Clare
Photo Credit: Kieran Clancy
2000 - Actors from every genre of stage and screen show come together in the chapel at Terenure College in Dublin for the funeral service of Ballykissangel star Tony Doyle.
2011 - The Prince of Wales Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visit St. Malachy's Church in Belfast to view a 3.5m restoration project. First Minister Peter Robisnon is quoted as saying "Northern Ireland has entered a new era - It is the first time in recent history that we have had a royal in a Roman Catholic Church here."
February 5
1811 - Maurice Lenihan, journalist and historian, is born in Waterford
1820 - Death of William Drennan; physician, poet, educator and political radical, he was one of the chief architects of the Society of United Irishmen. He is also known as the first to refer in print to Ireland as "the Emerald Isle". Burial takes place in Clifton Street burial-ground in Belfast and, according to his will and with deliberate symbolism, his coffin is borne to the grave by three Catholics and three Protestants
1880 -The Irish Rugby Football Union is founded in Dublin
1960 - The Gael-Linn film Mise Éire - I am Ireland - with music by Seán Ó Reada, has its first public showing
1961 - The Sunday Telegraph begins publication
1967 - The Musicians' Union bans the Rolling Stones's Let's Spend The Night Together from Eamonn Andrews' television show
1998 - It is announced that the Ulster Democratic Party, which was suspended from the Northern talks in the wake of Ulster Freedom Fighters-orchestrated sectarian killings, will not be granted a reprieve in time for the upcoming Dublin Castle negotiations
1999 - The French arrive in force in Dublin for tomorrow's Five Nations clash at Lansdowne Road
2001 - Extra British troops are deployed in an attempt to prevent further loyalist pipe bomb attacks on Catholic homes in north Belfast
2003 - A 120-strong 12th Infantry Battalion from Sarsfield Barracks is sent to Shannon to beef up security at the airport. The troops will remain until the threat of further attacks on military planes abates
2003 - The trial of three Irishmen charged with training members of the FARC guerilla movement resumes in Bogota, Columbia.
2006 - Former Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey returns to Ireland after 14 years in exile. The cleric fled the country after he admitted to fathering his son, Peter.
February 6
1685 - Coronation of King James II
1877 - John O'Mahoney, Irish patriot, dies in New York City
1900 - John Redmond is elected leader of the Irish Party
1918 - The silent film version of Charles Kickham's popular novel Knocknagow, about life in a Tipperary village, is shown for the first time
1933 - 2RN is superseded by Radio Athlone
1971 - In Belfast, Robert Curtis becomes the first British soldier to be killed by the Provisional IRA
1998 - The European Commission launches an investigation into the FAI's refusal to allow Wimbledon football club to move to Dublin which could trigger a revolution in Irish and European soccer
1998 - Dr Kieran McCarthy, a marine specialist in the Zoology Department at UCG expresses fears that a uniquely Irish species of fish - pollan - which is found in only four fresh water lakes is being threatened by the vigorous spread of zebra mussels
2000 - A continuity IRA bomb explodes at a County Fermanagh hotel less than 24 hours before the Ulster Unionist Party’s Ken McGuinness is due to visit
2001 - Over 8,000 homes in the south of the country are left without power after a severe electrical storm and high winds wreak havoc
2001 - For the first time in three decades, Ireland’s first Eurovision winner Dana is back in the famous contest’s spotlight as she takes to the stage to introduce the entertainers at the Dublin launch of Eurosong 2001
2002 - The jinx on famine replica ship, the Jeanie Johnston, continues as the High Court grants an order against the owners and all persons claiming an interest in the ship
2002 - Pharmacists vow to fight Health Minister Micheál Martin through the courts to stop plans for industry deregulation
2003 - The Northern Secretary, Paul Murphy, returns Johnny Adair to prison alleging he had been involved in directing terrorism, drug dealing, extortion, money laundering and procuring and distributing guns.
2011 - Renowned rock guitarist Gary Moore dies in a hotel room while on holiday in Spain. Originally from Belfast, he was a former member of the legendary Irish group Thin Lizzy. Sir Bob Geldof pays tribute saying "Moore was "without question, one of the great Irish bluesmen. His playing was exceptional and beautiful. We won't see his like again."
February 7
1873 - Death in Dublin of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu. Journalist, novelist, and short story writer, he is often called the father of the modern ghost story. Although Le Fanu was one of the most popular writers of the Victorian era, he is not so widely read anymore. His best-known works include Uncle Silas (1864), a suspense story, and The House by the Churchyard (1863), a murder mystery. His vampire story 'Carmilla,' which influenced Bram Stoker's Dracula, has been filmed several times
1875 - Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, mining engineer, philanthropist, art collector and the first honorary citizen of Ireland, is born in New York
1877 - John O'Mahony, founder of the Fenian Brotherhood in US, dies in New York
1940 - Birth of Harold McCusker, unionist politician, in Lurgan, Co. Armagh
1959 - Birth of Mick McCarthy, Barnsley, Manchester City, Celtic, Olympic Lyonnais, Millwall and Republic of Ireland footballer; Millwall and Republic of Ireland manager
1991 - The IRA fires at least three mortar bombs at 10 Downing Street; they fail to detonate
1998 - A burst of Dear Old Skibbereen shatters the stillness as GAA star Michael McCarthy is laid to rest in his West Cork hometown
1999 - The British Government urges David Trimble and Gerry Adams to agree to some sort of compromise in a bid to end the paramilitary disarmament deadlock
1999 - Two Irish soldiers are hospitalized after being hit by shrapnel from a heavy 120 mm mortar explosion in crossfire between the Southern Lebanese Army and Hizbollah guerrillas
2001 - More than 3,500 passengers are affected by the cabin crew pay strike at Shannon Airport
2002 - The Cranberries announce that proceeds from their new single, Time is Ticking Out, will be donated to the Chernobyl Children's Project
2002 - One elderly woman, in line at St Patrick's Church in Ringsend, Dublin for a €1,000 cheque for flood damage, had all her possessions with her - in just one bag. She is just one of hundreds of homeowners who benefit after the Archdiocese of Dublin donates hundreds of €1,000 cheques to victims of the recent flooding in the city
2003 - Northern Secretary Paul Murphy says he is hopeful the Executive in the North will be up and running again by March 17 once a series of intense roundtable talks are completed.
February 8
1872 - Captain John Philip Nolan, a supporter of home rule and tenant rights, defeats Conservative William Le Poer Trench in a Co. Galway by-election
1999 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams refuses to rule out the possibility his party will take legal action to secure the early release of Garda Det. Jerry McCabe's killers when the anger surrounding the case dies down
2000 - Boyzone's Keith Duffy is officially declared Ireland's sexiest man by a prestigious panel of judges. Keith won out over an impressive list of handsome hunks, including Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne, Fine Gael deputy Ivan Yates, actor Noel Pearson and Esat multi millionaire Denis O’Brien. Dancer supreme Michael Flatley, comedian Brendan Carroll and the inimitable Jackie Healy Rae TD also feature on the sexiest list
2000 - US President Bill Clinton makes it clear to the Irish and British Governments he is ready to become actively involved in trying to save the Northern Ireland government if needed
2000 - The Northern Ireland peace process is plunged into further crisis following the disclosure that the UVF is planning a country wide purge against the renegade LVF
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams issues a stark warning that he is ready to walk away from the Northern Ireland peace process if the Government re-imposes direct rule from Westminster
2001 - A man is injured by an explosive device amid heightening fears of fatalities in an escalating campaign of loyalist pipe bomb attacks on Catholic families in Northern Ireland
2002 - Dissident republicans are believed to be behind a bomb attack at an army training centre in Co Derry which left a civilian security guard critically injured
2003 - Deposed loyalist terror boss Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair suffers a final humiliation when a new paramilitary regime is officially installed in his west Belfast stronghold.
February 9
1731 - Birth of Sir Lucius O'Brien, opposition politician; he will eventually be described as 'a man who disagrees with the rest of mankind by thinking well of himself'
1903 - Charles Gavan Duffy, the first editor and proprietor of The Nation newspaper, dies in Nice
1932 - The Army Comrades Association is formed; later to be called the National Guard and nicknamed the 'Blueshirts'
1923 - Birth in Dublin of playwright Brendan Behan
Photo Credit: P. J. Clarkes
1926 - Birth of Irish statesman, Dr. Garrett FitzGerald. Former Prime Minister. He serves as the Prime Minister of Ireland from June 1981 to March 1982 and again from December 1982 to March 1987. During his time in office he attends more than 20 European Council meetings and at different times serves as President of the Council of Ministers and the European Council of Heads of Government. He is currently a member of the Council of State and an active Chancellor of the National University of Ireland, which comprises four of the State's seven universities. Dr. Fitzgerald is also a lecturer, consultant, company director and writer. He is the author of six books, the most recent being "Reflections on the Irish State"
1983 - A nationwide hunt begins following the kidnapping of prize stallion and 1981 Derby winner Shergar from the Aga Khan's stables in Co. Kildare
1996 - IRA ends ceasefire with London Docklands bombing, killing two and injuring 100
1998 - Claremorris show jumper, Carl Hanley receives the Irish Field National Award at the Annual Awards Ball in Dublin
1998 - Ulster Unionist rebels planning to overthrow leader David Trimble confirm there is "widespread concern" at the political direction of the party following revelations of a possible leadership challenge next month
1998 - Nationalist politicians in the North respond angrily to a consultative paper described as the most far-reaching British government review of police accountability for 30 years
2000 - Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson issues a direct appeal to the IRA to start disarming in order to save the peace process from collapse
2001 - Limerick man Michael Noonan is elected leader of Fine Gael.
2007 - Death of author Ben Kiely, one of Ireland’s best acclaimed writers and journalists at the age of 87. Born between Drumskinny in Co Fermanagh and Dromore, Co Tyrone and a former pupil of Mount St Columba Christian Brothers School in Omagh, his career spans six decades and produces many short stories and novels, as well as his autobiography Drink to the Bird: An Omagh Boyhood.
Photo Credit: Omagh Government
2011 -The last sketch by artist Jack B Yeats, drawn while he lay dying in a Dublin nursing home, sells at auction in London yesterday for £5,760.
Roundabout Ponies far exceeded its estimate of £1,500- £2,000 at the inaugural Irish Sale at Bonhams, the New Bond Street fine art auctioneers.
February 10
1844 - Daniel O'Connell is convicted of "conspiracy," fined and sentenced to 12 months in prison
1852 - William O'Brien, writer and nationalist, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork
1889 - Richard Piggott is exposed as forger of 'Times' Phoenix Park letters
1907 - Death of Dublin- born journalist, Sir William Howard Russell
1926 - Danny Blanchflower, footballer, is born in Belfast
1965 - The Lockwood Committee Report on higher education in Northern Ireland is published
1998 - It is feared that a new wave of tit-for-tat sectarian terror will hit the North after the murder of Robert Dougan, a leading loyalist, outside a textile company near Belfast
1998 - Suspected SLVF leader, Mark "Swinger" Fulton, survives a murder attempt in Portadown, Co. Armagh
1998 - Northern Secretary Mo Mowlam and Ulster Unionist security spokesman Ken Maginnis agree to bury the hatchet in their bitter personal row, which threats to overshadow the Stormont talks process
1998 - Republican and security sources in the North clash amid allegations that IRA members behind the murder of top Belfast drugs dealer Brendan Campbell and fears it could lead to Sinn Fein's expulsion from the Stormont talks
1999 - Bertie Ahern's minority Coalition suffers another blow to its stability when Fianna Fáil backbencher, Beverly Cooper-Flynn, chooses to back her father, Padraig Flynn, rather than the Government in a crucial Dáil vote
1999 - A potentional major tragedy is averted when over 100 mine-workers ar lifted to safety after a fire 1,150 feet below the ground at Tara Mines, Navan
2000 - David Trimble meets with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin
Photo Credit: Maxwells/Dublin
2002 - Children from Belfast's troubled Holy Cross school arrive in Connemara for what promises to be a welcome break. The three-day holiday is a gift from the proprietor of Peacockes Hotel at Maam Cross in Galway
2003 - A dissident republican bomb attack on Enniskillen prompts calls for the British government to put on hold any plans to scale down army installations in the North.
2011- Six confirmed dead as plane crashes at Cork airport. The Manx2 airline flight from Belfast to Cork overturned and caught fire while making a third attempt to land. The twin turboprop plane was due to arrive in Cork at about 9.45am. There was heavy fog in the area at the time.
Photo Credit: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision
2011 - A painting by Irish-born artist Francis Bacon painting sells at auction at Sotheby’s in London for £23 million (€27.2 million) - more than three times the pre-sale low estimate. The triptych, Three Studies For A Portrait Of Lucian Freud, was painted in 1964 and shows Bacon’s friend and fellow artist with a variety of facial expressions. The painting was sold by a private collector and was bought by an anonymous buyer in the packed saleroom after seven minutes of intense bidding by more than 10 people from four different continents.
February 11
1774 - Death of Jacob Poolem antiquary, in Growtown, Co. Wexford
1858 - The Miracle of Lourdes takes place when St Bernadette - Bernadette Soubirous - has her first vision of the Virgin Mary
1926 - Rioting greets the Abbey Theatre performance of Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars because of what is viewed as anti-Irish sentiment. Yeats tells the audience 'You have disgraced yourselves again'
Photo Credit: Culver Pictures, Inc.
1959 - Catherine White is born in Columbus Ohio, USA.
1992 - After Haughey's resignation as Taoiseach, he is succeeded by Albert Reynolds on this date
1998 - The mother of Stephen Restorick, the last British soldier killed in Northern Ireland, says she is "saddened" by the decision of a member of John Hume's party to boycott a memorial service in the Co. Armagh village where her son died
2000 - A new de Chastelain report on the IRA arms decommissioning impasse identifies a real prospect of agreement
2003 - Dissident republicans opposed to the peace process in Northern Ireland warn of new bomb attacks.
February 12
1722 - Thomas Burgh, MP for Naas, and Richard Stewart, MP for Strabane, receive the first £2,000 of £8,000 from the Irish parliament for operating their colliery at Ballycastle, Co. Antrim
1782 - The right of habeas corpus is introduced in Ireland
1820 - The ships East Indian and Fanny, with about 350 Irish emigrants aboard, leave Cork for Cape Colony, carrying some of the "1820 settlers"
1848 - John Mitchel publishes first United Irishmen
1923 - Birth in Castledawson, Co. Derry/Londonderryof James Chichester-Clark, Northern Ireland Prime Minister from 1969 to 1971
1930 - The first Free State Censorship Board is appointed
1945 - Jimmy Keaveney, Dublin Gaelic footballer, is born in Dublin
1949 - Fergus Slattery, rugby player, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1971 - Delia Murphy, ballad singer, dies
1976 - Frank Stagg, Irish political prisoner, dies on hunger strike in English prison
1989 - Patrick Finucane is murdered by Unionist assassins; Finucane, who acted as solicitor for republican hunger striker Bobby Sands was shot dead at his north Belfast home in front of his wife and children
1998 - The IRA insists that their ceasefire is still in place — despite "speculation surrounding recent killings in Belfast"
1998 - It is confirmed that Ireland has one of Europe's top economies and our ability to compete globally outstrips Germany and France
1999 - President Mary McAleese says Pope John Paul has told her, in their private meeting at the Vatican, he is considering a return visit to Ireland
1999 - Literary legend John B. Keane discloses that he is back writing again after a four-year break due to illness
1999 - A new political storm rages after Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams predicts that the North would be moving toward a united Ireland in 15 years time
2002 - Health Minister Micheál Martin vows to press ahead with further restrictions on smoking in pubs, despite opposition from publicans
2002 - Two Dublin film companies are nominated for Oscars in the Best Animated Short Film category and Donegal singer/songwriter Enya is nominated for best song with May It Be, from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack
2003 - Irish musicians are hoping their plea to stop US military aircraft refuelling at Shannon will strike the right chord with the Government. More than 50 top acts have signed an open letter which will be sent to the Taoiseach asking him to end the refuelling stopover at the airport
2003 - Mystery surrounds the identity of an artist as 24 of his paintings are launched at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Known only as “John the Painter”, he has been in psychiatric care in Cork city for more than 30 years
2003 - Talks between the Taoiseach, the British Prime Minister and Northern politicians conclude in Hillsborough Castle, Co Down.
February 13
1689 - William and Mary - daughter of James II - are proclaimed king and queen jointly
1820 - Leonard McNally, lawyer and English informer, dies
1871 - Joseph Devlin, Belfast Nationalist, is born
1864 - Stephen Lucius Gwynn, writer and nationalist, is born in Dublin
1898 - Frank Aiken, revolutionary and politician from Co. Armagh, is born
1938 - Larry Cunningham, country singer, is born in Granard, Co. Offaly
1956 - Birth in Dublin of Liam Brady, former soccer international
1998 - It is announced that Irish Embassy staff in Riyadh and Tel Aviv, the Saudi and Israeli capitals, are being kitted out with special suits to protect them against nuclear, biological or chemical weapons
1998 - Ireland's electricity industry, one of the last bastions of the closed market, takes a historic step towards open competition when Enterprise Minister Mary O'Rourke inspects the site of a Finnish-owned peat-fuelled generating station in Offaly
2001 - Kosovar refugees living in Tralee and Waterford celebrate their right to become Irish citizens, almost two years after they first arrived in Ireland. A total of 140 Kosovar refugees, displaced as a result of an ethnic war in their homeland, are to be allowed live in Ireland permanently on humanitarian grounds
2002 - It is announced that John Rocha is to become the first Irish designer to receive a CBE award for his long-standing contribution to the fashion industry
2003 - Nearly10,000 people are forced to find an alternative way of getting to work in Dublin when Dart services are disrupted by a major overhead line fault.
2011 - Actor, TP McKenna, well known for his stage, film and television work, dies in London following a long illness. The 81-year-old, who was born in Mullagh, Co. Cavan, died on Sunday evening. He had established himself as one of the finest and most versatile actors of his generation, on stage, television and in film, in a career spanning half a century.
Following several years on the stage he began appearing in television dramas from the 1960s including 'Dangerman', 'Adam Adamant', 'The Avengers', 'The Saint', 'Jason King', 'The Sweeney', 'Blakes 7', 'Doctor Who' and 'Minder' .
February 14
1629 - Valentine Greatrakes - or Greatorex - a physician who is known as the 'touch doctor', is born in Affane, Co. Waterford
1700 - A subsidy is authorized to Louis Crommellin for establishing a linen industry
1792 - Pianist and composer John Field gives his first public performance at the Rotunda in Dublin
1853 - The Queen Victoria sinks in a storm off Howth, with the loss of 55 lives
1856 - Frank Harris, writer and journalist, is born in Galway
1878 - Daniel Corkery, writer, critic and Irish cultural enthusiast, is born in Cork
1895 - Birth in Tipperary of Revolutionary, Sean Treacy
1951 - Alan Shatter, Fine Gael politician, is born in Dublin
1981 - The Stardust Ballroom in Artane, Dublin goes up in flames; 48 young people are killed and more than 100 are injured
1999 - The Provisional IRA calls a halt to 'rough justice' in a move which is being seen as a concession to the on-going peace process in Northern Ireland
2000 - Four Irish soldiers are killed in a tragic road accident in South Lebanon
2000 - Castlecove, Co. Kerry wins two prizes in the Nations in Bloom competition, held in Hamamatsu, Japan, overcoming challenges from cities such as Lisbon and Toronto
2000 - A joint Irish/British strategy for dealing with the difficulties left by the suspension of the Northern Ireland administration is finalised by Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern and Prime Minister, Tony Blair
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams says politics in Northern Ireland are now in ‘‘the worst crisis of a crisis ridden process’’
2001 - The Ulster Defence Association, the largest of the Protestant paramilitary groups, breaks its silence to deny any involvement in the wave of sectarian pipe bomb attacks which have spread terror across the north
2001 - At Áras an Uachtaráin, president Mary McAleese presents the prestigious Gaisce gold medal awards to 55 young high achievers from 17 different countries
2002 - Pregnant women are advised by the Departments of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and of Health and Children to avoid contact with sheep at lambing time. The advice is issued in the context of the potential risks of contracting an infection that can occur in some ewes
2002 - The Bishop of Killaloe says he would welcome the ordination of women priests. Dr Willie Walsh made his comments amid a growing crisis within his own diocese. Just one priest is set to be ordained within the next seven years. In the same period, over a dozen priests are set to retire
2003 - Hundreds of train passengers have their travel plans disrupted by a lightning industrial action by the National Bus and Rail Workers Union in Cork. All services out of the city’s Kent Station from lunchtime until 5pm are affected.
February 15
1782 - The first Dungannon Convention of the Ulster Volunteers calls for an independent Irish parliament; Grattan continues to campaign for the same objective
1793 - A third convention of Dungannon - a gathering of Volunteers from Ulster is held
1794 - The United Irishmen publish a plan for parliamentary reform, advocating universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts and the secret ballot
1850 - Sophie Bryant, Irish patriot and women's rights advocate, is born
1874 - Birth in Kilkea, Co. Kildare of Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton
1901 - Viscount Brendan Bracken, politician, publisher and British Minister of Information from 1941 to 1945 is born in Templemore, Co. Tipperary
1946 - Clare Short, British Labour politician, is born in Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh
1966 - Novelist John McGahern loses his job as a teacher at Clontarf National School because of ‘indecencies’ in his book "The Dark"
1971 - Ireland switches to decimal currency
1998 - Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness hints of the danger of an end to the IRA ceasefire if, as expected, his party is expelled from the Northern Peace talks in Dublin
1998 - Ireland has the second lowest number of workplace accidents in Europe, but employers face the highest rate of insurance claims, totalling £400m per year
1998 - According to the Small Firms Association, as many as 1,000 jobs could be lost in Ireland, following the takeover of the HCR group of chemist shops by British superchain, Boots
2000 - The National Bus and Rail union claim a high level of public support for its one day strike which forces 200,000 passengers to find alternative ways of getting to work
2000 - The IRA delivers a shattering blow to the Northern Ireland peace process by pulling out of talks with the arms decommissioning body
2000 - Bishop Cormac Murphy O’Connor succeeds the late Cardinal Basil Hume to become Archbishop of Westminster and the the new leader of 4·1 million Catholics in England and Wales
2001 - In Belfast, more than 100 members of health service union Unison stage the first in a series of "shadow of the gun" protest rallies. The public demonstration follows threats from loyalist terror groups to staff at the Mater Hospital on the Crumlin Road
2001 - Lena Hunt, a 78-year old pensioner from Limavady, Co. Derry, turns down a £250,000 offer for part of her back garden, insisting that it means more to her than money. Without the key bit of land, developers of a multi-million pound supermarket project are unable to proceed
2001 - One week after protesters call off their blockade of the ill-fated Mullaghmore interpretative centre and car park in the Burren, machinery moves in to demolish the buildings and associated facilities
2002 - Popstars group 6 grab No 1 spot in the Irish charts with their debut single "There's A Whole Lot of Loving Going On."
2008 - The first ever students of a university course for people with intellectual disabilities graduate in a ceremony at Trinity College, Dublin. The pioneering two-year course aims to promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disability in college life. Nineteen students receive certificates in Contemporary Living.
February 16
1768 - The Octennial Act limits Irish parliaments' life to eight years
1822 - James Thomson, engineer, is born in Belfast
1886 - The Irish Catholic Hierarchy formally endorses Home Rule
1902 - Birth of singer Delia Murphy in Ardroe, Claremorris, Co. Mayo
1932 - Fianna Fáil wins the general election; de Valera succeeds Cosgrave as President of the Executive Council; Seán Lemass is Minister for Industry and Commerce
1998 - Both the British and Irish governments are united on move to expel Sinn Féin from peace talks
1998 - Michael Flatley announces that he is to make his last live appearance in Ireland this summer
2000 - Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams accuses the British Government of tearing up the Good Friday Agreement
2001 - RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan warns that the Real IRA represents a potent and a growing threat
2002 - Three republicans accused of training left-wing guerrillas in Colombia could face trial within a month. A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office in the Colombian capital Bogota confirmed prosecutors have sent their case against Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley to a federal judge
2003 - Protesters make formal complaints to the gardaí alleging offences under the National Monuments Act after archeological contractors move on to the Carrickmines Castle site to start taking apart the stone structure.
February 17
1896 - In the House of Commons. Horace Plunkett and W.E.H. Lecky, Irish Unionists, support John Redmond's plea for clemency for Irish political prisoners
1945 - Birth of actress, Brenda Fricker
1978 - An IRA incendiary bomb explodes at the La Mon entertainment complex in Comber Co. Down ; it kills 12 people and injures 30 others. The blast is the second worst since the present wave of troubles began in 1969
1980 - The Derrynaflan Chalice and other ancient silver and bronze pre-Christian antiquities are discovered in Co. Tipperary
1998 - Sinn Féin announces it will mount a legal challenge to the British Government's attempt to have them expelled from the multi -party talks
1998 - According to a nation-wide survey, "Morning Ireland" is the nation's favourite radio programme
1999 - Farmers with tractors and trailers move through the centres of 28 cities and towns during a National Day of Action to protest proposed reforms in the EU Common Agricultural Policy
1999 - EU governments gear up for an epic battle with the European Commission over the Brussels verdict to end duty free sales
2000 - Minister O’Donoghue unveils a raft of far reaching proposals for a new legislative initiative at a passing out ceremony at the Garda College in Templemore. He tells the 98 graduating recruits he has received Government approval to draft and bring a new Criminal Justice Bill before the Oireachtas
2001 - Two explosions near Newry force the closure of the rail line between Portadown and Dundalk
Photo Credit: Photopress, Belfast
2003 - Supermarket giant Tesco sparks a possible price war with the opening of its first petrol filling station in Killarney, Co Kerry
2003 - The famine replica ship, the Jeanie Johnston, is forced to drop anchor close to the Valentia Island, 20 hours into her 21-day voyage to Tenerife. Strong winds also lead Aer Lingus to cancel all flights to New York.
February 18
1366 - The Statutes of Kilkenny are passed in an attempt to prevent Norman settlers becoming “more Irish than the Irish themselves”
1478 - George, Duke of Clarence, is executed for high treason in the Tower of London; according to Shakespeare, he meets his death by being drowned in a butt of malmsey wine
1948 - A coalition government takes over under Fine Gael's John Aloysius Costello
1921 - Brian Faulkner, the last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland who serves from 1971 to 1972, is born in Helen's Bay, Co. Down
1922 - Joe Carr, amateur golfer, is born in Dublin
1948 - Actress Sinead Cusack is born
1964 - Death in Blackrock of novelist Maurice Walsh, author of the original story of The Quiet Man
1978: Police in Northern Ireland arrest at least 20 people in connection with the La Mon entertainment complex explosion
1982 - General election in the Republic leads to a Fianna Fáil minority government; Haughey succeeds FitzGerald as Taoiseach
1998 - A page in Irish history is written as Sinn Féin representatives walk into the Four Courts as plaintiffs rather than defendants. One journalist says "The last time Republicans walked in the front door of this building was during the Civil War when the Irregulars occupied the place"
2000 - One of Waterford’s best loved theatrical personalities, Denny Corcoran, is announced as the 1999 winner of the Waterford Crystal WLR FM Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame Award for his lifetime contribution to theatre and music in a career spanning over four decades
2000 - The bodies of four soldiers tragically killed in a car accident in Lebanon are brought to the Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel
2002 - Hospitals nationwide are forced to cancel admissions, postpone surgery and close outpatient clinics as the highly-contagious winter vomiting virus spreads, striking patients and staff
2003 - Singer Bono is nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. It is the second year in a row that he has been nominated
2003 - Twelve men serving sentences in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin make Irish legal history when they become the first graduates of a new course on the very reason they’re behind bars - the law.
February 19
1904 - Birth on the Great Blasket Island of writer Muiris Ó Suilleabhain who is best known for his book, "Twenty Years A-Growing"
1939 - De Valera states his intention to preserve Irish neutrality in the event of a second world war
1987 - A general election in the Republic returns a Fianna Fáil government with Haughey as Taoiseach
1992 - US government deports Joseph Doherty, volunteer Oglaigh na hÉireann
1999 - Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh launches an ambitious bid to cushion the impact on Ireland of huge cuts in EU beef subsidies as the deadline for sweeping CAP reforms nears
1999 - Families of missing IRA murder victims plead with Sinn Féin
leaders to use their influence with the IRA to find out where the dead are buried
1999 - The hearing of an application by Sinn Féin for an injunction restraining the party's expulsion from the Northern Ireland negotiations resumes at the High Court
2000 - Four peacekeepers killed in an automobile accident in Lebanon - Privates Declan Deere, Brendan Fitzpatrick, Jonathan Murphy and John Lawlor - are laid to rest in their native towns
2001 - According to the latest price survey, taxes make price of Irish cars highest in the EU
2001 - A 4ft limestone rock is unveiled at the entrance to Villierstown in west Waterford which is famous for the heroic exploits and achievements of John Treacy. Weighing a massive eight and a quarter tons, the stone, which came from the nearby quarry at Cappagh, bears the surnames of all 84 families living in the village and the immediate surrounding townlands as of January 1, 2000
2003 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern says a second United Nations resolution before any military action against Iraq is a political imperative. But Mr Ahern is still refusing to state whether the Government will halt the use of Shannon Airport by the US military if the Bush administration undertakes unilateral action against Saddam Hussein without UN backing.
February 20
1742 - James Gandon, architect and builder of the Customs House, the Four Courts and other Dublin buildings, is born in London
1794 - Birth near Clogher, Co. Tyrone of William Carleton, one of the most graphic writers about the Famine. He is best known for his Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry
1874 - Gladstone resigns; a Conservative administration under Disraeli takes over
1882 - Birth of Padraic Ó Conaire, writer and poet, in Galway
1892 - First performance of Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan
1989 - IRA bombs Tern Hill barracks in Shropshire
1973 - Two members of the British Army are shot dead by IRA snipers in an attack on a British Army mobile patrol on Cupar Street, Belfast
1975 - Hugh Ferguson, 19, chairman of the Whiterock IRSP and INLA Volunteer, is shot in Ballymurphy, Belfast by the OIRA. This incident kicks off a series of attacks by OIRA on the newly-formed Irish Republican Socialist Movement
1975 - Gerald McKeown, a 20 year old civilian, is killed by a loyalist bomb attack on Railway Bar on Shore Road in Greencastle, Belfast
1979 - A group of 11 Loyalists known as the 'Shankill butchers' were sentenced to life imprisonment for 112 offences including 19 murders. The 11 men are given 42 life sentences and receive 2,000 years imprisonment in total, in the form of concurrent sentences. The Shankill Butchers had begun killing Catholics in July 1972 and were not arrested until May 1977. The sectarian Loyalist gang operated out of a number of Ulster Volunteer Force drinking dens in the Shankill Road area of Belfast. The gang was initially led by Lenny Murphy but it continued to operate following his imprisonment in 1976. The Shankill Butchers got their name because not only did they kill Catholics but they first abducted many of their victims, tortured them, mutilated them with butcher knives and axes, and then finally killed them.
1983 - An RUC man is shot and killed by the IRA outside Warrenpoint RUC base in County Down.
1985 - In a highly controversial vote, the Irish government defies the powerful Catholic Church and approves the sale of contraceptives
1989 - The PIRA explode three bombs at the British Army barracks at Tern Hill, Shropshire, England. A sentry spots two men acting suspiciously and the barracks is evacuated shortly before the bombs detonate. The Volunteers flee amid gunfire from the sentry, steal a car, and escape
1998 - The (Continuity) Irish Republican Army explode a large car bomb, estimated at 500 pounds, outside the RUC station in the centre of Moira, County Down. Eleven people, mostly RUC officers, receive slight injuries in the explosion
1998 - In a face-to-face meeting with Northern Secretary Mo Mowlam and Foreign Affairs Minister David Andrews at Stormont, Gerry Adams is told that Sinn Féin is suspended from the peace talks for just under three weeks
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern agrees to a demand from Sinn Féin Leader Gerry Adams for a crisis meeting next week, amid mounting fears that IRA 'hawks' will attempt to scupper any chance of Sinn Féin's return to the talks
2001 - Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne confirms that eighty publicans are to be prosecuted for serving drink to underage customers
2002 - After intense speculation that the Abbey Theatre would move to the southside of the Liffey to a completely new location in the Dublin Docklands, Arts Minister Síle de Valera informs the board of the theatre that the government has decided it is to be redeveloped at its present location
2003 - New figures compiled by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) show that Ireland has the highest death rate from heart disease in Western Europe. Finland is second and Britain is third
2003 - Sinn Féin chairperson Mitchel McLoughlin claim claims that the deadlock in the Northern peace process will only be broken by St Patrick’s Day if the British Government delivers on the outstanding promises of the Good Friday Agreement
2003 - The European Commission is accused of abusing private citizens’ right by conceding to American pressure on a data protection controversy. Transatlantic airlines such as Aer Lingus will be forced to provide US authorities with the names, addresses, phone numbers, itineraries and credit card details of all passengers flying to the United States.
2007 - Market hits record 10,000. Share values in Dublin surge to a new record with investors pushing the Irish stock market index above 10,000 for the first time.
February 21
1775 - Edward Denny, MP for Tralee, commits suicide
1760 - François Thurot lands French forces at Carrickfergus in Belfast Lough, increasing English anxiety about an Irish-Catholic alliance with the French.
1822 - Birth in Dublin of Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo; Viceroy and Governor-General of India
1893 - Peadar O'Donnell, revolutionary and writer, is born in Co. Donegal
1922 - The Garda Síochána na h-Eireann - Guardians of the Peace of Ireland - is founded
1999 - Seven men, including senior figures in the Real IRA. are arrested in connection with the Omagh bombing - five in the Republic and two by the RUC in the North, in a simultaneous operation
2000 - A new survey reveals that Dubliners have more disposable income than people living in other parts of Ireland
2001 - The country's multi billion pound livestock industry is on full alert for signs of foot and mouth disease after the first outbreak in Britain for twenty years is confirmed in pigs
2001 - Ronnie Drew becomes one of the first non-sportsmen to receive a Posthouse Legend in Life award
2001 - The British and Irish Governments are considering proposals for round table talks involving the Northern Ireland parties amid growing pessimism about the peace process
2001 - Desmond O'Connell becomes the first Archbishop of Dublin in over 100 years to be installed as a Cardinal. A large Irish contingent from Church and State, along with family and friends of the Cardinal attend the installation which for the first time takes place at the front of the entrance to St Peter’s Basilica
2003 - A rare political letter written by Michael Collins fetches a record price of €28,000 at an auction in James Adam showrooms on Dublin’s Stephen’s Green. Despite fierce bidding by the National Library, the letter is purchased by singer Enya’s manager Mickey Ryan who says he wants the letter to remain in Ireland.
2009 - Up to 120,000 people march in Dublin in protest at how the Government is handling the economic crisis
2011 - Well-known artist Paul Funge dies after a short illness. A native of Gorey, Co Wexford, he taught art in many schools including Clongowes Wood College and Newbridge College. He also lectured at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), the University of California, and Kunsthistorisch Instituut in Amsterdam. As a portrait artist, among his works are paintings of U2’s Adam Clayton, Frank McGuinness and Colm Tóibín as well as many ministers and academics.
February 22
1772 - On the first occasion of his attendance after the death of his only child (a daughter), Thomas Eyre, MP for Fore, dies in the House of Commons - 'suddenly taken with an apoplectic fit and dropt down dead in his place'
1797 -The last invasion of England: Small French force commanded by Irishman William Tate lands in Wales
1832 - The first burial takes place at Glasnevin Cemetery
1886 - At Ulster Hall in Belfast, Lord Randolph Churchill gives his destructive speech which includes the incendiary comment, "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right." The speech instills fear of rule by Roman Catholics in Dublin and incites militant loyalists
1893 - Peadar O'Donnell, novelist, editor of the newspaper An Phoblacht (The Republic) and social reformer, is born in Co. Donegal
1900 - Birth in Cork of short story writer Sean O'Faolain
1921 - Cecil King, painter, is born in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow
1972 - IRA bomb kills six at Aldershot barracks in Surrey, including five women and a Roman Catholic army priest; 19 people are injured and one of these victims dies later
1995 - Death at the age of 76 of Dublin man Johnny Carey, soccer international, and one of Manchester United’s great captains
1998 - Republicans take to the streets in the first of a series of demonstrations in protest at Sinn Féin's suspension from the Northern Ireland peace talks
1998 - Opposition parties are claiming the Government may have breached the Constitution by allowing planes carrying US troops to refuel at Shannon Airport over recent weeks
1998 - Neil Jordan, director of The Butcher Boy, is awarded a Silver Bear for best director at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival
1998 - Cross-border cooperation between the Irish Marine Emergency Services and the Northern Ireland Coastguard is put to the test as emergency teams from the Ambulance Service, the RUC, Irish Marine Emergency Service, the Coastal Rescue Teams and others join forces for a spectacular drill on Carlingford Lough
1998 - Criminal and security sources confirm that the man believed to have masterminded the Omagh bomb massacre has escaped the country on a false Irish passport
1999 - Labour Party TD Pat Upton dies of a massive heart attack
2001 - Authorities begin placing a massive security cordon on sea and airports and along the 300-mile border with Northern Ireland in a determined bid to prevent animals infected with foot and mouth disease from entering the country
2001 - President Mary McAleese launches the Manchester Irish Festival and a website to provide a record of Irish family histories
2001 - The British Government unveils a £12 million aid package for victims of the Troubles in Northern Ireland
2002 - A unique record of the life and times of Irish emigrant families throughout the world is launched by President Mary McAleese in Manchester. This first ever social history of emigrant activity will be set down by descendants and will detail the difficulties, frustrations and ultimate successes of ancestors in their adopted lands.
2011 - Enniskillen-born artist TP Flanagan passes away at the age of 80. For more than 60 years he shaped the face of landscape painting in Northern Ireland and was known internationally for his rural scenes of his native Fermanagh and Sligo. With his stunning watercolours and intricate brush strokes, he is described ss one of the most successful artists of his generation. Poet Seamus Heaney, who dedicated his 1969 poem Bogland to Flanagan, pays tribute saying "he was “a teacher and a friend” whose work held a “deep personal significance.”
Photo Credit: Bobby Hanvey/ John Burns Library Boston College
February 23
1317 - Bruce's army marches south and reaches Castleknock, within sight of Dublin. The mayor of Dublin has imprisoned the Earl of Ulster, who is suspected of being sympathetic to Bruce. The citizens of Dublin destroy some of the northern and western suburbs, to prevent Bruce from using them as a base - to the later inconvenience of the administration, as many of the buildings it uses as law courts etc. are obliterated
1649 - Giovanni Battista Rinuccini returns to Rome. Originally from Rome, he takes his doctorate in law at the University of Pisa. During the next decade he wins distinction at the ecclesiastical courts in Rome and is made Archbishop of Fermo in 1625. In 1645, Pope Innocent X sends him to Kilkenny - then the capital of Ireland - to support the Catholics with arms, money and diplomacy. His determined support of the militant anti-English faction is doomed to failure, but gains him fame and infamy in Anglo-Irish history
1713 - Nicola Hamilton, widow of Tristram Beresford MP, dies on her 47th birthday. On the day of her death, she gave a party to celebrate her 48th birthday; one of those present was the priest who had christened her. He pointed out that it was in fact her 47th birthday - she had been born in 1666, not 1665 as she had always supposed. On hearing this she turned deathly pale; she sent for her children, told them the whole story, and died later that day. The Black Mark of Lord Tyrone
1935 - Thomas Murphy, a playwright best known for his portrayal of the people in the working class rural town of Tuam, is born
1943 - Thirty -five people die in a fire at St Joseph's Orphanage, Co. Cavan
1944 - Children's allowances are introduced in the Free State
1948 - Death of John Robert Gregg, Irish inventor of the Gregg shorthand system
1965 - Roger Casement's body is returned from England to be re-interred at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin
1998 - The Sinn Féin leadership takes to the stage at a Belfast hotel rally as fears grow that the party may not re-turn to the peace talks
2000 - According to a report released by the National Roads Authority, nearly half of Irish motorists never wear a seatbelt. Men are the worst offenders, with two-thirds admitting they do not strap themselves in
2001 - Measures to prevent livestock with foot and mouth disease entering Ireland are tightened as Britain halts all internal livestock movements amid fears that the outbreak there is spreading
2001 - A major recruitment drive for the Police Service of Northern Ireland goes ahead despite the refusal of the SDLP and Sinn Féin to support the new force
2002 - It is announced that Guinness is testing a new system that will slash the waiting time for a pint of the black stuff to 30 seconds. In an effort to combat declining sales in recent years, Guinness is hoping to appeal to people not prepared to wait the 1 minute 59 seconds for the traditional pint to be poured
2003 - Daniel Day-Lewis is named Best Actor for his role in Martin Scorsese’s epic Gangs of New York, the only prize which the film takes at the British version of the Oscars.
February 24
1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces the new Gregorian calendar, replacing the Julian calendar
1692 - The Treaty of Limerick is ratified by William of Orange
1780 - A British Act opens colonial trade to Irish goods
1797 - Birth in Dublin of writer, artist, musician and songwriter, Samuel Lover. To him is attributed the romantic proposal "Come live in my heart and pay no rent"
1841 - John Philip Holland, inventor and developer of the modern submarine, born in Co. Clare
1850 - Paul Cullen is consecrated Catholic archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland
1852 - George Moore, novelist, playwright and critic, is born in Ballyglass, Co. Mayo
1920 - Dublin Metropolitan District is placed under a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m.
1948 - Birth of Dermot Earley, Roscommon Gaelic footballer and GAA administrator, in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
2000 - The Government calls for a full public inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane
2000 - The North’s precarious peace process moves closer towards meltdown as Sinn Féin threatens to end their role as mediators with the IRA on decommissioning and warns of dissident republicans launching a renewed campaign of violence
2000 - A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II stolen from Edinburgh University by three inebriated Trinity College is returned
2002 - The Catholic Church and Government clash over next week's abortion referendum as a poll highlights confusion among voters. While bishops support the Government campaign for a Yes vote on the substantive issue of abortion, they question the future protection of the morning-after pill
2003 - Iarnród Éireann announces that it will not proceed with its plan to charge commuters for parking at three DART stations in Dublin.
February 25
1570 - Elizabeth I is excommunicated by Pope Pious V
1852 - Death of Thomas Moore, popular poet and editor of Irish Melodies
1891 - Edward "Ned" Daly, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, is born in Limerick
1928 - Death of William O’Brien, architect of agrarian land reform
1934 - Ireland’s first ever World Cup match takes place in Dublin. The Irish draw with Belgium 4-4
1937 - The Imperial Airways flying boat Cambria is delivered to Shannon to begin the first trans Atlantic air service
1947 - The worst snow blizzard in living memory hits Ireland
1951 - Neil Jordan, writer and film director, is born
1952 - Joey Dunlop, motorcycle racer, is born in Armoy, Co. Antrim
1991 - Birmingham Six on verge of freedom. An announcement by the Director of Public Prosecution, Alan Green, says their convictions can no longer be considered safe and satisfactory. Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker were all jailed in 1975 for an IRA attack on two pubs in Birmingham in November 1974 in which 21 people died
1998 - Security is stepped up in both Belfast and Derry amid fears the cities are targeted for a new wave of bombing attacks
2000 - The faltering peace process in the North suffer a double body blow with a bomb blast at an army base in Derry and a threat by the Progressive Unionists to withdraw support for the Good Friday Agreement
2001 - British supermarket chains draw up contingency plans to source supplies of fresh meat in Ireland if the ban on livestock transport is not lifted
2001 - It is announced that the birthplace of Daniel O’Connell, the Liberator, is for sale. The historic property at Carhan just outside Caherciveen, where O’Connell was born on August 6, 1775, is being put on the market by his descendants, a local family of O’Connells
2003 - The number of Catholics worldwide has exceeded one billion for the first time, according to figures released by the Vatican
2003 - North American Airlines and Miami Airlines, both charter troop carriers for the US military, end stopovers at Shannon because of recent security breaches
2003 - The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and the Northern Secretary Paul Murphy hold two hours of talks in Dublin. The talks centre on cross border co-operation and anti terrorist measures.
February 26
1797 - The Bank of Ireland suspends gold payments
1854 - William Smith O'Brien, leader of the 1848 rebellion, is pardoned
1962 - Due to "lack of support", the Irish Republican Army ends what it calls "The Campaign of Resistance to British Occupation"; which is also known as the 'Border Campaign'
1978 - Film critic Ciaran Carty hails the Irish language film Poitín for its deromanticization of the west
1983 -Irishman Pat Jennings becomes the first footballer to play in 1,000 Football League matches
1998 - During talks at Downing Street, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern launches a bid to persuade British Prime Minister Tony Blair to sign up to an Anglo-Irish paper which would lay out the details of a final Northern Ireland peace settlement
1998 - An army recruitment programme to bolster the defence forces with 500 new members is officially launched with a commitment made to keep staffing levels at 11,500 by the end of 1998
1999 - During talks in Bonn, the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair agree to push for implementation of the Good Friday peace deal by the March 10 deadline
2001 - The Government imposes a temporary ban on the country’s 120 livestock marts as the devastating foot and mouth disease spreads in Britain. Strict procedures are also implemented in airports around Ireland to keep the disease out of the country
2001 - Blizzards, gale force winds and driving hail sweep the country, leaving many householders without electricity or heat.
February 27
1495 - Garret More Fitzgerald, Eighth Earl of Kildare, is arrested in Dublin by Sir Edward Poynings, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1760 - François Thurot holds the castle and the town of Carrickfergus until this date
1792 - The Irish House of Commons is partly destroyed by fire
1841 - William Bruce, Sr., the last surviving member of the Ulster Volunteer convention of 1783, a group that fostered efforts towards reform, dies
1907 - Coslett Quin, clergyman, scholar and linguist, is born in Derriaghy, Co. Antrim
1975 - Scotland Yard announces that the man who shot dead a police officer in London on February 26 had been staying in a flat used as a "bomb factory" by the Provisional IRA
1997 - After a contentious court battle contesting the referendum, the new divorce law in the Republic is enacted
1998 - A recruitment programme to bolster the defence forces with 500 new members officially launched with a commitment made to keep staffing levels at 11,500 by the end of 1998
2000 - President Mary McAleese and former Taoiseach Charles Haughey are among the many people to pay tribute at the funeral of North Kerry Fianna Fáil TD and former minister, Tom McEllistrim
2001 - In an effort to help prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease, the Six Nations match between Wales and Ireland is cancelled and the Government has asked the Irish racing industry not to participate in the Cheltenham racing festival this year. All horseracing, including point to point events, and all greyhound meets are also cancelled until further notice
2001 - Blizzard conditions bring parts of Leinster to a standstill; all flights are cancelled at Dublin Airport and many roads are left impassable after heavy falls of snow
Photo Credit: Charlie Collins
2002 - Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visits University College Cork where he is confronted by more than 400 angry students protesting his presence
2003 - The funeral of former chief justice and government minister Tom O’Higgins takes place at St Patrick’s Church in Monkstown, Dublin
2003 - The European Commission confirms that new cars cost, on average, are 10% more in Ireland than the lowest pre-tax prices recommended by manufacturers in other eurozone markets.
2009 - The largest bank robbery in the Republic of Ireland's history takes place at the Bank f Ireland College Green cash centre in Dublin. Ireland. Criminals engaged in the tiger kidnapping of a junior bank employee, 24-year-old Shane Travers, and force him to remove €7.6 million (US$9 million) in cash from the bank as his girlfriend and two others are held hostage.
February 28
1713 - Henry Pyne, MP for Dungarvan, aged about 24 and the father of three children, is killed in a duel with Theophilus Biddulph at Chelsea Fields, London; Biddulph will later be convicted of manslaughter
1790 - The Northern Whig Club is founded in Belfast
1799 - William Dargan, railway engineer and philanthropist, is born in Carlow
1830 - Whitley Stokes, jurist and Celtic scholar, is born in Dublin
1884 - Seán MacDiarmada, revolutionary, is born in Kiltycolgher, Co. Leitrim
1929 - Poet John Montague, best known for his volume, The Rough Field, is born
1933 - Birth of Noel Cantwell, captain of Manchester United and Irish international
1938 - Alice Taylor, writer, is born near Newmarket, Co. Cork
1944 - John O'Shea, journalist, charity worker and founder of GOAL, is born in Limerick
1955 - Premiere of Sean O’Casey’s play The Bishop’s Bonfire in Dublin
1961 - Birth in Clones, Co. Monaghan of Barry McGuigan, "the Clones Cyclone", world featherweight boxing champion (WBA) 1985-86
1973 - General election in the Republic leads to a Fine Gael-Labour coalition government; Liam Cosgrave becomes Taoiseach
1998 - Death of one of TV's best-loved comedy stars, Dermot Morgan, who played Father Ted in the hit Channel 4 show
1999 - Sinn Feín supporters rally in Belfast to urge an end to unionists delaying the establishment of a power-sharing executive
2001 - Economic disaster is threatened after the first case of foot and mouth disease for 60 years is confirmed in Meigh, South Armagh
2001 - Dublin Zoo and Fota Island in Cork are closed as a preventive measure designed to protect any animals that may be susceptible to foot and mouth disease
2002 - U2 and Enya lead the Irish victory celebrations at the Grammys in Los Angeles. Bono's boys scoop the best rock album title for All That You Can't Leave Behind, best rock performance by a duo or group with vocal for Elevation, and best pop performance by a duo or group for Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of. Donegal singer/songwriter Enya wins best new age album for A Day Without Rain
2003 - Soldiers add razor wire to Shannon Airport’s perimeter fences as the army and gardaí brace for trouble at anti-war protest
2003 - Bono is made a knight of the French Legion - France’s highest award.
2011 - First steps taken to form coalition government. Negotiators from Fine Gael are sit down with Labour representatives in round one of the complex talks. Both sides accept they are under pressure from Europe to strike a deal by the end of the week.
February 29
1888 - Birth of Thomas Paterson, historian and antiquarian
1948 - Dermot Weld, racehorse trainer, is born
2000 - The British and Irish governments come under fresh pressure from a range of political opinion in Northern Ireland to convene a meeting of the North’s parties to resurrect devolution
2000 - Army bomb experts recover a hand held rocket launcher in Co. Tyrone just hours after it is learned that large amounts of Semtex high explosive have been stolen from Provisional IRA hides
2000 - Hospital waiting lists soar to their highest level in more than a year
2000 - Claire McCollum,a newsreader at Downtown Radio in Newtownards, Co. Down makes headlines herself when she proposes on air to Dungannon and Ulster rugby star Alastair Clarke. Mr. Clarke said yes
2000 - After weeks of controversy over the level of troop cuts and the lack of consultation with military chiefs, the White Paper on Defence gains Cabinet approval
2000 - The plan to allow solicitors be appointed as judges in the High and Supreme courts is broadly welcomed by the Law Society
2000 - Live on Today FM, Claudette Campbell pops the question to Richard Walsh 170 feet above the city of Dublin. Together for 14 years, the childhood sweethearts are among the first to take in the spectacular view from the capital’s new observation tower. Richard accepts his sweetheart's proposal.
- Details
- Slang: Today in Irish History
- Hits: 776
March 1
1703 - Birth of Philip Tisdall, politician and Attorney General noted for his lavish hospitality
1726 - Abraham Shackleton, a Quaker, opens a school at Ballitore, Co. Kildare. Edmund Burke will later be a pupil
1794 - Statutes of Dublin University amended to allow Catholics to take degrees
1848 - Augustus St. Guadens, Irish sculptor of Dublin's Parnell monument, is born
1905 - Birth of Nano Reid, painter, in Drogheda, Co. Louth
1949 - Birth in Donegal of guitarist Rory Gallagher
1953 - Birth of Martin O’Neill, international soccer star and manager of Celtic
1965 - Roger Casement's body is re-interred in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin
1976 - "Special Category" status is removed from political prisoners in Northern Ireland
1981 - Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike at Long Kesh prison
1998 - President McAleese defends her decision to hold a reception to mark Orange Day celebrations in the face of mounting criticism from unionists
1998 - DUP councillor Nigel Dodds calls for security to be stepped up following an INLA bomb attack at a school used by Catholic and Protestant children
1999 - The heroic action of a pilot and the crew of a Channel Express cargo plane avert a major tragedy as they land the plane safely at Shannon after two propellers on their ageing aircraft disintegrated, disabling two of their four engines and leaving a deep hole in the aircraft's fuselage
2001 - Fears of a foot and mouth outbreak in Kerry are eased with confirmation from the Department of Agriculture that no animals checked on two farms near Castleisland show symptoms of the disease
2003 - According to a new global survey, Dublin is one of the safest cities in the world.
March 2
1718 - Birth of John Gore. Baron Annal, lawyer, politician and Chief Justice of the King's Bench from1764 to 1784
1871 - Gladstone gives his first speech in the House of Commons on Home Rule
1888 - Birth in Dublin of Cyril Bentham Falls, military historian and journalist
1979 - Death of hurler Christy Ring
1996 - Thomas P. O'Neill, Irish historian, dies
1998 - The Kerry Bog Pony receives its "passport," from Weatherbys, which proves pedigree and opens up sales opportunities worldwide. The passport contains height, breeding details and blood type
2001 - In measures adding to the effects of Ireland’s countrywide lock up, the United States bans Irish meat, and the Philippine government returns 1,000 plus boxes of processed Irish beef just 24 hours after France bans Irish livestock
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern presents Bill Whelan with the IMRO Lifetime Achievement Award at Dublin Castle
Photo Credit: Maxwells
2001 - Three farms in Monaghan and one in Louth are sealed off in a bid to stop the spread of foot and mouth disease
2001 - The massive beef and lamb slaughtering facility at Kildare Chilling — capable of processing almost 2,000 animals a day is closed as a precautionary measure against spreading foot and mouth disease.
March 3
1592 - A charter incorporates the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, near Dublin, later to become known as Trinity College
1766 - Four pirates are found guilty in Dublin of murdering on the high seas Captain Cochrane, Captain Glass and others, and of plundering and scuttling the Lord Sandwich; they are executed in St Stephen's Green on this date and later hanged in chains near the Liffey; complaints from the public lead to the removal of the corpses to Dalkey Island
1831 - In the 'tithe war', 120 police move in to Graiguenamanagh to seize cattle in payment of the tithe
1918 - Birth of Sir Peter O'Sullevan, "the voice of horseracing"
1954 - Birth of Ollie Campbell, rugby player, in Dublin
1977 - Birth of Ronan Keating of Boyzone fame
1998 - Two friends, one a Catholic the other a Protestant, are shot dead, after being ordered to lie on the floor of a bar in Pontyz Pass, near Newry, Co. Down
2000 - The hearing of the longest ever action in the High Court ends after a total of 281 days spread over a number of law terms since its 1997 opening
2002 - The Government has again refused to bail out RTÉ after a new consultants' report concludes that the national broadcaster will run out of cash by next year
2002 - It is anticipated that by 2035, total forestry production in Ireland will be €1.7 billion
2003 - According to a survey by the Dublin Institute of Technology's Tourism Research Centre, the US is the most desirable destination for Irish tourists. In second place is South Africa, while Italy is the favourite continental destination
2003 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair conduct talks at Hillsborough Castle in the latest bid to restore devolution and secure the Provisionals’ disarmament
2003 - Ambulance workers in Kilkenny abandon their fleets (responding to 999 calls only) in protest over changes in their working terms which they say are being enforced by their health board.
March 4
1704 - Penal law 'to prevent the further growth of popery' restricts landholding rights for Catholics; gavelkind is reimposed on Catholics (unless the eldest son converts to Protestantism, in which case he inherits the whole); a 'sacramental test' for public office is introduced, directed mainly at Ulster Presbyterians
1771 - John Ponsonby resigns as Speaker of the Irish parliament for political reasons; Edmond Sexton Pery is elected to replace him
1778 - Robert Emmet, one of Ireland's most famous revolutionaries, is born in Dublin
1864 - Daniel Mannix, Archbishop of Melbourne and advocate of Irish independence, is born in Charleville, Co. Cork
1867 - Fenian national uprising begins in Ireland
1888 - Grace Gifford Plunkett, Irish patriot, is born in Rathmines, Dublin
1902 - Ancient Order of Hibernians is revived at unity council
1916 - First Irish Race Convention is held in New York City. Serves as immediate call for the Easter Rebellion in Dublin
1923 - Birth of Sir Patrick Moore, broadcaster, astronomer and curate at the Armagh Observatory
1978 - Death of General James Emmet Dalton, aged 80 (today is also his birthday). Dalton led the bombardment of the Four Courts in what effectively is the start of the Civil War, and is with Michael Collins at Béal na mBlátha when they are ambushed and Collins is assassinated
1993 - U2 ties with REM as "best band" in a Rolling Stones magazine reader's poll
2001 - A car bomb explosion outside the BBC’s London headquarters on Wood Lane in west London is said to be part of an ongoing campaign of ‘‘murderous attacks’’ by the Real IRA
2001 - 300 sheep are destroyed and eight Irish farms are cordoned off as a precaution against foot and mouth disease. Despite 69 confirmed cases in Britain and one in the North, there is still no case of the disease in the Republic
2001 -The world’s largest car ferry arrives in Dublin Port. The £80 million Ulysses sailed from Finland following her construction for Irish Ferries. Once she has completed final sea trials the vessel will go into service on the Dublin-Holyhead route
Photo Credit: Mac Innes
2001 - After being left to rot for the last 22 years, the boat made famous for smuggling arms to the Irish Volunteers in 1914, the Asgard, is released from Kilmainham Gaol and moved to the Docklands where restoration, estimated to cost over £1 million, will take place
2002 - Fears of chaos around the country's schools prove to be unfounded as 2,500 non-teachers begin supervision and substitution duties in more than 600 schools
2003 - The North’s assembly elections look set to be delayed for weeks following failure to reach an early agreement on a deal to restore the power-sharing government.
2008: The Rev Ian Paisley signals the end of an era by announcing he will step down as leader of Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration and the Democratic Unionist Party. The news represents a huge moment in the politics and recent history of Northern Ireland, removing from the scene as it does one of its most striking figures.
March 5
1389 - Thomas Mortimer is appointed justiciar
1716 - Martin Bladen, soldier, politician, civil servant, gambler and writer, is given leave in the British House of Commons to bring in a bill to continue the privilege of exporting Irish linen cloth to British plantations without the duty payable by exporters in England and Scotland. The bill eventually passes
1867 - Fenian Rising begins in Co. Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Clare and Tipperary
1911 - Birth in Portaferry, Co. Down of actor Joseph Tomelty
1998 - Dublin gangland criminal Georgie "the Penguin" Mitchell is arrested in Holland after a joint operation between Irish and Dutch police catch him red-handed stealing £4 million worth of computer parts
1998 - The remains of Dermot Morgan are received at St. Theresa's Church in his native Dublin. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tanaiste Mary Harney are among the more than 1,000 mourners
1999 - As a precautionary measure, eighteen workers at the Warner-Lambert plant in Ringaskiddy, Co. Cork are taken to hospital following a chemical spillage. They are found to be unharmed and are released
2000 - The Government closes the book on the millennium bug after spending £40m preparing for a potential disaster that doesn't happen
2001 - A total of 520 farms are under investigation because of fears of foot and mouth, Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh reveals
2001 - The shortlist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is announced by Lord Mayor Maurice Ahern. Six novels are in contention for the world’s richest literary prize (worth IR£100,000) for a single work of fiction, among them Colm Tóibín’s The Blackwater Lightship
2003 - In Blarney, Co. Cork, pubs, restaurants and supermarkets enthusiastically embrace a no smoking day and the Blarney Stone restaurant in the town square takes the lead by slapping a permanent ban on smoking.
In the ecumenical calendar, today is the feastday of St. Kieran, sometimes listed as 'Kevin the elder'.
March 6
1791 - John MacHale, Archbishop of Tuam; nationalist campaigner and writer, is born in Tirawley, Co. Mayo
1831 - Philip Sheridan, general on Federal side in American Civil War and Commander-in-Chief of the US army, is born in Killinkere, Co. Cavan
1861 - Patrick McCall, songwriter, is born in Dublin
1918 - Death of John Redmond, Chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party
1921 - The Lord Mayor of Limerick, George Clancy, his predecessor, Michael O'Callaghan, and another prominent nationalist, Joseph O'Donoghue, are killed by policemen in Limerick during curfew hours
1924 - A 'mutiny' in the Free State army begins on this date: dissident officers demand the suspension of demobilization, and discussions on progress towards a republic. Following the 'unauthorized' arrest of dissidents, two Government ministers and three senior officers resign and conservative elements take control of Cumann na nGaedheal. The 'army mutiny' signals the end of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
1935 - Ronnie Delany, 1500 meter gold medallist in the 1956 Olympic Games, is born in Arklow, Co. Wicklow
1978 - Micheál Mac Liammóir, poet, actor and founder of the Gate Theatre, dies
1998 - The jobless trend continues downward and falls to its lowest numbers in seven years
1998 - Hundreds of Dubliners turn out to pay their last respects to Dermot Morgan as his funeral cortege makes its way to Glasnevin Crematorium
2000 - Flamboyant journalist Jonathan Philbin Bowman is found dead in his Dublin home. Gardaí are investigating the possibility that he may have fallen down the stairs
2000 - An Bord Pleanála upholds Clare County Council’s decision to refuse planning permissions to proposals by the Minister for the Arts and Heritage, Síle de Valera, to develop visitor facilities at Mullaghmore in the Burren National Park
2001 - The foot and mouth virus claims another Irish sporting casualty with the announcement that the world cross country championships is to be switched to Brussels, bringing with it some 1,000 runners from 80 countries who were due to converge on Dublin on March 24-25
2001 - Moves to provide nappies for Killarney’s famous jaunting car horses are dropped. Against the advice of the Town Manager, the local urban council bows to the wishes of local jarveys who strongly oppose proposals to include “equine sanitary apparatus” in the jarvey bylaws.
March 7
1777 - Sir Philip Crampton, surgeon, is born in Dublin
1864 - Archbishop Paul Cullen issues a pastoral for St. Patrick's Day denouncing Fenianism
1920 - Éilis Dillon, novelist and children's writer, is born in Galway
1921 - Limerick Mayor George Clancy is shot and killed in his home by disguised members of the Black and Tans
1923 - Eight republican prisoners are executed by use of a mine at Ballyseedy, Co. Kerry
1936 - Freddie Gillen, amateur boxer, is born in Belfast
1988 - The IRA confirms that the three people shot dead by security forces in Gibraltar are members of an active service unit
1999 - A human chain is formed around the Central Bank in Dublin to highlight the campaign to cancel unpayable Third World debt for the millennium. Over 400 people take part in the ceremony organised by Trocaire, Jubilee 2000 and the One World Network of Students in Ireland. Similar events are held in as many as 50 other countries across the world.
2005 - Calling the story of the Irish in America "an important part of the history of our country," President George W. Bush proclaims March as Irish-American Heritage Month.
March 8
1574 - Captain William Martin lays siege to Grace O'Malley in Rockfleet castle
1594 - English expedition sets out from Galway to kill pirate queen, Grace O'Malley
1700 (?) - Year is uncertain, but it is on this date that Anne Bonny, née Cormac, pirate, is born in Co. Cork
1702 - William III dies when his horse stumbles on a molehill; Anne accedes to the throne of Britain and Ireland
1742 - William Crotty, outlaw of the Comeragh mountains, is tried in Waterford on this date and later hanged, drawn and quartered
1770 - Mary Anne McCracken, radical and philanthropist, is born in Belfast
1834 - General John O'Neill, Irish Fenian leader, is born
1854 - Birth in Co. Cork of Tom Horan, the greatest of the many top class Australian cricketers to be born in Ireland
1903 - Charles Gavan Duffy, Young Irelander, is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin
1909 - Francis MacManus, novelist, is born
1921 - Sir James Comyn, lawyer, is born in Dublin
1925 - Paddy Devlin, socialist politician, is born in Belfast
1942 - Mary MacSwiney, Irish patriot, dies
1959 - Aidan Quinn, film actor, is born in Chicago of Irish parents
1966 - Nelson's Pillar in Dublin is blown up
1973 - IRA car bombs explode outside the Old Bailey courthouse and Scotland Yard police headquarters in London, killing one and injuring 238
1998 - The Loyalist Volunteer Force pledges full backing for DUP leader Ian Paisley in his opposition to the Stormont talks process
1999 - Pressure on Sinn Féin and the IRA to make a start on decommissioning is stepped up as the Irish and British Governments sign four new treaties in Dublin providing for the implementation of the main elements of the Good Friday Agreement
2000 - Following a round of meetings in Belfast involving Foreign Minister Brian Cowen; Northern Secretary Peter Mandelson, and the principal pro Agreement parties, the two governments are to assess the situation before the St Patrick’s Day summit in the White House next week. All the parties are now looking towards President Clinton to broker a deal that will break the impasse in the peace process
2001 - Retired Archbishop of Tuam, the Most Rev Joseph Cunnane, dies after a long illness at the Bon Secours Hospital
2002 - Car owners are to benefit from new regulations which will oblige insurers to give two-week's notice of any cost changes when renewing policies.
2006 - 1916 Proclamation donated to National Museum
An original copy of the Proclamation of Independence picked up in O’Connell Street in 1916 has been donated to the National Museum of Ireland. For more on this story, please click Irish Examiner.
March 9
1771 - Birth in Dublin of Thomas Reynolds, United Irishman whose information enables authorities to arrest Leinster Committee in 1798 1825 - The Catholic Association is dissolved in accordance with the Unlawful Societies Act
1914 - Prime Minister Asquith offers a compromise on Home Rule - electors in the North could vote to be excluded from an independent Ireland for six years
1932 - Éamon de Valera is elected President of the Executive Council of Ireland
1973 - The people of Northern Ireland vote overwhelmingly to remain within the United Kingdom. In a referendum on the future of the province, 591,280 people or 57% of the electorate vote to retain links with the UK. A boycott by the Roman Catholic population means only 6,463 vote in favour of a united Ireland
1982 - Charles Haughey becomes Taoiseach for the second time
1995 - Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh make a historic visit to Northern Ireland. For the first time, the Queen meets with the Roman Catholic Primate of all Ireland, Cardinal Cahal Daly, as well as his Anglican counterpart, Archbishop Robin Eames
1995 - U.S. President Bill Clinton approves a visa for Irish nationalist leader Gerry Adams to enter the United States
1998 - Justice Brian Walsh, judge on the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, dies suddenly of a stroke. On his appointment in December of 1961, Justice Walsh becomes one of the youngest Irish Supreme Court judges. He serves for 29 years - the longest by a member of the country's highest court
1999 - The European Parliament calls for the legalisation of abortion in Ireland. The opinion, passes in Strasbourg by 321 votes to 122; it carries no legislative weight but provokes a storm of political controversy
1999 - A record price for land in the South East is set in Waterford when leading city developer Noel Frisby pays £725,000 an acre for land being sold off for Telecom Eireann.
March 10
1478 - John De La Pole, the Duke of Suffolk, is appointed lieutenant of Ireland for 20 years on this date, but does not take office
1653 - Sir Phelim O'Neill is executed by Parliament forces in Dublin, after refusing to state that Charles I authorized the 1641 rebellion
1810 - Birth in Belfast of Sir Samuel Ferguson, Celtic scholar and a poet best known for his rendering of Irish legends in English verse
1883 - Pádraig Ó Siochfhradha, writer under the pseudonym 'An Seabhac' and promoter of the Irish language is born in Dingle, Co. Kerry
1888 - Birth in Dublin of William Joseph Shields, aka Barry Fitzgerald, actor
1894 - Ireland collects its first ever Triple Crown, defeating Wales in Belfast
1932 - IRA prisoners in the Free State are released
1945 - Birth of Donal Lunny, the founder of Planxty, the Bothy Band, and Moving Hearts
1966 - Death of Frank O'Connor, poet and novelist
1971 - Fighting erupts between Official and Provisional IRA in Belfast
1998 - After five wildly inaccurate missiles are fired with little warning at a police station in Armagh city, police accuse republicans of attempting mass murder. 100 people — many pensioners — are forced to flee their homes. Fortunately, no-one is killed or injured
2000 - Harland and Wolff’s last hope of saving the Belfast shipyard appear doomed after it is confirmed that Cunard’s £433 million contract to build the Queen Mary 2 has gone to French rivals
2002 - Former Circuit of Ireland rally champion Frank Meagher is killed in a driving accident in Co. Tipperary, between Cloneen and Mullinahone
2003 - The National Aquatic Centre opens in Abbotstown, Dublin. The water-park with its eight different fun rides and attractions is one of the most hi-tech in Europe and the pool complex is one of the most advanced Olympic standard facilities in the world
2003 - Tobacco manufacturers Gallaher announces a range of increases which sees the cost of several popular brands rise to nearly €6 for a packet of 20 cigarettes.
March 11
1605 - A proclamation declares all persons in the realm to be free, natural and immediate subjects of the king and not subjects of any lord or chief
1812 - Composer William Vincent Wallace, best known for his opera, Maritana, is born in Co. Waterford
1858 - Irish revolutionary Thomas James Clarke is born of Irish parents on the Isle of Wight
1880 - On the last day of his tour of the United States, Parnell launches the Irish National Land League of the USA
1926 - Eamon de Valera resigns as head of Sinn Féin
1929 - Erskine B. Childers, diplomat, is born in Dublin
1951 -Ian Paisley co-founds the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster
1953 - Birth in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway of Mary Harney, politician, leader of the Progressive Democrats and Tánaiste
1954 - Margaret (Gretta) Cousins, Irish women's rights activist, is born
1964 - Shane Richie, actor and game-show host, is born Shane Roche to Irish parents in London
1974 - Brothers Kenneth and Keith Littlejohn break out of Mountjoy Prison. Jailed in 1973 for a £67,000 heist at a Dublin bank - the biggest to date in Irish history - during their trial they claim they are M16 spies working for the British Government against the IRA
1995 - Gerry Adams arrives in New York
2000 - Emigrant Francis O’Neill, an American police chief who carried a Chicago gangster’s bullet to the grave is honoured at the weekend in his native West Cork where Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne unveils a life-sized memorial sculpture
Photo credit: Dan Linehan
2001 - Over 1,300 people pack the Cathedral of the Assumption to pay their last respects to the former Archbishop of Tuam, Most Reverend Joseph Cunnane, at his funeral Mass
2001 - Mr. Tony Luff, founder of the Galway Swan Rescue, coordinates a rescue operation involving dozens of volunteers in Galway city to save the lives of over 60 of the famous Claddagh swans after yet another oil slick surrounds the birds - just a fortnight after four are killed in a previous spill
Photo Credit: Andrew Downes
2002 - Limerick-born Michael Collins, author of The Keepers of Truth, is named as one of seven writers competing for the prestigious International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2002, worth €100,000
2002 - Customs officers smash the biggest illegal oil laundering operation ever discovered in the State.The plant, near Dundalk, Co Louth, had the capacity to launder up to 300,000 litres of oil a week.
March 12
1295 - Richard de Burgh is released by the council in parliament at Kilkenny
1685 - George Berkeley, philosopher, physicist, mathematician, Dean of Derry and Bishop of Cloyne, is born in Dysart Castle, Co. Kilkenny. The university town of Berkeley in California is named in his honour
1689 - James II lands at Kinsale and proceeds to Dublin
1832 - Birth of Capt. Charles Boycott, despised English estate manager in Ireland, from whose name the word 'boycott' is taken
1873 - Gladstone's Irish University Bill is defeated
1875 - After being barred as an undischarged felon from taking his seat as elected MP for Tipperary, John Mitchel is re-elected on this date. He dies eight days later
1798 - Having been betrayed by Thomas Reynolds, the Leinster Directory of United Irishmen leaders is arrested
1860 - Michael O'Hickey, professor of Irish and Irish-language campaigner, is born in Carrickbeg, Co. Waterford
1930 - Pat Taaffe, jockey and trainer, is born in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin
1944 - Britain bans all travel to and from Ireland in an effort to prevent news of Allied preparations for the invasion of France reaching the Germans
1974 - Billy Fox, MP for Co. Monaghan, is assassinated
2000 - National Tree Week ends with a mass planting of 5,000 trees at Corkagh Park in Clondalkin
2001 - Department of Agriculture vets are investigating another suspected case of foot and mouth in the North. Tests are carried out on a sheep taken from a farm in Augher to an abattoir in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, for slaughter.
March 13
1784 - Reform Bill in Irish House of Commons
1791 - Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man (part 1) - a reply to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France and a major influence on Irish radicals - is published
1865 - Birth of Patrick Nally in Balla, Co Mayo. An athlete, he was a major inspiration in the founding the GAA in 1884 by Michael Cusack. The Nally stand in Croke Park is named after him
1922 - George Bernard Shaw's "Back to Methusaleh V" premieres in New York
1939 - At-Swim-Two-Birds, a highly experimental novel by Flann O'Brien, is published in London
1960 - Birth of Adam Clayton, bass player with U2
1973 - Birth of Ballybeg Prim, one of the greatest racing dogs of all time in Thurles, Co. Tipperary
1998 - Naval personnel question the crew of a British-registered flagship after a second day of intimidation of Irish trawlers off the South West coast
1999 - Over 250,000 people pack the streets around the River Liffey in Dublin to witness the largest fireworks display ever seen in Ireland
The event marks the start of a five-day festival to mark St Patrick's Day as well as the official launch of the Millennium celebrations
2000 -A multi million pound seizure of drugs in Holland results in the arrest of John Cunningham, one of Ireland’s most prolific career criminals
2001 - The Irish food industry is dealt a hammer blow as the United States and Canada ban Irish food imports, worth over £100 million a year, because of the foot and mouth scare
2003 - Taoiseach Bertie gives his strongest indication yet that the US will be able to use Shannon Airport regardless of UN backing for war in Iraq.
March 14
1705 - An English act permits direct export of Irish linen to American colonies
1732 - Birth of Sackville Hamilton, politician and civil servant
1738 - John Beresford, unionist politician, is born in Cork
1822 - Richard Boyle, civil engineer, is born in Dublin
1894 - William Earle "Moley" Molesworth, WWI Ace, is born
1902 - The Irish Association of Women Graduates and Candidate-Graduates, an organization open to those interested in promoting women's education, is launched
1962 - Eibhín Bean Uí Choisdeaíbh, Irish language folk song collector, dies
1973 - Liam Cosgrave is elected Taoiseach of Ireland
1985 - Schoolchildren claim to have seen a 'moving' statue in Asdee, Co. Kerry. Other reports come from Ballinspittle, Co. Cork. The faithful claim a miraculous event. Sceptics say it is an optical illusion
1984 - Gunmen shoot and wounded Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, in an attack in central Belfast. He is hit in the neck, shoulder and arm as several gunmen riddle his car with about 20 bullets. Three people travelling with Mr Adams are also wounded in the shooting No-one is seriously hurt and a fourth man escapes injury
1991 -The Birmingham Six - Paddy Joe Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter, Billy Power and Johnny Walker - are released from jail after their convictions for the murder of 21 people in two pubs are quashed by the Court of Appeal
1998 - Former Defence and Marine Minister Hugh Coveney falls to his death from a headland near Roberts Cove, Co. Cork
2002 - Roundwood House, Mountrath, Co. Laois is the only Irish establishment to make the list of the world's top 50 restaurants published by Restaurant magazine. It places at 42.
March 15
1672 - The first declaration of indulgence suspending penal laws against Catholics and dissenters is issued by Charles II
1764 - Charles O'Conor, antiquary and historian, is born in Belanagare, Co. Roscommon
1773 - Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer is performed at Covent Garden Theatre, London
1774 - Isaac Weld, author, is born in Dublin
1813 - In the British House of Commons, Sir Eyre Coote (the younger), MP for Ballynakill and Maryborough, proposes the abolition of flogging in the army
1852 - Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory (née Persse), playwright, folklorist and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, is born in Roxborough, Co. Galway
1904 - Birth of George Brent, actor, in Dublin
1878 - Sir Robert McCarrison, medical scientist and honorary physician to King George V from 1928 to 1935 is born in Portadown, Co. Armagh
1976 - The IRA is linked to a bomb that explodes on a London Underground train; the driver of the train, Julius Stephen, is shot dead while chasing a gunman who is believed to have detonated the bomb. Ten other people are injured
1993 - Kitty Linnane, leader of the Kilfenora Céili Band, dies
1998 - The US Ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith, confirms she will leave her post after US Independence Day celebrations in Dublin on July 4
1999 - A prominent Irish civil rights solicitor, Rosemary Nelson, is killed by a Loyalist car bomb in Lurgan, Co. Armagh
1999 - The Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Jim McDaid, unveils plans to commemorate the Year 2000. Commencing on St. Patrick's Day, "The Party Starts Here," is the official title of a 21-month long series of events, which will link over 300 separate festivals
2000 - The censor lifts a ban on more than two thirds, or 400, of prohibited books following an appeal by the Labour Party. Only 187 books and about 270 magazines and newspapers now remain on the banned list
2001 - John Gilligan is found not guilty of the murder of Veronica Guerin; however, he is sentenced to 28 years in prison on drug-related crimes. The sentence is twice what most people expected and six years more than the previous longest sentence handed down for a drugs offence
2002 - Tesco's supermarket chain in Ireland announces that, unlike its British counterpart, it has no plans to start issuing the morning-after pill to Irish teenagers free of charge.
March 16
1618 - Richard Archdekin, Jesuit, educator and missioner to Ireland, is born in Louvain
1640 - Charles I's second Irish parliament meets
1690 - French king Louis XIV sends troops to Ireland
1789 - Francis Rawdon Chesney, soldier and explorer, is born in Annalong, Co. Down
1815 - William Reeves, Church of Ireland bishop and antiquary, is born in Charleville, Co. Cork
1828 - Patrick Cleburne, American Civil War Confederate General, is born in Cobh, Co. Cork
1839 - John B. Yeats, painter and father of William Butler and Jack B. Yeats, is born in Tullylish, Co. Down
1865 - Irish-born Martin Murphy, one of the greatest pioneers of early California, dies
1955 - Singer Ruby Murray scores five simultaneous hits in the British charts
1959 - RTÉ interviews Ireland's first bangarda, Mary Brown from Roscommon
1960 - The P & O liner Canberra (45,000 tons) is launched in Belfast
1988 - At Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast, a gunman kills three mourners and injures at least 50 people attending a funeral for IRA members Mairead Farrell, Daniel McCann, and Sean Savage shot dead in Gibraltar
1991 - Members of Irish Gay & Lesbian Organization march in NYC parade
1995 - Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams meets President Bill Clinton for the first time
1998 - In Washington, at the American/Ireland Fund dinner, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern bluntly tells Northern political leaders to display the courage necessary to make far-reaching compromises over the next fortnight to rescue the peace process from the dangers of failure
1998 - Beef exports from Northern Ireland are to resume after a three-year ban stemming from the BSE crisis
2000 - Hundreds of sprigs of shamrock are airlifted from Ireland by the RAF to Irish regiments of the British Army around the world in accordance with a decree issued by Queen Victoria 100 years ago. It is exactly 100 years since the queen decrees that all Irish regiments of the British Army wear a shamrock in their head dress on St Patrick’s Day to commemorate the bravery of Irish troops during the Boer War
2000 - Northern Secretary, Peter Mandelson, announces that more troop withdrawals are likely over the coming months
2001 - President Bush, Sinn Fein's President Gerry Adams, center, and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, right, watch Irish dancers perform at the White House in Washington. Ahern meets with Bush and discusses the 1998 power-sharing deal that has brought a tenuous peace in Northern Ireland. Standing behind Bush is National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, left.
Photo Credit: AP
2001 - Kilmainham residents protest against a planned office development in the heart of an historic part of Dublin
2001 - Irish Defense Minister Michael Smith, center, waves the Irish flag as he celebrates St. Patrick's day with other Irish peacekeepers at Camp Shamrock near the southern village of Tibnine
Photo Credit: AP
2003 - More than 1,500 performers create a Mardi-Gras atmosphere on the streets of Limerick for the 33rd International Marching Band Parade and Competition.
March 17
1777 - Patrick Brontë, originally Brunty; clergyman and father of Charlotte, Emily and Anne, is born in Ballynaskeagh, Co. Down
1800 - Charles James Patrick Mahon, high-ranking soldier in Russia, Turkey, South America and France; duellist; & politician, is born in Ennis, Co. Clare
1794 - Sir Thomas Maclear, astronomer, is born in Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone
1820 - Patrick Edward Connor, Union General, is born in Co. Kerry
1852 - Patrick Sheehan, 'Canon Sheehan', priest and writer, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork
1853 - The Ossianic Society is founded to preserve and publish manuscripts of the Fionn cycle
1858 - James Stephens founds the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Dublin
1864 - Charlotte Milligan Fox, collector of folk music, is born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone
1877 - Michael O'Hanrahan, author and revolutionary, is born in New Ross, Co. Wexford
1889 - Harry Clarke, artist, known chiefly for stained-glass work, is born in Dublin
1899 - First issue of Gaelic League's An Claidheamh Soluis is published
1903 - St Patrick's Day becomes a bank holiday
1944 - Birth in Northern Ireland of Pat McCauley, rock drummer for Them
1951 -Scott Gorham, hard rock guitarist, is born
1964 - Joe Cooney, Galway hurler, is born near Loughrea
1976 - Birth in Dublin of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately
1997 - President Bill Clinton sharply increases the pressure on Northern political leaders to make concessions following a White House declaration that they will throw away a chance in a lifetime if they fail to settle an agreement by May
1998 - Frankie Curry, a top loyalist dissident, is gunned down by the UVF in revenge for the killing of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson
1999 - From Malin Head to Mizen Head, up to a million people turn out for St Patrick’s Day parades.
Photo Credit: Maxwells
2001 - For the first time, Queen Elizabeth II sends a special St. Patrick's Day greeting to President Mary McAleese
2001 - Publicans in Westport, Co. Mayo call time on hen and stag parties. Bar owners in Westport, Co Mayo say the revellers are no longer welcome and will not be served in the town’s 44 pubs
2001 - Thousands of bargain hunters pack the RDS for the biggest ever Irish International Antiques and Fine Art Fair
2002 - In Dublin, an estimated 500,000 people line the parade route for the pinnacle of the €2.5 million St. Patrick's festival weekend
2003 - Two police officers and a paramedic are injured as sectarian fighting breaks out in flashpoint areas of Belfast
2003 - Snakes, sea monsters, Vikings and samba bands provide the sparkle in St Patrick’s Day celebrations around the country while the saint himself supplies the weather - warm and sunny in most areas.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Patrick, Ireland's patron saint.
March 18
1736 - The Irish House of Commons condemns tithe of agistment on pasturage for dry and barren cattle
1800 - Harriet Smithson, actress and wife of the composer Hector Berlioz, is born in Ennis, Co. Clare
1801 - Ambrose O'Higgins, Viceroy of Peru, dies in Lima
1825 - In accordance with the Unlawful Societies Act, the Grand Orange Lodge advises its members that further meetings would be in violation of the law
1932 - The order outlawing the IRA is allowed to lapse
1949 - Birth in Belfast of Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, snooker player and two time world-champion
1952 - Pat Eddery, jockey, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin
1954 - Sr. Cindy Turner DCV is born.
1998 - The funeral of Hugh Coveney, politician and former Lord Mayor of Cork, takes place at St Michael's Church in Blackrock
1998 - Founder and executive director of the Chernobyl Children's Project charity, Adi Roche, is awarded the Frantsysk Skrayna Order by Belarus's envoy to Britain and Ireland, Uladzimir Shchasny. It is the country's highest honour and the first time it has been given to a foreigner
1999 - The funeral of murdered human rights lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, takes place at St. Peter's Church in Lurgan
2000 - The end of a 30 year ban fails to bring huge numbers of people out to see the controversial cult movie, A Clockwork Orange
2000 - Geneva-based financier and professional gambler, JP McManus jumps almost 20 places to 13th in The Sunday Times Irish rich list, with an estimated worth of more than £300 million.
In the old Celtic calendar, today is Sheelah's Day. In ancient Ireland, it was an annual festival to honor the fertility Goddess known as Sheela-na-gig. Naked Sheela-na-gig figures appeared in Irish churches constructed before the 16th century, but most were defaced or destroyed during the prudish Victorian age.
According to some sources, the origins of "drowning the shamrock" have also been traced to this date. In the eighteenth century, William Hone reported on the celebrations surrounding Sheelah, who has been variously identified as the wife, mother, or other relative of St. Patrick - noting that, the people of the day "are not so anxious to determine who 'Sheelah' was, as they are earnest in her celebration. All agree that her immortal memory is to be maintained by potations of whisky." At the end of the day, the faithful would then take their shamrocks and drop them into their respective glasses before downing the contents.
Photo Credit: British Museum
Statue is 11th-13th century AD and from Chloran, Co. Meath, Ireland
March 19
1642 - Charles I's 'Adventurers' Act' offers confiscated Irish land in return for investment in the reconquest
1821 - Birth in Dublin of Sir Richard Francis Burton, adventurer, writer, swordsman, scholar and explorer
1824 - William Allingham, poet and diarist, is born in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal
1861 - Joseph MacRory, Catholic Primate of all Ireland and cardinal, is born in Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone
1920 - Tomás MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork for Sinn Féin and inventor of the famous "Flying Column, is killed by Black & Tans disguised as policemen. The inquest into his death returns a verdict of wilful murder against the RIC, and indicts Lloyd George and the British government
1921 - Tom Barry and the West Cork Flying Column routs a superior force from the Essex Regiment at Crossbarry
1924 - Death of Charles Villiers Stanford, composer and author
1928 - Birth of actor Patrick McGoohan
1988 - Two British soldiers who drive into a Republican area of Belfast during a funeral procession, are seized and killed
1998 - The country's beef industry takes a further blow following strong indications from the Department of Agriculture that Co. Clare is to be included in the beef export ban to Russia
1998 - The Maze prison crisis deeps after the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) issues a death threat against warders.The terror gang warns it will specifically target prison officers working in H6 unit over allegations of mistreatment
2000 - The Irish and British governments begin an all out effort to build on the positive signal from Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, and rescue the endangered Northern Ireland peace process
2000 - As many as 250,000 people line the streets of Dublin to watch a spectacular fireworks display which caps off four days of celebration as the grand finale of St Patrick’s Festival
2000 - Thirty five bands from the United States, Japan, Northern Ireland and across the country take part in the Limerick International Marching Band Competition, Ireland's biggest band parade
2001 - Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey is in critical condition in a Dublin hospital after collapsing at his home
2001 - Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, announces that she is stepping down from her post, saying she thinks she can do more outside the "restraints" of the UN system
Photo Credit: Laurent Gillieron, AP
2003 - Co. Clare takes top honours at the CIE National Awards of Excellence.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast of St. Joseph.
March 20
1761 - Robert Simms, a founder of the United Irishmen and proprietor of the Northern Star, is born
1780 - Miles Byrne, United Irishman and officer in Napoleon's Irish Legion, is born in Monaseed, Co. Wexford
1884 - Tomás MacCurtain, revolutionary and Lord Mayor of Cork is born in Ballyknockane, Co. Cork
1914 - After 60 cavalry officers at the Curragh resign their commissions - an incident known as 'the Curragh mutiny' - the War Secretary states that the army will not be used to coerce Ulster into Home Rule
1927 - Birth in Dublin Zoo of Cairbre, the lion used to introduce Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer films
1928 - William Sydney Callaghan, Methodist clergyman, is born in Dublin
1964 - Brendan Behan, writer/poet, dies at 41 in the Meath Hospital from complications caused by diabetes and alcohol
1971 - Brian Faulkner succeeds James Chichester-Clark as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
1989 - Senior RUC men, Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan, negotiating cross-border security co-operation in south Armagh, are ambushed and shot dead by the IRA
1993 - Two bombs explode in Warrington, Cheshire. A three-year old child is killed and more than 50 people are injured; another child dies of his injuries later. The IRA admits responsibility
2001 - Thousands of second level students across the country take to the picket lines to protest the nationwide strike by teachers
2003 - Hundreds of anti-war protesters gather outside the Dáil to protest the use of Shannon Airport by the US military.
2006 - Eczema gene identified in study led by Irish doctors. The findings are regarded as hugely significant as the first steps towards finding a cure. The study was led by Dr Alan Irvine, a consultant paediatric dermatologist at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, and Prof Irwin McLean, a geneticist at the University of Dundee in Scotland. Dr Irvine is from Enniskillen and Prof McLean is originally from Ballymoney, Co Antrim.
2010 - Triple Crown dream dies. Ireland saw their dream of a fifth Triple Crown in seven years dashed following a woeful performance which saw them slump to a 23-20 defeat to Scotland.
Photo Caption: Kelly Brown and Graeme Morrison of Scotland celebrate victory at the close of the match
March 21
1181 - John Cumin (or Comyn) is elected archbishop of Dublin and consecrated by the pope at Velletri on this date. He is the first Englishman to be appointed to an Irish see
1656 - Death of Bishop James Ussher. The Dublin-born cleric deduced from biblical studies the exact date of the Creation (October 23rd,4004 BCE), and the date of the end of the world: November 4, 1996. The Bishop had a cult following until then
1689 - Derry/Londonderry declares allegiance to William III
1763 - William James McNeven, physician, United Irishman and writer, is born in Aughrim, Co. Galway
1881 - The Peace Preservation Act, controlling possession and importation of arms, is enacted
1886 - Oscar Traynor, revolutionary, Fianna Fáil politician and Minister; football administrator, is born in Dublin
1970 - Dana (Rosemary Brown) wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with 'All Kinds of Everything'
1998 - Sonia O'Sullivan wins a gold medal in the World Cross-Country championships
2001 - Tests for foot-and-mouth disease are carried out on samples from sheep on a farm in Louth
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern strongly urges the release of the remaining Government funding to help complete the famine ship Jeanie Johnston
2001 - Hundreds of students gather outside Leinster House to protest the teacher's strike
2003 - The Government insists it is not a participant in the 50-member coalition of countries which the US says is providing support for the war on Iraq. The United States has published a list of 35 countries which make up its "coalition of the willing", but says another 15 members are providing back-up support and do not wish to be named.
2009 - Paul O'Connell and Rory Best celebrate at the final whistle in Cardiff as Ireland beats Wales 17-15 in a dramatic win which gives Ireland their first Six Nations Rugby Grand since the country’s one and only triumph in 1948.
March 22
1686 - With the return of a Catholic monarchy - James II - payments to the Catholic hierarchy are authorized; Catholics are appointed to government positions; replacement of Protestant by Catholic soldiers intensifies
1768 - Melasina Trench, writer, is born in Dublin
1829 - Sir Richard Sankey, soldier and engineer, is born in Cashel, Co. Tipperary
1841 - The Irish Emigrant Society is founded in New York
1848 - Birth of artist Sarah Purser in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1912 - Birth of actor Wilfrid Brambell in Dublin
1929 - Sixty-six horses run in Irish Grand National Sweepstakes; Alike wins the race
1979 - Two members of the IRA assassinate Sir Richard Sykes, British ambassador to the Netherlands, outside his residence at The Hague
1983 - Belfast-born and Dublin-educated Chaim Herzog is elected president of Israel.
1998 - Unionist leaders launch a fresh bid to have Republicans excluded permanently from peace negotiations
1998 - Sonia O'Sullivan wins her second gold medal at the World Cross-Country Championships
2000 - Over 2,000 student nurses walk out of hospital wards and lecture halls in a protest over tuition fees
2001 - The Government declares a national emergency in a bid to contain the country’s first foot and mouth outbreak in 60 years
2002 - At the Four Courts, the conviction of Paul Ward for the murder of Veronica Guerin, is quashed.
March 23
1847 - Choctaw Indians collect money to donate to starving Irish Hunger victims
1889 - Robert Gibbings, illustrator and writer, is born in Cork
1893 - Birth in Dublin of Cedric Gibbons, designer of the coveted Oscar statuette and winner of eleven Academy Awards himself
1917 - Birth of singer Josef Locke (Joe McLaughlin) in Derry
1951 - On this date, Shannon Airport is the base for a rescue operation after a USAF C124 aircraft crashes into the sea - some wreckage is found 450 miles off the west coast, but all 53 people on board are lost
1971 - Chichester Clark resigns as Prime Minister and is replaced by Brian Faulkner
1976 - The EEC rejects the Irish government's application for derogation from its directive for equal pay to men and women
1998 - Ian Paisley lead his party back to the Northern Ireland peace talks for the first time in eight months — but only to protest at the re-entry of Sinn Féin following its suspension over IRA involvement in two murders
1998 - History is made in Galway when all vehicles are banned from the city's main thoroughfare, Shop Street, and its adjoining arteries. The streets are closed to traffic from 11am to 7.30pm as part of a pedestrianisation programme to tackle traffic problems in the city's narrow streets
1999 - Under the terms of the Good Friday peace agreement, IRA prisoners, Paul Kavanagh, Thomas Quigley and Gerard McDonnell are freed after a High Court judge rejects a legal challenge by British Home Secretary Jack Straw to keep them in jail
1999 - The British government signals its growing impatience with the decommissioning deadlock when it issues a legal challenge to the release of Brighton bomber Patrick Magee and three other IRA prisoners
2001 - Gardaí arrest 12 protesting students as thousands of secondary school pupils take to the streets all over the country demanding an end to the ASTI teachers strike
2001 - At the Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day Auction, the hottest collectable is Bono’s handmade Black Fly shades, which fetches £4,000
2002 - At high tide, thirty-nine whales are washed onto Aughcasla Strand, in the Dingle Peninsula.
2010 - Garda mobile phone protest is underway. Thousands of gardai begin a 'work-to-rule' - the first action of its kind in the history of the force. The so-called "withdrawal of goodwill" by 11,000 members is in protest over public sector pay cuts and the pension levy.
Photo Credit: Frank McGrath
2011 - Ian Paisley calls for a new era of sharing and reconciliation in an emotional farewell at his final sitting of the power-sharing Assembly he helped to create at Stormont. Dr Paisley, now Lord Bannside, will continue his political career in the House of Lords.
March 24
1603 - James VI of Scotland comes to the throne of England, as James I, following the death of Elizabeth I on this date
1796 - The Insurrection Act imposes curfews, arms searches, and the death penalty for oath-taking
1866 - Birth in Co. Cork of light-heavyweight boxing champion, Jack McAuliffe
1909 - Death in Dublin of John Millington Synge. The plays of Irish peasant life on which his fame rests are written in the last six years of his life. In 1904, Synge, Yeats and Lady Gregory found the famous Abbey Theatre. Two Synge comedies, The Well of the Saints (1905) and The Playboy of the Western World (1907), are presented by the Abbey players. The latter play creates a furor of resentment among Irish patriots stung by Synge's bitter humor.
1945 - Birth of actor Patrick Malahide; born Patrick G. Duggan, to Irish parents living in England
1953 - Queen Mary dies at 86
1958 - Dawson Stelfox, architect and mountaineer, is born in Belfast
1968 - An Aer Lingus plane, the St. Phelim, crashes into the sea near Tuskar Rock, Co. Wexford, with the loss of all 61 passengers and crew
1972 - Stormont parliament and government are suspended and direct rule from London is introduced; William Whitelaw becomes Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1995 - For the first time in 25 years, Britain halts all routine army patrols in Belfast
1998 - The Prison Service in Northern Ireland confirms that five Loyalist Volunteer Force prisoners are now on hunger strike at the Maze jail to protest a security crackdown following the savage murder of loyalist remand prisoner David Keys
1999 - Anti-blood sports groups call on Minister Silé de Valera to refuse to renew a licence to the country's last remaining stag hunt
2000 - Dubliners face traffic chaos as the bus drivers’ dispute threatens to escalate into an all out strike
2002 - Twenty-one whales are rescued after stranding themselves on a Kerry beach; with the other whales forming a circle around her, rescuers are thrilled to observe one of the whales giving birth minutes after being pulled back out to safety
2003 - Veteran actor Peter O’Toole is awarded an honorary Oscar for a career which has spanned more than 40 years.
2010 - President Mary McAleese pays tribute to fallen Irish at Gallipoli while on a state trip to Turkey in what is being seen as the first official recognition of the huge loss of Irish lives in the first World War.
Photo credit: The Great War
March 25
1635 - A shower of hailstones, with stones as large as four inches in circumference, is reported in Castletown, Co. Offaly; a hen is killed and a woman is injured
1738 - Irish harpist and composer, Turlough O'Carolan, dies at Alderford House, the home of his patron Máire MacDermott Roe, in Ballyfarnan, Co. Roscommon
1735 - Birth of James Agar, 1st Viscount Clifden and politician
1831 - Arthur Kavanagh, politician and progressive landlord, is born in Borris, Co. Carlow
1840 - Birth of Myles Keogh in Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow. Soldier in the US army, it is said by the Sioux that he is the last man killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn, where his horse is the only US survivor
1846 - Michael Davitt, known universally as "The Father of the Land League", is born in Straid, Co. Mayo
1847 - Pope Pius IX issues an encyclical called "On aid for Ireland"
2000 - David Trimble narrowly beats off a challenge to his leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party casting doubt on its unity and the future of the Northern Ireland peace process
1920 - The first 'Black and Tans' (auxiliary policemen) officially arrive in Ireland
1946 - To mark the centenary of Michael Davitt's birth, a major celebration is held in Straide, Co. Mayo, primarily at the request of a personal friend and executor of his will, Mr. Dennis O'Rourke of Dublin.
An attendance of over 12,000 includes Eamonn De Valera, Hugh Delargy, M.P. as well as surviving members of the Davitt family, Dr. Robert Davitt and Miss Eileen Davitt. The occasion is covered live by the BBC
1963 - Captain Terence O'Neill becomes Northern Ireland Prime Minister after Lord Brookeborough resigns
1998 - New constitutional arrangements for Northern Ireland that include cross-border bodies with executive powers and a new Northern Ireland Assembly are revealed by the British and Irish Governments
2001 - More than 1,200 animals are slaughtered in counties Meath, Wexford, Carlow and Laois as a precautionary measure against foot and mouth disease
2001 - Ballymun, a northside suburb in Dublin, is transformed into the Bogside for the filming of Bloody Sunday, a movie which promises to piece together the controversial events of the 1972 parade. More than 2,000 locals take part in the scenes, including some of the original marchers from Derry
2002 - An international report ranks Ireland 28th in the top 30 healthiest countries - behind Slovenia, Malta, the Czech Republic and Portugal
2002 - At an international conference in Co. Antrim, Dr Andrew Cooper of the University of Ulster warns that Ireland is shrinking. Every year an estimated 750 acres of coastline is swallowed up by the sea and the situation is likely to get worse unless urgent action is taken
2003 - Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue launches the Value Menu Restaurant Guide which will offer meals at record low prices.
Participating pubs, restaurants and hotels will give customers the choice of meals at fixed prices of €10, €20 and €30.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of the Annunciation to Our Lady.
March 26
1787 - The Tumultuous Risings Act imposes penalties for rioting and for interference with the collection of tithes
1838 - William Edward Hartpole Lecky, historian and philosopher, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin
1854 - Harry Furniss, caricaturist, is born in Wexford
1856 - William Massey, New Zealand statesman and Prime Minister from 1912 to 1925 is born in Limavady, Co. Derry/Londonderry
1922 - An IRA anti-treaty army convention announces it will no longer accept the authority of Free State Minister for Defense Richard Mulcahy
1931 - Death of Tim Healy, former Home Rule politician and first Free State Governor-General
1999 - SDLP leader, John Hume reveals that he intends to donate all of his £280,000 Nobel Peace Prize money to charity and victims of violence in Northern Ireland
2000 - A German couple miraculously escape with their lives when the light plane they are flying crashes to the ground at Galway Airport
Photo Credit: Andrew Downes
2001 - Violence erupts at a number of demonstrations against the ASTI teachers’ strike
2002 - Hillary Rodham Clinton makes her first official visit to Ireland as a US Senator. The trip is to promote trade between Dublin and New York state
2002 - The Farm and Speciality Food Market at St George's, Belfast Ireland's becomes the first group to win the top prize in the Ballygowan/Irish Food Writers' Guild Food Awards.
2007 - DUP leader Ian Paisley and and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams commit themselves to forming a powersharing executive by May 8th after engaging directly for the first time at Parliament Buildings, Stormont. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair hail this first meeting and agreement as a historic, reconciliatory and transforming moment in British-Irish history.
March 27
1599 - Robert Devereux becomes Lieutenant-General of Ireland
1625 - Charles 1 becomes king of England, Scotland and Ireland
1650 - Kilkenny surrenders to Cromwell
1725 - The first number of Faulkner's Dublin Journal is published
1766 - First publication of The Vicar Of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
1782 - A Whig administration comes to power in Britain
1839 - Birth in Glenavy, Co. Antrim, of John Ballance, Prime Minister of New Zealand. The eldest son of a tenant farmer, John is not interested in farming and goes to Belfast to stay with his uncle. At eighteen, he goes to Birmingham and earns a living in the ironmongery business. At twenty-four, he marries Fanny Taylor. Her poor health encourages the couple to leave for New Zealand in the hope that the better climate would help her. John establishes the Evening Herald, later called the Wanganui Herald. During the Maori Wars of the 1860s, his editorials in the Herald often challenge aspects of military policy relating to land disputes with the local Maori. His activities as a journalist lead quickly and easily to a career in politics. He enters Parliament in 1875 and make his reputation in the spheres of the economy and land use. He holds office as Colonial Treasurer (1878), as Minister of Lands, Native Affairs and Defence(1884-7) and as Liberal Premier (1891-3). He has good relations with the Maori people and solves many of the land problems they face. He is instrumental in giving women the vote making New Zealand the first country in the world to do so
1872 - Mary MacSwiney - Maire Nic Shuibhne - Irish patriot, is born. Educated in the Ursuline Convent, she later trains as a teacher at Cambridge University. She teaches in Cork where she becomes a founding member of the Munster Women's Franchise League and a member of the Gaelic League. In 1914, she helps found Cumann na mBan and becomes president of the Cork branch for which she is interned after the 1916 Rising. As a result of her imprisonment, MacSwiney loses her job as a teacher and in 1917 she and her sister Annie found St. Ita's School for girls in Cork City where all subjects are taught in Irish. In 1917, she joins Sinn Féin and in 1918 she is elected to the First Dáil for Cork. MacSwiney is Vice-President of Cumann na mBan when that organisation votes 419 to 63 against supporting the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty. MacSwiney is appointed to the Cabinet of the Second Dáil in 1922 and is twice imprisoned during the Civil War, undergoing a twenty-one day hunger-strike in Mountjoy Gaol and a twenty-four day hunger-strike in Kilmainham Gaol
1999 - A major rail disaster is averted by the quick reactions of a train driver, when a 40ft articulated lorry ploughs through a bridge and falls onto the railway tracks below — straight into the path of an on-coming train. The train driver manages to stop the train — carrying an undisclosed number of passengers — just 200 yards from the crashed truck
2001 - Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble kicks off his election campaign outside his party headquarters in Belfast with a massive poster of himself
Photo Credit: Kelvin Boyes
2001 - The cross border cull of thousands more sheep in the south Armagh north Louth areas, where Ireland’s only two cases of foot and mouth have occurred, gets underway
2002 - A copy of the Cork Examiner, a golf club, flowers and national media awards are among gifts presented at the funeral of one of Ireland's best known newsmen. More than 1,000 people pack the Church of the Immaculate Conception, The Lough, Cork, to pay their last respects to Fergie O'Callaghan, editor of the Cork Examiner for 18 years before his retirement in November 1994.
March 28
1646 - Peace between the confederates and James Butler, the Marquis of Ormond and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, leads to a split within the confederation, i.e. between confederates and royalists
1719 - John Cairnes, son of David Cairnes, former MP for the city of Londonderry, is killed in a duel in Newcastle, England
1772 - An Act to repress Steelboy disturbances in five Ulster counties is passed
1820 - Sir William Howard Russell, war correspondent, is born in Tallaght, Co. Dublin
1874 - Joseph McGarrity, Irish patriot, is born in Carrickmore, Co. Tyrone
1879 - Terence MacSwiney, Irish patriot and Lord Mayor of Cork, is born
1881 - Birth of Martin Sheridan, "the world’s greatest athlete", in Bohola, Co. Mayo. Although largely unpublicised, Sheridan’s achievements in field athletics undoubtedly put him amongst the greats: in three successive Olympics he wins 5 gold medals, 3 silver and 1 bronze, and sets up 16 world records
1932 - Birth of Richard Burke, Fine Gael politician and EC Commissioner
1944 - Birth of Nell McCafferty, journalist and feminist, in Derry/Londonderry
1955 - John Alderdice, Alliance Party leader, is born in Ballymena
1957 - Death of Patrick "Jack" B. Yeats, Ireland's leading painter of the 20th century
1970 - Easter rising commemorations lead to rioting and the first fighting between the British army and Provisional IRA
2000 - Wildcat action by certain SIPTU rail workers in support of their National Bus and Rail Union colleagues quickly exacerbates the dispute; as the strike appears to worsen, commuters can expect another day of chaos in getting to work. On a lighter note, sales of bicycles in Dublin have soared
Photo Credit: Billy Higgins
2001 - The Government expresses serious concern about another potential outbreak of suspected foot and mouth in Co Louth
2003 - A Dublin woman pays 8,500 euros for two tickets for Ireland’s Grand Slam showdown with England. With interest in the game at fever pitch, Ann Higgins secures her seats for one of the biggest games of the year during a charity auction on the Marian Finucane Show.
March 29
1613 - A charter incorporates Derry as the city of Londonderry and creates the new county of Londonderry
1793 - Charlotte Brooke, author of Reliques of Ancient Irish Poetry, dies
1850 - The SS Royal Adelaide sinks in a storm with the loss of 200 lives
1859 - The Irish Times is launched at 4 Lower Abbey Street in Dublin. The first appearance of a newspaper using the name The Irish Times occurs in 1823 but it closes in 1825. The title is revived as a thrice weekly publication by Major Lawrence E. Knox. It is originally founded as a moderate Protestant Irish nationalist newspaper, reflecting the politics of Knox, who stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for Isaac Butt's Home Rule League. In its early days, its main competitor is the Dublin Daily Express.
1869 - James MacNeill, Governor-General of the Irish Free State from 1928 to 1932, in Glenarm, Co. Antrim(May have been March 27)
1873 - Peig Sayers, Blasket Island storyteller, is born in Dunquin, Co. Kerry
1898 - The Registration Act allows women and peers to vote in local government elections
1901 - James Stephens, Fenian leader, dies
1913 - Birth in Dublin of actor Niall MacGinnis
1924 - Charles Villiers Stanford, composer/writer, dies
1933 - Birth in Belfast of singer Ruby Murray. In the early part of 1955 Murray has five singles in the Top 20 at the same time, an extraordinary record that lasts until the emergence of Madonna in the 1980s. A few of Murray's many hits include 'Let Me Go Lover', 'Real Love', 'Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye' and 'You Are My First Love'
1998 - Provisional IRA chiefs meet to discuss their ceasefire which has been rocked by the defections of up to a dozen Provo volunteers who quit the organisation to join the hard-line Continuity IRA
1998 - A fresh debate on film censorship is set to erupt with the new edition of Lolita being submitted to the censor, Séamus Smith
1999 -The IRA agrees to identify the graves of nine of the 20 disappeared persons, murdered and buried in secret since 1970; but their leadership holds out on decommissioning
1999 - Fishing skippers sign contracts for 17 new ultra modern fishing vessels valued at almost £30 million under the Government's whitefish fleet renewal programme
2000 - A live grenade, dating back to either the First World War or the War of Independence, is found in a ditch just yards from the entrance gate to a secondary school in Cork. The Mills 36 grenade is rendered harmless in a controlled explosion by army bomb disposal experts from Collins Barracks
2001 - Members of Louth County Council bring in goats for burial after being shot by Irish Rangers in the Cooley Mountains to help contain the spread of foot and mouth disease.Photo Credit: Kieran Corrigan
2001 - Many major tourist attractions reopen to the public with the easing of restrictions due to the foot and mouth disease scare
2001 - A new survey, carried out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that out of 22 Western countries, Ireland lies third behind the US and Poland for illiteracy rates
2002 - During a simple, poignant service in Dublin's Unitarian Church, 3,600 victims of the Northern Ireland conflict are remembered
2007 - U2 frontman Bono accepts an honorary knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II with one condition — “don’t call me Sir”. The award is in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music and humanitarian work. The front man believes his new title — Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) — will help him secure talks with world politicians to advance the battle against Third World debt. “An award like this actually really helps me get through a few doors I wouldn’t get through and that’s the truth, that’s the way the world is,” he says.
Photo credit: Julien Behal/PA.
March 30
1493 - Kildare, who has been suspected of supporting Perkin Warbeck, is given a general pardon
1603 - After a long battle against English rule, Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, submits to Lord Mountjoy at Mellifont. O'Neill is pardoned; the Treaty of Mellifont ends the Nine Years War
1798 - Privy Council proclaims Ireland in state of rebellion and imposes martial law
1824 - Thomas Devin Reilly, journalist and editor, is born in Co. Monaghan
1851 - A census shows the population of Ireland to be 6,552,385: it has declined by one-fifth since 1845. The number of Irish in England and Wales has increased by 79% in the past decade. Nearly a quarter of Liverpool is now 'Irish'. Over 18% of the people of Glasgow and Dundee are Irish-born - 6.7% of Scotland as a whole
1873 - Richard Church, of Co. Cork, soldier and "liberator of Greece," dies in Athens
1880 - Birth of playwright Sean O'Casey in Dublin
1896 - An Irishman wins an Olympic gold medal for the first time, when John Pius Boland triumphs in tennis
1920 - Jack White, journalist and author, is born in Cork
1922 - Craig-Collins Pact is signed in London. Irish Free State formally recognizes Northern Ireland government
1926 - Actor Ray McAnally is born in Buncrana Co. Donegal
1930 - David Staple becomes joint president of the Council of Churches for Britain & Ireland
1972 - The Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act comes into force decreeing direct rule from London. Brian Faulkner, prime minister of Northern Ireland, resigns
1979 - Airey Neave, shadow Northern Ireland Secretary and opposition Conservative spokesman on Northern Ireland, dies when a bomb explodes in his car as he is driving out of the House of Commons car park. Two groups, the Provisional IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army, claim responsibility
1998 - According to a major report published on this date, almost 9,000 jobs will be lost with the abolition of duty free next year; it also indicates that travel costs from Ireland to Britain will increase by £16·70 while travel into Ireland will increase £14·30
1998 - The chairman of the Northern peace talks, Senator George Mitchell, praises the commitment of the political parties as representatives continue negotiations into the night
1999 - Talks led by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to break the decommissioning logjam end in deadlock
2001 - Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey returns to his Kinsealy home after spending nearly two weeks in hospital
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visits Co, Louth to see at first hand the devastation wrought by the first outbreak of the disease in the Republic; he warns that tough restrictions will remain in place for months. The photo shows Mr. Ahern using the foot dip before meeting officials of the Department of Agriculture
Photo Credit: PA
2001 - Aer Lingus workers stage a one-day strike over pay at Dublin Airport. The 3,000 striking staff, members of the SIPTU trade union, are protesting against their rates of pay in comparison with other Aer Lingus workers
Photo Credit: PA
2003 - Thousands of anti-war protesters join a peace march through Dublin city centre, in the latest of a series of demonstrations calling for an end to the military action against Iraq. Irish public support for US foreign policy has dropped sharply since the days after the September 11 attacks, an opinion poll shows. Three out of four adults are unhappy with President George W Bush’s handling of the Iraq situation, according to the Milward Brown poll.
March 31
1711 - Seven women from Island Magee, Co. Antrim are imprisoned and pilloried for 'bewitching' a woman named Mary Dunbar, who has experienced strange fits and visions
1790 - A quarrel between John Philpot Curran (MP for Kilbeggan) and Robert Hobart (MP for Portarlington) results in a duel in which Hobart allows Curran to fire and then refuses to return fire
1855: Charlotte Bronte, daughter of an Irish-born father (Patrick) and eldest of the Bronte sisters, dies during pregnancy
1859 - The independent Irish party splits and the Tenant League breaks up
1871 - Birth in Dublin of Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Féin and co-signatory of Anglo-Irish treaty
1896 - Women become qualified for election as poor law guardians (welfare administrators) under the Poor Law Guardians Act
1901 - A census on this date shows the population of Ireland to be 4,458,775; this is the last census to be taken on the basis of baronies
1903 - Jack Doyle, boxer and singer, is born in Cóbh, Co. Cork
1920 - British parliament accepts Irish "Home Rule"-law
1922 - Birth of actor Patrick MaGee in Co. Armagh
1926 - Jeremiah Newman, Bishop of Limerick and writer, is born in Dromcolliher, Co. Limerick
1952 - Birth of comedian Dermot Morgan in Dublin
1966 - Contingents from Welsh, Breton, Manx, Cornish and Scottish liberation movements march behind IRA at 50th anniversary of Easter Rising
1998 - At the Stormont peace, politicians fail to pass the first hurdle set for them by negotiations chairman Senator George Mitchell
1998 - According to a poll released on this date, almost four-fifths of people in the North will vote "yes" for compromise in a referendum if the political parties at Stormont agree to a deal
1998 - After a four-year hiatus, MTV returns to the screens of Irish Multichannel subscribers
1999 - Ireland is selected as the location for the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. It will be the first time the event has been staged outside the US.
- Details
- Slang: Today in Irish History
- Hits: 930
April 1
1329 - From April onwards there are risings by the native Irish in various parts of Munster and Leinster, and reprisals against them. This will continue into 1330
1716 - The first Doggett Coat and Badge sculling race takes place on the Thames; one of the oldest sporting fixtures in the British sporting calendar, it is founded by Thomas Doggett, an Irish actor and theatre manager
1730 - Samuel Boyse, MP for Bannow, dies as a result of a duel at the age of 33
1776 - Irish-born Edward Hand is appointed a Brigadier General in the Continental Army
1839 - St. Clair Mulholland, Union Civil War General and Medal of Honor winner, is born in Lisburn, Co. Antrim
1848 - Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor, is born in Dublin
1911 - The Titanic is launched in Belfast
1919 - DeValera is elected president of the first Dáil Éireann
1935 - Death of Francis Arthur Fahy from Kinvara, Co Galway, who wrote the ballad Galway Bay
1966 - Death of writer Brian O'Nolan, also known as Flann O'Brien and Myles na gCopaleen
1986 - US sub Nathaniel Green runs aground in the Irish Sea
1998 - The European Commission serves notice on the Government that Ireland faces prosecution in the European Court on charges of damaging the environment and failing to provide secure habitats for some of our most endangered bird species
1999 - One thousand people, the entire population of Belmullet in Co. Mayo, are evacuated from the town following a fire in a rubber factory
2000 - John Dennehy, Secretary General of the Department of Education and Science, makes academic history by being elected Chairman of the Education Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for a three year period. He is the first Irish person to be appointed to this position
2001 - One of Irish television’s most familiar faces, Brendan O’Reilly, passes away. The 71 year old former television and radio broadcaster and commentator had been ill for a number of months
2001 - The Department of Agriculture orders the slaughter of all the remaining 15,000 or so sheep in the Cooley Peninsula, Co. Louth
2002 - Loyalist thugs posing as Glasgow Celtic supporters are hunted by police after a series of attacks in flashpoint north Belfast.
2003 - Veteran actress Pat Leahy, 66, collapses on the set of Fair City
April 2
1871 - A census on this date shows the population of Ireland to be 5,412,377; only 285 Jews are recorded in the census
1902 - Premiere of Yeats' Cathleen ni Houlihan starring Maud Gonne
1914 - Cumann na mBan, Irish women's Republican movement, is founded
1970 - Several days of rioting following Easter rising commemorations end on this date
1972 - Radio na Gaeltachta goes on the air for the first time and is launched by Eamon De Valera
1973 - Special Powers Act replaced by Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act
1998 - Dissident republicans, aligned to the 32 County Sovereignty Committee and a Louth-based former IRA Quartermaster are said to be behind a massive explosives find in Dun Laoghaire
1998 - Mentally exhausted and following the advice of his doctor, Christy Moore announces in an open letter to fans that he is taking a year off from live performances
1999 - More than 170 staff at the biggest Dunnes Stores branch in the west of Ireland are suspended in a row over a worker facing dismissal because she sampled food at the delicatessen counter
2000 - Westlife make pop history with five consecutive British number one chart hits
2002 - Linda and Declan Fleming win the second largest individual jackpot in Lotto history - £5.26 million
2003 - Protestors against the war in Iraq clash with gardaí outside the Dáil.
2003 - Pat Leahy, star of Fair City for eleven years, dies of kidney failure
April 3
1793 - Dionysius Lardner, scientific writer and lecturer, is born in Dublin
1798 - Writer John Banim, who was praised by Yeats as a writer who tried to "make one see life plainly," is born in Kilkenny
1807 - Maurice FitzGerald, MP for Co. Kerry, resigns as Commissioner of the Treasury (UK) over the issue of Catholic relief
1825 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Young Irelander, journalist and promoter of Canadian Federation, is born
1843 - Birth of James McCudden, WWI ace
1846 - Death of Michael Moran, aka Zozimus, balladeer and storyteller
1900 - Queen Victoria arrives at Kingstown for a three-day visit to Ireland
1946 - Birth of Ruari Quinn, former Labour leader
1951 - Birth of Michael Morris, jockey, winner of the 1977 Irish Grand National, trainer, and son of Lord Killanin
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair announce that with ''realistic negotiation'', agreement in the Northern Ireland peace process could be reached by Thursday's deadline
1998 - Witnesses for the new inquiry into Bloody Sunday launched on this date in Derry, will not be offered blanket immunity from prosecution, according to the presiding chairman of the tribunal
2000 - Thousands of gallons of diesel oil are pumped off a storm-stricken Dutch barge which ran aground on a sandbank in Bray Harbour, Co. Wicklow
2000 - At the Special Criminal Court, John Gilligan denies having any involvement in the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin
2001 - The Government agrees to a £2 million package to bail out the financially troubled Jeanie Johnston famine ship project
2001 - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson changes her mind about stepping down from the post on foot of a pledge that funding and staffing problems in her office will be addressed
2001 - It is announced that towns and villages within the current foot-and-mouth exclusion zone in Co. Louth have been barred from this year’s national tidy towns’ competition
2001 - Farm leaders from North and South meet in Dublin to pursue an agreed objective — the highest animal health status for all of Ireland.
April 4
1774 - Death of Oliver Goldsmith
1818 - Mayne Reid, pseudonym of Thomas Mayne; soldier, journalist, and writer of boys' stories, is born in Ballyroney, Co. Down
1933 - Paddy Hopkirk, international rally driver, is born in Belfast
1934 - Birth of novelist and journalist Mary Kenny
1951 - The Catholic hierarchy condemns the "Mother and Child" plan for free medical services, fearing the consequences of health education for women. Dr Noel Browne, Minister for Health, resigns; the scheme is abandoned on 6 April
1951 - Birth of singer and actress Adele King, better known as Twink
1952 - Gary Moore, rock guitarist, is born
1966 - Pirate Radio Scotland changes name to Radio Ireland
1994 - Riverdance appears in public for the very first time at the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin
1999 - Sinn Féin warns that the peace process stands in crisis over provocative demands for arms decommissioning
1999 - The annual World Irish Dancing Championships come to an end in Ennis
2001 - Former employees and staff join three generations of the Barry family in a celebration of 100 years in business for a firm which has become an Irish institution
2001 - Dublin-born Butch Moore, the first singer to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest, dies after a very short illness
2001 - The Supreme Court strongly criticizes the State’s failure to provide official Irish translations of laws and important legal materials.
2007 - History is made as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and DUP leader Ian Paisley shake hands for the first time in public prior to their milestone meeting at Farmleigh House in Dublin.
April 5
1806 - William Dool Killen, ecclesiastical historian, is born in Ballymena, Co. Antrim
1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins defeats the Spanish at the battle of Maipo River, Chile
1855 - The Dublin-Belfast railway line is completed
1869 - Birth in Dublin of Margaret Tennant, née Abraham; trade unionist and campaigner for improved working conditions
1900 - Spencer Tracy, the son of an Irish father, is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1916 - Patrick Pearse denies rumors of a possible rising to Irish Volunteer Chief of Staff Eoin MacNeill
1938 - Bill Attley, trade unionist, is born in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin
1961 - Death of Oscar-winning Irish actor of stage and screen Barry Fitzgerald. Born in Dublin in 1888, he pursues an acting career at the Abbey Theatre and then heads for Hollywood where he becomes Paramount's resident Irishman in such films as "Going My Way" for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His finest works are under director John Ford, including "How Green Was My Valley" and "The Quiet Man."
1962 - Guinness formally adopts the harp as its symbol
1975 - L'escargot, ridden by Tommy Carberry, wins the Aintree Grand National
Art Print by G. Isom from All-Posters
1998 - All sides in the Northern peace talks talk up the chances of a new peace agreement as Stormont sources reveal that both Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair will fly to Belfast for the final hours of talks on Thursday
1998 - Cannabis worth £2 million is seized during a dramatic early morning raid by members of the National Drugs Unit (NDU) in Ashbourne, Co Meath
1999 - More than 300 Co. Waterford people armed with gloves and plastic bags brave a driving mist and head for the hills for the annual Clean up the Comeraghs campaign
1999 - The first major event of the Loyalist marching season a controversial Apprentice Boys parade along the predominantly Nationalist Ormeau Road in Belfast - passes off peacefully
2000 - Debbie Walsh and Jennifer McCarthy are shown at the opening of 'the father of the modern day submarine' exhibition in Cobh heritage centre. This year is the 100th anniversary of the commissioning of the first US submarine invented by John Phillip Holland from Liscannor, Co. Clare
Photo Credit: Michael MacSweeney/Provision
2000 - Marine Minister, Frank Fahey, announces new moves to protect Irish fishing vessels from harassment outside the 12 mile limit
2001 - Gardaí attempt to trace the origin of a herd of Friesian cattle found roaming without ear tags on a roadside at Rosadrehid in the Glen of Aherlow, Co. Tipperary
2002 - Forty-four young police graduates march their way into the North's history books as they become the first fully-fledged members of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
2003 - Attended by the entire cast of Fair City, the popular RTÉ television soap in which she starred for 11 years, the funeral of veteran actress Pat Leavy takes place at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Ballyroan, south Dublin.
2011 - Filmmaker and lecturer Barry Dignam and and his partner of 17 years, Hugh Hugh Walsh become the first gay couple in Irish history to enter into a civil partnership. The event takes place at the Registry Office in Dublin city centre.
Photo Credit: A Images/Niall Carson
April 6
1830 - James Augustine Healy, the first black Roman Catholic bishop in America, was born to an Irish planter and a slave on a plantation near Macon, Georgia
1889 - Actor Barry Macollum is born
1926 - Birth in Armagh of Ian Paisley, clergyman and Unionist politician
1947 - Death of Henry Ford, automobile production pioneer and son of Irish immigrants
1954 - The Flags & Emblems Act legislates against interference with the Union Jack, effectively prohibiting display of the tricolor in Northern Ireland
1956 - Kerry GAA footballer Seanie Walsh is born
1964 - Birth of Nick Popplewell, former rugby international
1965 - Former international footballer Norman Whiteside is born
1982 - James Prior launches 'rolling devolution' for Northern Ireland
1998 - Hopes of an historic peace deal are put at "less than 50%" as the multi-party talks deadline looms
1998 - Telecom Eireann launches a commemorative 50 unit Call Card to mark the 25th anniversary of the University of Limerick
2000 - Gregory Peck receives an honorary Doctor of Literature from the National University of Ireland in recognition of his contribution to the art of film
2000 - British soldiers and police search the perimeter fence of Ebrington Army Base in Derry after a bomb explodes inside the base
2001 - The Government pledges to give the GAA £60 million over the next three years in return for their commitment to staging matches — including All Ireland semi finals — in the new National Stadium. This deal effectively undermines the argument to open up Croke Park for rugby and soccer matches
2001 -The Parades Commission agrees to allow an Apprentice Boys’ march along Belfast’s flashpoint Ormeau Road on Easter Monday
2002 - Galway man Richard Donovan becomes the first person in history to run a marathon at both the North and South Pole.
April 7
1720 - The Declatory Act defines the right of the British Parliament to legislate for Ireland and denies the appellate jurisdiction of the Irish House of Lords
1801 - The trial of United Irishman, Napper Tandy, begins
1861 - A census shows the population to be 5,798,967. Only 393 Jews are recorded
1922 - Special Powers Act is introduced in Northern Ireland
1926 - Mussolini's Irish wife breaks his nose
1927 - The world’s first ever paid television broadcast takes place. An Irishman, Mr. A. Dolan was employed by the American Telephone and Telegraph company to provide a “short act of monologue and song”. Interestingly, the first professional artist to be seen on television in Britain, a year later, was Irish singer Peg O'Neil
1941 - A Luftwaffe bomb kills 13 people in Belfast. Ultimately, the city is devastated by air raids; 700 people are killed and 400 seriously injured in what becomes known as Belfast's Blitz. The British government appeals to De Valera for help and he authorizes fire brigades from Dublin, Dundalk, Drogheda and Dun Laoghaire to give assistance
1973 - Death of Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid
2000 - Four environmental protesters, including Diana Peuker shown here, who had been jailed for their part in the Glen of the Downs protest in Co. Wicklow, are freed in the High Court
Photo Credit: Colin Keegan
2001 - The longest running legal action in the history of the State ends when the Superwood Group of companies, which claimed £90 million compensation from three insurance companies, are awarded a total of £300,000
2003 - A member of the British army's 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards, Lance Corporal Ian Malone from Ballyfermot, Dublin, is killed in the battle for Basra in southern Iraq.
April 8
1719 - Birth of Viscount Edmond Pery, speaker of the House of Commons from March 1771 to September 1785
1805 - Sir William Rowan Hamilton, mathematician and astronomer, is born in Dublin
1816 - Sir Frederick Burton, painter, is born in Corofin, Co. Clare
1835 - Jonah Barrington, the Irish Parliament's leading opponent of the Union with Britain and author of The Rise and Decline of the Irish Nation, dies
1861 - John George Adair evicts 244 tenants on his estate at Derryveagh, Co. Donegal
1867 - A. E. (George Russell), pivotal Irish Renaissance poet, painter, journalist and mystic, is born
1886 - Home Rule Bill introduced in English Parliament by Gladstone
1923 - Edward Mulhare is born in Co. Cork; he grew up to become an actor and starring roles include Capt. Daniel Gregg in the 1968 release of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Photo Credit: Hazelyn
1930 - Birth in Dublin of Frank Cluskey, politician and Labour Party leader from 1977-1981
1930 - Writer and critic John Jordan is born in Dublin
1933 - The Army Comrades' Association parades in blue shirts on this date
1951 - A census on this date shows the population of the Republic to be 2,960,593 and that of Northern Ireland is1,370,921
1960 - The Royal Showband is forced to change its name to the Waterford Showband for an appearance at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London because two members of the British royal family are in attendance
1981 - Death of Greta Bowen, artist known as "The Irish Grandma Moses"
1999 - The peace process is plunged into a new crisis after mainstream loyalist paramilitaries make it clear they have no intention of handing over weapons and the Sinn Fein's leadership brands the Hillsborough Declaration "unacceptable"
1999 - The Department of Education unveils a new primary school curriculum which replaces the one of 1971
2002 - The IRA makes a second and substantial gesture of putting arms beyond use which is broadly welcomed by political leaders in Dublin, London and Belfast
2003 - U.S. president George W. Bush leaves Belfast at the end of a two-day summit attended by British Prime Minister, Tony Blair and Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern
2003 - Paul Muldoon wins the Pulitzer prize for poetry. The 51-year-old Belfast poet is awarded the prestigious prize for his work Moy Sand and Gravel.
April 9
1346 - Death of Ralph de Ufford, justiciar
1793 - The Relief Act grants Catholics parliamentary franchise and certain civil and military rights
1807 - After resigning as Commissioner of the Treasury (UK) over the issue of Catholic relief, Maurice FitzGerald, MP for Co. Kerry states on this date that their war effort alone merits concessions to Irish Catholics
1837 - Edward Hallaran Bennett, surgeon, is born in Cork
1916 - The merchant ship Aud leaves Germany for Ireland with arms for the Irish Republican Brotherhood
1917 - Birth of legendary racehorse trainer, Vincent O'Brien
1921 - Dr. William Walsh, archbishop and nationalist, dies
1926 - Birth in Belfast of Lord Gerry Fitt, politician
1961 - A census on this date shows the population of the Republic to be 2,818,341 and that of Northern Ireland is 1,425,642
1961 - Mark Kelly, rock keyboard musician, is born in Dublin
1981 - IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands wins a seat in the British parliament in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election
1984 - Leslie De Barra, revolutionary, wife of General Tom Barry, dies
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is back in Norther Ireland to resume his bid with Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to save the peace talks
2000 - Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela, arrives in Ireland to commence a four day private visit. During his visit, he is to receive an honorary degree in law at Trinity
2001 - Celebrities from the entertainment world turn out in force for the funeral mass of former lead singer with the Capital Showband, Butch Moore, at St Canice’s Church in Finglas
Photo Credit: Billy Higgins.
April 10
1346 - Following the death of Ralph de Ufford, Roger Darcy is appointed justiciar
1650 - Cromwell's New Model Army is victorious at Macroom, Co. Cork
1662 - A charter of Charles II replaces Cromwell's charter of Londonderry
1726 - Birth of William Brownlow, parliamentarian and Volunteer
1816 - Birth of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, nationalist, in Monaghan
1838 - Fr. Theobald Mathew, with the support of William Martin, a quaker, founds the total abstinence movement in Cork
1865 - Oliver Sheppard, sculptor, is born in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone
1866 - Campobello New Brunswick Irish-American Fenians attack Campobello Island from Eastport, Maine; they are persuaded to leave by British warships and US agents
1867 - George William Russell (pseudonym A. E. Russell); poet, painter, writer, economist and mystic, is born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh
1918 - British Parliament proposes conscription in Ireland
1923 - Liam Lynch, chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army, is mortally wounded by Free State troops in the Knockmealdown Mountains, Co. Tipperary; Frank Aiken takes over as IRA chief of staff
1940 - Gloria Hunniford, TV personality, is born in Portadown, Co. Antrim
1966 - The widespread and prolonged commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising begins throughout the island
1990 - Death of Wexford hurling legend, Nicky Rackard
1992 - A huge IRA bomb explodes in London's financial district; three people are killed and 91 injured
1998 - The Peace Agreement comes under fire with both unionist and republican camps facing internal revolt, as the battle to sell the deal intensifies
1998 - A bronze bust of world-renowned Irish aviator, Colonel James 'Fitz' Fitzmaurice who, along with two Germans, made the first east-west transatlantic crossing in 1928, is unveiled in his hometown of Portlaoise
1998 - The Northern Ireland peace talks end with an historic agreement. The accord - dubbed the Good Friday Agreement - is reached after nearly two years of talks and 30 years of conflict.
2008 - Many of the main players who helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement meet in Belfast for a conference to mark its 10th anniversary. Notable by their absence are former US President Bill Clinton and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Also absent is David Irvine who died after suffering a heart attack and later a stroke and a brain hemorrhage in January 2007.
Left to right front: Monica McWilliams, George Mitchell, Bertie Ahern and John Hume.
Left to right back: Gerry Adams, David Adams, David Andrews, Dawn Purvis, Reg Empey, General de Chastelain, Liz O'Donnell, Mark Durkan, Paul Murphy and Lord Alderdice.
April 11
1603 - In the revolt of the towns, or recusancy revolt, Catholic worship is re-established in Kilkenny and the main Munster towns between this date and 10 May, in the hope that James I will grant religious toleration; Mountjoy marches south and forces the towns to submit
1700 - Richard Levinge, an Irish MP and later a prominent Tory, who had been committed by the English House of Commons to the Tower of London on 16 January for speaking ill of his fellow Commissioners of Forfeited Estates is released on this date
1878 - Kathleen Daly Clarke, Irish patriot, is born
1966 - Herbert Asquith introduces the third Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons
1971 - The GAA lifts its ban on members playing or attending 'foreign' sports such as soccer or rugby
1986 - Brian Keenan is taken hostage in Beirut
1999 - The Northern Ireland peace process faces collapse as politicians prepare to return to Stormont, with agreement on the key issue of disarmament as distant as ever
1999 - Despite reports to the contrary, manager Louis Walsh insists pop group Boyzone will stay together for at least another year
2000 - In a dramatic end to the two-month trial, a jury at the Central Criminal Court finds Catherine Nevin guilty of all four charges against her arising out of the shooting death of her husband in 1996
2000 - The newspaper known as The Examiner is re-launched as The Irish Examiner
2000 - Nelson Mandela receives a hero's welcome as spectators turn out in droves in Dublin to honour the former president of South Africa prior to his receiving an honorary degree at Trinity. He is the first African leader to be so honoured. He already is a Freeman of the City, an honour granted shortly after being freed from jail
2002 - During a remembrance ceremony at St Colman's Cathedral, candles are lit for each of the 79 people who boarded the Titanic on her maiden and final voyage which departed from Cobh, then known as Queenstown, on this date in 1912.
April 12
1654 - The Ordinance of Union comes into effect, uniting Ireland and Scotland with England
1816 - Sir Charles Gavan Duffy is born in Co. Monaghan. He is self-educated as a journalist and founds the Nation, a nationalist weekly journal with Thomas Davis and John Dillon in 1842; ultimately, he emigrates to Australia and while determined to avoid politics, he is induced to enter the Victorian Parliament where he fills in succession the position of minister of public works and minister of public lands; for a brief period he is prime minister
1824 - An Act establishes free trade in manufactured articles between Britain and Ireland
1837 - Birth in Galway of Patrick Ford, journalist in the USA and fund-raiser for Irish causes
1847 - The American relief ship, Jamestown, lands supplies in Cork for famine victims
1861 - The American Civil War begins; 150,000 Irishmen will serve with the Union forces, and 40,000 with the Confederacy
1889 - Patrick McGilligan, pro-Treaty nationalist and politician, is born in Coleraine, Co. Derry/Londonderry
1914 - George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" opens in London with Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Eliza Doolittle and Sir Herbert Tree as Professor Higgins
1923 - The Shadow Of A Gunman by Sean O'Casey premieres at the Abbey Theatre
1960 - The Broadcasting Authority Act grants Radio Éireann authority to provide and maintain national radio and television service
1999 - The country's biggest building project, the giant Citibank site in Dublin's financial services centre, is hit when 600 workers walk off the job in solidarity with striking scaffolders
1999 - Demands for IRA disarmament are stepped up following fresh evidence that they are harbouring advanced anti-aircraft missiles
1999 - A United Nations report points to evidence of security force collusion in the murder of leading Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane
2000 - Queen Elizabeth II presents the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) with the George Cross, the highest civilian award for bravery
2000 - The Irish Red Cross launches an appeal for approximately £3 million in an effort to avert the impending famine in Ethiopia
2000 - A safety probe gets underway following an explosion at the SIFA Limited chemical plant in Co. Clare. Seven people suffering from shock and hearing difficulties are transferred to Limerick Regional Hospital and are later released
2000 - The first of two side-by-side castles on Dublin's Dalkey seafront comes up for auction. Inniscorrig, built in 1847, has a starting price of £3.5m. The Herbert Park house has a pre-auction guideline of £3m.
2001 - Ted Sweeney, the weather forecaster instrumental in saving the D Day landings from disaster, dies in his native Blacksod near Belmullet in Co Mayo. In 1944, Ted Sweeney claims a special place in world history by filing a famous weather report which delays the D Day landings in Normandy for 24 hours
2001 - Preliminary test results on a suspected foot and mouth case in Co. Tyrone are negative
2001 - The Real IRA threatens a fresh campaign of violence and vows to attack British targets in their quest for a united Ireland
2002 - A blockade by salmon fishermen at the Port of Cork passes off without incident
2003 - Hopes are raised of a breakthrough in the stalled Northern Ireland peace process, when the IRA outlines its future intentions to the Irish and British Governments. In a statement, the IRA sets out its position on the peace process, its ceasefire, and its approach to a third act of decommissioning.
2008 - The sixth president of Ireland,, Dr. Patrick Hillery passes away after a short illness at age 84. Born on May 2, 1923 in Milltown Malvay, Co. Clare, he attended Rockwell College and University College, Dublin, studying sciences and medicine. His practice of medicine yielded to politics in 1951, when as a member of the Fianna Fáil party he won election to Parliament.
April 13
1593 - Birth of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford/Viceroy of Ireland
1722 - Charles Leslie, Irish controversialist, dies
1728 - Samuel Molyneux, former MP for the University of Dublin and son of the writer William Molyneux, collapses in the British House of Commons and dies on this date, aged 38
1780 - Alexander Mitchell, civil engineer and inventor, is born in Dublin
1742 - Handel's Messiah is performed for the first time, conducted by the composer, at Mr. Neale's Great Musick Hall, Fishamble Street, Dublin, before an audience of 700
1825 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Nationalist, writer, and Canadian politician is born in Carlingford, Co. Louth
1829 - The Catholic Emancipation Act receives royal assent on this date; it permits Catholic men who can afford the poll tax to enter Parliament and hold civil and military offices
1906 - Birth of Samuel Beckett in Foxrock, Co. Dublin
1920 - Liam Cosgrave, Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach, is born
1926 - Birth of Peter Carrol, optical physicist
1939 - Poet, Seamus Heaney, is born in Mossbawn, near Belfast
1952 - Jockey, Jonjo O'Neill, is born in Castletownroche, Co. Cork
1968 - Cliff Richard comes second in the Eurovision Song Contest with the Phil Coulter composition, Congratulations; It subsequently outsells the winner throughout Europe
1998 - RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan warns that Northern Ireland could explode into renewed street violence during the Summer marching season
1998 - One of Ireland's leading three-day event riders, David Foster is fatally injured in a fall at a show near his Co. Meath home
1998 - The Northern Ireland peace settlement clears another crucial hurdle last night when the first contentious day in the marching calendar draws to a close without incident. An Apprentice Boys' parade in Belfast stops short of the Catholic Lower Ormeau Road, a flashpoint for serious violence in previous years
1999 - Track star Sonia O'Sullivan receives an honorary Doctor of Philosophy, the first such conferring by the Dublin Institute of Technology
2001 - A second foot-and-mouth outbreak in Northern Ireland is confirmed after secondary tests on samples from cattle on a large dairy farm, near the shores of Lough Neagh, prove positive
2001 - In what has become an Easter tradition, Our Lady’s Choral Society choristers accompanied by soloist Emmanuel Lawlor and the National Sinfonia conducted by Prionnsias O’Duinn performs excerpts from Handel’s Messiah on the site of Neal’s Music Hall, Fishamble Street, where his famous musical work was first performed in 1742
2001 - Well-known musician and music center/hostel owner, Larry O'Brien, dies in a fire which guts part of the Boghill Centre near Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare.
April 14
1661 - Birth in Dublin of Sir Thomas Molyneux, scientist, archaeologist, physician and MP; first to assert that the Giant's Causeway is a natural phenomenon
1848 - In Dublin, the tricolor national flag of Ireland is presented to the public for the first time by Thomas Francis Meagher and the Young Ireland Party
1886 - Jack Beattie, socialist politician and trade unionist, is born in Belfast
1912 - The Titanic, the world's largest ship built at Belfast's Harland and Wolfe, hits an iceberg
1917 - Birth of actress Valerie Hobson in Larne, Co. Antrim
1919 - Limerick Soviet commences general strike in protest against English militarism in Ireland; for three weeks in April, the city's Trades Council takes over the entire running of the city, publishes their own newspapers and issues their own currency. The Soviet receives worldwide publicity and is seen by the British government as a major threat to their power in Ireland
1922 - Led by Rory O'Connor, forces against the Anglo-Irish Treaty seize the Four Courts in Dublin. The provisional government later attacks the garrison, which starts the civil war
1836 - Pat Kirby, handballer, is born in Tuamgraney, Co. Clare
1972 - Terry Wogan launches his first British radio show
1998 - Patrick J. Kennedy, son of Edward and nephew of JFK, unveils a commemorative plaque and declares the fully refurbished and redecorated White House Hotel in Kinsale open once more
1998 - Poll results indicate that Unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland will have equal representation on a power sharing executive if the 1997 General Election results are repeated
2003 - An international survey rates Dublin as one of the safer cities in the world. At 18 in the rankings, it is well ahead of many other cities.
April 15
1642 - Ormond defeats insurgents at Kilrush, Co. Kildare
1642 - A Scottish army under Robert Munroe lands at Carrickfergus
1707 - Birth of Sir Henry Cavendish, MP and incompetent Teller of the Exchequer who left chaos in his wake
1784 - First unmanned balloon in Ireland is launched by Richard Crosbie
1840 - The Repeal Association is founded by Daniel O'Connell
1848 - On Abbey Street in Dublin, the tricolor national flag of Ireland is presented to the public for the first time by Thomas Francis Meagher and the Young Ireland Party
1864 - The first Dublin Horse Show is held
1882 - Mary Swanzy, painter, is born in Dublin
1908 - Birth in Greenock, Scotland of Dennis Devlin, poet, translator and diplomat
1912 - The Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage with the loss of 1,513 souls, many of them Irish; 732 survive
1931 - Birth of Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, Northern Ireland public servant
1968 - Birth of rock guitarist Ed O'Brien, grandson of a Tipperary emigrant
1951 - John O'Keeffe, Kerry Gaelic footballer, is born
1974 - The 78th Boston Marathon is won by Neil Cusack of Co. Limerick in 2:13:39. He is the first Irishman to win this race
1998 - Englishman Mark Robins is awarded £3,000 after winning the first racial abuse case to be heard in Northern Ireland
2000 - The generosity of two Londoners, Alice and Charles Armstrong, turns a dream into reality as a new state-of-the-art lifeboat is handed over to the RNLI. The craft is named Alice and Charles after its benefactors
Photo Credit: Maurice O'Mahoney
2001 - Security on the border is tightened after a third case of foot-and-mouth is confirmed in Cushendall, Co Antrim
2001 - Hundreds of people greet the relics of St Therese of Lisieux at Rosslare for the start of a 75 day tour of the country
2003 - The peace process remains deadlocked as Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair continue to press the IRA for more clarity about its intentions.
April 16
1660 - Sir Hans Sloane, physician and naturalist, is born in Killyleagh, Co. Down
1701 - Some MPs and gentlemen of Co. Carlow petition against the return and residence of Mark Baggot, 'a violent Papist', in that county, of which he was 'titular High Sheriff' in 1689
1752 - The first regular stage-coach service between Dublin and Belfast commences
1782 - Irish Parliament declares its independence from the English Parliament
1850 - Samuel Butcher, scholar, is born in Dublin
1871 - John Millington Synge, poet, playwright, and student of Irish language and culture, is born in Dublin
1939 - Pop singer Dusty Springfield, whose real name is Mary O'Brien, is born to Irish parents in London
1947 - Singer Gerry Rafferty is born in Paisley, Scotland to an Irish father and a Scots mother
1970 - Protestant right-winger the Reverend Ian Paisley wins a seat in Northern Ireland's parliament
1999 - Supreme Court Justice Hugh O'Flaherty and High Court Judge Cyril Kelly are given 72 hours to quit by the Government — or else face unprecedented impeachment proceedings
1999 - Union officials at the centre of the scaffolders strike predict chaos within the building industry as over 800 workers place unofficial pickets on countrywide sites following the breakdown of crisis talks
1999 - David Trimble admits for the first time that he accepts it is unlikely the Provisional IRA will return to violence in the short-term
2001 - The Government iprepares to re-institute draconian restrictions in a last desperate attempt to prevent the foot and mouth plague sweeping the country. Fresh cases of the disease in Northern Ireland have stunned Department of Agriculture officials and Minister Joe Walsh admits that it now appeared that foot and mouth is rampant north of the border
2002 - Beginning with a 'park-up' outside John A Woods and ReadyMix sites in Cork, Kerry and Limerick, as many as 300 truck drivers transporting sand and gravel take their trucks off the road in protest at strict weight restrictions, high insurance costs and low pay
2003 - A spokesman for the British Government says that it is sticking with its plans for Assembly elections in Northern Ireland next month, even if efforts to restore devolution fail.
April 17
1172 - Henry II returns to Britain on this date, having granted a charter to Dublin - the first granted to an Irish town
1656 - William Molyneux, statesman, philosopher and scientist, is born in Dublin
1783 - The British Renunciation Act acknowledges the exclusive right of the Irish parliament and courts to make and administer laws for Ireland
1875 - Election of Charles Stewart Parnell as MP for Meath
1920 - The inquest into the death of Tomás MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork killed by policemen in disguise on 19 March, returns a verdict of wilful murder against the RIC, and indicts Lloyd George and the British government
1936 - Brendan Kennelly, poet, is born in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry
1944 - Michael 'Babs Keating, Tipperary hurler, is born in Ardfinnan, Co. Limerick
1961 - New Civic Arts Theatre building is opened on Botanic Avenue in Belfast; originally called the Mask Theatre it is renamed the Civic Arts Theatre in 1947. Eventually, it will close due to lack of funding
1966 - A census shows the population of the Republic to be 2,884,002.
1969 - Bernadette Devlin is elected MP for Mid Ulster, standing as the Independent Unity candidate; at 21 years old, she is Britain's youngest ever female MP and the third youngest MP ever
1984 - Death of lyricist and songwriter Jimmy Kennedy from Omagh; his songs include The Teddy Bears’ Picnic and Red Sails In The Sunset
1998 - The Black Pearl, Paul McGrath, decides to end a lengthy and honour-strewn career in football
1999 - The Real IRA-linked 32 County Sovereignty Movement launches a major recruitment campaign in west Belfast
2000 - It is reported that Northern Ireland sporting hero, Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins, is seriously ill in hospital
2000 - New licensing laws go into effect which give drinkers an extra half hour in the pub
2003 - The country sizzles as the temperature soars to 24ºC/72ºF
2003 - The Irish and British governments debate whether to continue efforts to reach agreement on the future of the Good Friday Agreement following Sinn Féin president Gerry Adam's failure to make a watershed speech
2003 - Sunset in Belfast port marks an historic occasion as the Tricolour and the Royal Navy’s White Ensign are lowered together. The Irish Naval Service’s LE Eithne and Britain’s HMS Tyne both exchange personnel for the ceremonial event as both fishery patrol vessels berth side-by-side at Queen’s Quay in the heart of the northern capital. The five-day Belfast engagement for the LE Eithne marks the first-ever visit to a Six Counties’ port by an Irish navy boat.
April 18
1608 - Sir Cahir O'Doherty of Inishowen revolts and sacks Derry
1689 - Siege of Derry begins
1690 - Five regiments of Irishmen sail for France and form the nucleus of France's Irish Brigade
1768 - Daniel Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, is born in Arklow, Co. Wicklow
1778 - William Bunbury, MP for Co. Carlow, dies after being thrown from his horse
1792 - Langrishe's Catholic Relief Act allows Catholics to practise law, and Protestants and Catholics to intermarry
1802 - Robert Patterson, naturalist, is born in Belfast
1817 - Michael Roberts, Irish mathematician and author of the theory of invariants, covariants and hypereliptic functions, is born in Cork
1870 - Birth in Dublin of Robert Tressell, born Noonan, author of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
1875 - Novelist Katherine Cecil Thurston,née Madden, is born in Cork
1930 - Victor Conlon, Irish activist, is born
1949 - The Republic of Ireland withdraws from the British Commonwealth. The British Parliament recognizes the declaration but asserts sovereignty over the six northern counties. Ireland does not recognize the claim
2000 - Tony Blair arrives in Northern Ireland in an effort to kickstart the ailing peace process
2000 - A plaque is unveiled in Belfast commemorating those killed or injured in paramilitary violence
2000 - RTÉ confirms that Glenroe's Mary McEvoy will be killed off in dramatic fashion. For 17 years, she has played the role of Biddy Byrne; however, she is requesting that she be written out in order to take on other challenges
2000 - The low-fares war on the Shannon-London route intensifies with Ryanair accusing Richard Branson's Virgin Express of copycat tactics
2000 - According to an annual survey released on this date, Ireland is named the seventh most competitive nation in the world.
April 19
1366 - The parliament, alarmed at the apparent undermining by native influences of the settler population's Englishness, passes the 'Statute of Kilkenny'. This aims to halt the widespread adoption by the Norman-Irish, especially in frontier areas, of Gaelic Irish culture, customs and language. It bans the use of the Irish language (insisting 'that every Englishman use the English language', though it is written in French) and Irish names within the colony, intermarriage with the native Irish, the playing of hurling, and so on. Pejorative name-calling between the English of England and the English of Ireland is prohibited. In fact, at this time there is a strong mutual influence: the Gaelic Irish are adopting some Norman-Irish practices, too. Also, most of the 'new' laws merely reiterate old ones (the exceptions being those on the Irish language and Irish minstrels)
1780 - Henry Grattan moves resolutions in favour of legislative independence in Irish House of Commons
1798 - The Earl of Clare begins a 3-day visit to Trinity College, Dublin to purge United Irishmen; 19 are expelled
1875 - Charles Stewart Parnell is elected MP for Co. Meath
1909 - Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, master mathematician, expert on codes, and chess champion, is born in Cork; he learns chess at the age of 8. From a Londonderry college he goes to King Edward's School, Birmingham, where as a schoolboy he wins the Birmingham Post cup, which carries with it the unofficial championship of Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Going on to Cambridge, he not only wins the University championship four years in succession, but picks up first-class honours. He wins the British championship in 1938
1969 - Fierce rioting breaks out in Derry after the RUC ban a civil rights march from Burntollet Bridge
1972 - Lord Widgery's report exonerating "Bloody Sunday" troops is issued
1998 - Key members of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, led by the sister of H-Block hunger striker, Bobby Sands, meet to draft an outright condemnation of the Good Friday peace deal
2003 - The British army is called in to deal with rioting in North Belfast where up to 200 people are involved in disturbances at the junction of Limestone and Halliday Roads
2001 - Jenny Hegarty, a 72-year-old Dublin grandmother, takes on a host of international players and wins £10,000 at the Irish and European Open Poker Championship
2001 - EU restrictions on farm exports due to foot and mouth are lifted one month after the Republic’s only outbreak
2002 - Ireland's first cash-free petrol station, Carrigdhoun Service Station, near Ballygarvan, Co Cork, opens with all business being transacted by credit card or petrol card.
2003 - Bono surpasses competition from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac to become Europe’s greatest hero. The U2 lead singer is picked by online voters from a list of 36 other Europeans compiled by Time magazine.
April 20
1176 - Strongbow, Anglo-Norman lord, dies in Dublin
1608 - James I grants a licence to the Old Bushmills distillery in Co. Antrim which is thought to date from at least 1276 - the oldest distillery in the world
1696 - The Guild of Brewers and Maltsters is founded in Dublin; Richard Forster, former MP for Swords and a Dublin brewer, is a member
1772 - William Lawless, surgeon, United Irishman and general in Napoleon Bonaparte's revolutionary army, is born in Dublin
1791 - William Tone, soldier, author and son of Theobald Wolfe Tone is born in Dublin
1812 - Maurice FitzGerald, MP for Co. Kerry, presents the Irish Protestant petition for Catholic relief and calls for measures against grain scarcity in Ireland
1829 - Margaret Anna Cusack is born to an aristocratic family of English origin in Coolak, Co. Dublin; she is the founder of the first Poor Clares convent in the west of Ireland and also a talented writer who publishes on the issues of social injustice. Her writings and actions focus on advocacy of women's rights including equal pay, equal opportunity for education and legal reform to give women control of their own property
1857 - Sir Thomas Myles, surgeon, is born in Limerick
1879 - Robert Lynd, essayist and critic, is born in Belfast
1896 - A demonstration of the cinématographe is held in Dublin at Dan Lowrey's Star of Erin theatre of varieties, now the Olympia Theatre
1912 - Death of Dublin writer Bram Stoker, creator of Dracula
1945 - Alan Dukes, politician and Fine Gael leader is born in Dublin
1954 - Michael Manning becomes the last man to be executed by the state in the Republic of Ireland: he is hanged on this date at Mountjoy jail, Dublin, for the murder of a nurse
1874 - The conflict in Northern Ireland claims its 1,000 victim, petrol station owner James Murphy of Co. Fermanagh
1991- Sean O'Faolain, writer, dies at 91; he is best known for his short stories, collected in such volumes as Midsummer Night Madness, The Man Who Invented Sin, The Heat of the Sun, and The Talking Trees (1971). Among his novels are A Nest of Simple Folk and Come Back to Erin
2001 - Two cases of suspected foot-and-mouth rock the North’s agricultural community. Stormont Minister Bríd Rodgers admits her department is concerned about symptoms in animals at Ballintoy, near Ballycastle, and in a herd at Ardboe.
April 21
1738 - A Mr Lorimer, receiver of Sir Arthur Acheson (MP for Mullingar), is killed in a duel
1816 - Daughter of an Irish father, Charlotte Bronte, eldest of the three Bronte Sisters and author of Jane Eyre, is born
1871 - John Fitzpatrick, Labor leader and Irish nationalist is born in Athlone, Co. Westmeath
1874 - Walter Wilson, mechanical engineer, designer of cars and tanks, is born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin
1875 - Michael, "The O'Rahilly," Irish Volunteers leader, is born in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry
1879 - Birth of novelist Maurice Walsh in Listowel
1901 - Death of James Stephens, Kilkenny-born founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
1907 - The nationalist groups, Cumman na nGaedheal and Dungannon Clubs, combine to form the Sinn Féin (Ourselves) League
1916 - The Aud arrives at Banna Strand, Co. Kerry, from Germany with 20,000 rifles for use of the Volunteers in the Easter Uprising; they are discovered by the British and the crew scuttles the ship. Roger Casement, who is following behind the Aud in a submarine, lands safely, but is captured later
1970 - The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is founded on this date, with Phelim O'Neill as leader
1994 - 'Guildford Four' man, Paul Hill, wins his appeal against a conviction for an IRA murder in Northern Ireland
1998 - In its annual study, the International Institute of Management Development ranks Ireland as the 11th most competitive country in the world – ahead of global economic powers such as Japan, Germany and Britain
1999 - Paddy McDonagh, a former Irish soldier caught transporting a massive bomb across the border on the day the Good Friday Agreement referendum votes are counted, is jailed for six years by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin
2000 - Dissident republicans threaten fresh violence as Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams claim hope in Northern Ireland had plunged to an all time low
2001 - The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland orders Levi’s to remove posters featuring semi naked models from bus shelters and near schools
2002 - The IRA denies that it responsible for last month's break-in at Special Branch offices in Belfast. The organisation also insists it is not involved in targeting politicians and said its ceasefire remains intact.
April 22
1365 - Lionel returns to England, leaving Ormond as his deputy
1671 - An English Navigation Act prohibits direct importation of sugar, tobacco and other produce from the colonies to Ireland; act expires in 1681 but is renewed in 1685 and extended in 1696
1717 - John Marshall, a successful attorney and father of Robert Marshall, a future MP for Clonmel and an executor of Hester Vanhomrigh (Vanessa), commits suicide in Boate Street, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
1834 - Daniel O'Connell introduces debate on Repeal of Union bill in the House of Commons
1905 - Capt. William O'Shea, politician and accuser of Parnell, dies in Hove
1918 - A general strike takes place throughout Ireland against the British government's attempts to introduce conscription
1945 - Birth of Alan Dukes Irish President (Fine Gael)
1967 - Actor and writer, Walter Macken dies at his home in the gaeltacht village of Menlo, Galway. A prolific author, he is best known for his novel Rain on the Wind and his trilogy about the famine - Seek the Fair Land, The Silent People and The Scorching Wind
1999 - In Washington DC, the House International Relations Committee hears allegations of continuing abuses against citizens by security forces in Northern Ireland
1999 - Sinéad O'Connor is ordained in Lourdes by the dissident bishop Michael Cox
1999 - An historic meeting between David Trimble and the Pope takes place in Rome yesterday; careful stage-management ensures there are no public photographs of the two men close together. Mr Trimble is the first unionist leader to meet a Pope
1999 - Sir Peter Ustinov receives his 14th honorary degree — doctor of laws - from the National University of Ireland
2002 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern sends a blunt pre-election warning to the Progressive Democrats that he is determined to have a national stadium and sports campus built if he is returned to power
2003 - It is announced that gardaí are to be given video cameras to record drink-related offences at pubs, nightclubs and takeaways, as part of a new clampdown on public order offences. Special units in 25 Garda districts will be provided with hand-held cameras.
April 23
1014 - The Dublin Norse and the king of Leinster, with Viking allies from overseas, are defeated by Brian Boru's army at Clontarf. Brian, now an old man, is killed. This thwarts the potential domination of Ireland by the Norse, but they are well established in the coastal towns, and will continue to have a major influence. Máel Sechnaill succeeds Brian as high king
1357 - Four days after the end of his campaign against the O'Tooles, O'Byrnes and O'Nolans in Leinster, justiciar Thomas Rokeby dies on this date at Kilkea, Co. Kildare
1723 - Mervyn Archdall, antiquary, is born in Dublin
1727 - Actress George Anne Bellamy is born in Fingal, Co. Dublin. The illegitimate daughter of Lord Tyrawley, British ambassador at Lisbon, her mother marries a Captain Bellamy and the child receives the name George Anne, by mistake for Georgiana. She grows up to become an accomplished actress and plays on the stage in London and Dublin. She is a contemporary of Sheridan and Garrick, and is patronized by aristocratic society.
1792 - Thomas Romney Robinson, astronomer and physicist, is born in Dublin
1805 - James Henthorn Todd, scholar, is born in Dublin
1918 - The Military Service Act18 April threatens conscription for Ireland: there is a one-day general strike in protest (except in Ulster) on this date
1926 - Son of irish immigrants, J.P. Donleavy, author of The Ginger Man, is born in New York; he emigrates to Ireland during World War II and becomes an Irish citizen. He now lives in Westmeath
1927 - Shamrock Rovers player Bob Fulham scores Ireland’s first international goal, against Italy
1947 - Birth of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone; she is the youngest MP ever to be elected to Parliament
1961 - A census shows the population of Northern Ireland is1,425,642; an earlier census on April 9 shows the population of the Republic to be 2,818,341
1967 - A local parish priest voices his extreme opposition to the appearance of Jayne Mansfield at the Mount Brandon Hotel in Tralee, and the concert is duly cancelled. Three weeks later, she is killed in a car accident
1998 - The Government's package of measures designed to dampen down rocketing house prices — particularly in the Dublin area — draws mixed reaction
1998 - The largest dry bulk carrier ever to dock at an Irish port, the 183,000-tonne Buccleuch, arrives at the deep-water jetty of the ESB's generating station at Moneypoint, Co. Clare
1999 - It emerges that detectives from outside the Royal Ulster Constabulary are being drafted into Northern Ireland to join the murder squad hunting the killers of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson
2002 - Just months after voting No to Nice, Irish support for EU membership hits a record high, according to the latest survey carried out among the 15 member States
2003 - Key questions to the IRA posed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair spark an angry reaction from Sinn Féin but are supported by the Government. According to Mr Blair, the deadlock in the Northern Ireland peace process is down to uncertainty over the IRA’s future intentions.
April 24
1596 - Pacificatie of Ireland drawn
1718 - Nathaniel Hone, portrait painter, is born in Dublin
1764 - Thomas Emmet, nationalist and brother of Robert Emmet, is born in Dublin
1857 - William Thompson, journalist, is born in Derry/Londonderry
1906 - Son of an Irish father, William Joyce aka 'Lord Haw-Haw'; fascist and broadcaster of Nazi propaganda in World War II is born in Brooklyn, New York
1912 - Irish novelist, historian and politician, Justin McCarthy, dies
1913 - Large supply of guns from Germany are landed at Larne for the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
1916 - On Easter Monday, the Irish Volunteers and Citizen Army seize the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin and demand Irish sovereignty
1927 - Bishop Eamon Casey is born
1945 - Singer Johhny McEvoy is born
1948 - Birth of writer, Clare Boylan
1951 - Birth of Enda Kenny, leader of Fine Gael
1961 - Laura Magahy, head of development of Temple Bar, Dublin, is born
1993 - A massive IRA bomb rips through the City of London, killing one and injuring more than 40
1998 - The Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Freedom Fighters' Inner Council - the North's largest loyalist paramilitary group - backs the Stormont Agreement, saying it secures the state's place within the United Kingdom
1998 - The second-largest ever construction project in the history of the State, a £120m drainage system designed to make Cork's River Lee and Lough Mahon pollution free in four years time and create up to 500 jobs during construction, is announced
2002 - The IRA is accused of being part of a global terrorist network after a US inquiry claims the group has sent up to 15 members to Colombia to train Marxist rebels
2003 - The United States backs British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s demand that the IRA should clarify its commitment to the peace process.
April 25
1185 - Henry II sends his son John to Ireland; John lands at Waterford on this date to assert control over Hugh de Lacy, but he fails to achieve this. Henry still suspects that de Lacy wants to be king of Ireland
1681 - Count Redmond O'Hanlon (outlawed chief) is shot dead by his foster-brother
1707 - Thomas Erle, MP for Cork city, commands the centre at the Battle of Alamanza and loses his right hand on this date; David Dunbar, later MP for Blessington, is wounded and captured in the same battle, and John Upton, later MP for Co. Antrim, distinguishes himself
1819 - Vere Foster, philanthropist and educationist, is born in Copenhagen; he is the inventor of copy books used in schools throughout Ireland until the 1950s
1861 - William Ford, who crossed the Atlantic from Ireland by steerage, marries fellow country woman Mary O'Hern. Their son Henry Ford, pioneered the mass manufacturing of the automobile
1877 - Ralph Henry Byrne, architect, is born in Dublin
1918 - Irish Labour Party declares one-day strike in protest over conscription act
Anglo-Irish agreements on defence, finance and trade (25 April) end the 'Economic War': the 'Treaty' ports are ceded by Britain; the Irish Government pays £10 million to settle financial claims; both sides repeal penal duties on imports
1938 - Anglo-Irish agreements on defence, finance and trade end the 'Economic War': the 'Treaty' ports are ceded by Britain; the Irish Government pays £10 million to settle financial claims; both sides repeal penal duties on imports
1946 - Birth of Peter Sutherland; in 1981, he becomes Ireland's youngest ever Attorney-General in the Fine Gael–Labour coalition government. In 1997, he becomes chairman of BP and when BP merges with Amoco in 1998 he becomes non-executive chairman of the new company. BP Amoco has a market value of about $40 billion. Sutherland is also on the boards of ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd., Investor AB and Eriksson. He is chairman of the Overseas Development Council in Washington and the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates and awards in Europe and America.
1976 - About 10,000 people attend the Easter week commemorative rally at the GPO, convened by the Provisionist IRA, despite government prohibition
1998 - The first ever mass demonstrations against immigration laws and racism take place in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. At the same time, protests are staged by Irish people outside embassies all over Europe and the United States. Dublin edges close to a standstill as more than 1,000 protesters march from St Stephen's Green to the GPO
1999 - The RUC strongly denies fresh claims of police collusion and cover-up in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings that claims 33 lives in the Republic 25 years ago
2003 - Sinéad O’Connor announces her retirement from the music business.
April 26
1718 - Thomas St Lawrence, 13th Baron of Howth, receives £215 14s 1 1/2d for the expense he incurs in building a quay at Howth for landing coals for the lighthouse
1745 - On this date, John Allen (3rd Viscount Allen), former MP for Carysfort, kills a dragoon in a street brawl. ‘His Lordship was at a house in Eustace Street. At twelve in the night, three dragoons making a noise in the street, he threw up the window and threatening them, adding as is not unusual with him a great deal of bad language. The dragoons returned it. He went out to them loaded with a pistol. At the first snapping of it, it did not fire. This irritated the dragoon who cut his fingers with his sword, upon which Lord Allen shot him.’ The wound occasions a fever which causes Lord Allen’s death on 25 May
1756 - John Ponsonby is unanimously elected Speaker of the Irish parliament
1784 - Death of Nano Nagle, 'God's Beggar', founder of the Order of the Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary
1808 - Benjamin Burton, son of William Burton (former MP for Gowran and Co. Carlow) fractures his skull in a fall from his horse while hunting but, having apparently recovered, goes out again with the hounds and dies from 'brain fever'
1895 - The trial of Oscar Wilde for homosexuality, then a crime, begins at the Old Bailey
1904 - Edward VII begins a visit to Ireland on this date
1916 - Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, writer, suffragist, pacifist and patriot, is apprehended while trying to stop Easter Rising looting and is later executed by the British without a trial
1932 - Aengus Finucane, priest, and charity worker deeply involved with the organization, Concern, is born in Limerick
1998 - Catriona McKiernan becomes the first Irish woman to win the London Marathon
1999 - Former Supreme Court Justice, Hugh O'Flaherty, confirms he will give a full and frank account of his role in the Philip Sheedy affair before the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights
2001 - Leading Sinn Féin members are among the 5,000 people who attend the funeral of former chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, Joe B. O'Hagan. Party president Gerry Adams gives the oration at the graveside when the leading republican figure is buried in Lurgan, Co Armagh
2002 - More than a million postcards are delivered to Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Prince of Wales as part of an Irish bid to have the Sellafield nuclear installation closed down. People throughout Ireland posted the cards after weeks of campaigning, backed by celebrities such as soccer international Roy Keane and pop stars Ronan Keating and Samantha Mumba
2003 - The Government says a deal securing the future of the North’s power-sharing executive is now close following the latest statement from Sinn Féin. Irish and British governments hail a speech by the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, as a significant advance
2003 - Police in North Belfast try to keep rival factions apart after rioting erupts in the Limestone Road area of the city
April 27
1696 - Act 'for encouraging the linen manufacture of Ireland': Irish linen gains duty-free access to the British market on this date
1739 - Lord Barry of Santry is tried by his peers in the parliament house for the murder of his former servant Laughlin Murphy in August 1738. They unanimously find him guilty, but recommend him to the royal mercy. The Lord Lieutenant endorses this plea, and Santry is pardoned under the great seal on 17 June. His estates, which had been forfeited for life, will be restored in 1741
1827 - Mary King Ward, Irish naturalist and astronomer is born
1880 - The Royal University of Ireland is founded by charter
1891 - The first ever Irish musical comedy, The Irish Girl, written by Percy French and Dr. W. Houston Collisson, is staged at the Queen’s Theatre, Dublin
1904 - Cecil Day-Lewis, poet, novelist, critic, and Ireland's poet laureate from 1968 to 1972, is born in Ballintogher, Co. Sligo
1920 - Georgina Frost wins a legal battle to allow her to be clerk of the petty sessions for Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare; she is thus the first woman to hold public office from central government in the UK
1923 - De Valera announces end of operations against the Irish Free State, effectively ending the Irish Civil War
1937 - The Most Rev. Robert Eames, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, is born
1953 - 1953 - Irish revolutionary, feminist and actress Maude Gonne McBride dies in Roebuck, Clonskeagh, and is later buried in Dublin in the Glasnevin Cemetery. She is best remembered for her turbulent relationship with William Butler Yeats.
1966 - Farmers protest against low milk prices; 28 are arrested in Dublin
1998 - Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, forecasts an end to the RUC in its present form. His prediction comes following a 55-minute review with Tony Blair in Downing Street of critical issues arising from the Good Friday settlement
1999 - Legal history is made when the country's first ever convicted gangland murderer, self-confessed drugs dealer and gang boss Joseph Delaney, is jailed for life
2001 - Ireland's foremost literary town officially opens a permanent home for its famous wordsmiths and their works. A 19th century Georgian house, in the heart of Listowel, has become the Kerry Literary and Cultural Centre, where life-size models and audio-visual presentations help portray the personalities and output of various writers. The £1.5 million centre is appropriately named Seanchaí after the art of storytelling and in recognition of the folklore and traditions that inspire great literature.
April 28
1714 - Sir Wentworth Harman, MP for Lanesborough, 'coming in a dark night from Chapel-Izod, his coach overturning, tumbled down a precipice, and he dies in consequence of the wounds and bruises he received'
1794 - Rev. William Jackson, agent of French revolutionary government, is arrested in Dublin
1864 - Birth of William Ellison, clergyman and the sixth director of the Armagh Observatory. On his appointment in 1918, he donates the original late nineteenth-century telescope to the Observatory - an 18-inch Newtonian reflector, made by the famous English telescope maker George Calver; for many years it is one of the largest telescopes in Ireland. During the 1920s and 1930s, Ellison and others use the telescope for observations of the planets and for taking spectral images of the stars, using a spectroscope to split the starlight into its constituent colours
1875 - Teresa Kearney, better known as Mother Kevin, missionary and founder of Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Africa, is born in Knockenrahan, Co. Wicklow
1922 - Nicky Rackard, Wexford hurler, is born in Killane, Co. Wexford
1936 - The Daíl introduces a bill awarding pensions to the Connaught Rangers who mutinied in India in 1920
1943 - Andrews resigns as Northern Ireland Prime Minister and is succeeded by Sir Basil Brooke, later Lord Brookeborough
1969 - Terence O'Neill resigns as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He is succeeded by Chichester Clark
1992 - Death of Dublin-born artist Francis Bacon
1998 - Some 30 years after waiting on Eamonn De Valera and literary luminaries of the day in the Great Southern Hotel in Galway, 57-year old Rita Gilligan from Bohermore is presented with an honorary MBE by UK Culture Secretary, Chris Smith,at London's Hard Rock Cafe where she has worked as a waitress for 27 years
1999 - Ireland's largest convoy packed with 200 tonnes of relief supplies for Kosovar refugees leaves Dublin for Albania
2000 - It is announced that 100 free bicycles will be placed on the streets of Dublin for the Heineken Green Energy Weekend. The free bicycles will be placed outside Trinity College, outside Dublin Castle and at the top of Grafton Street and will be available to anyone wishing to cycle around the city to take in the atmosphere of the Festival
Photo Credit: Nicholas MacInnes / MacInnes Photography.
April 29
1653 - Birth of John Whally, necromancer and charlatan
1665 - Birth of James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde and an ancestor of Princess Diana. The Dublin-born Irish general becomes one of the most powerful men in the Tory administration, governing England in the early part of the 18th century - from 1710 to 1714
1680 - The first stone of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham is laid by the Duke of Ormonde
1758 - Wide Streets Commission for Dublin is appointed by the Irish Parliament
1769 - Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, soldier and statesman, is born in Dublin
1803 - Paul Cullen, prelate, is born in Prospect, Co. Kildare
1874 - Conal O'Riordan (pseudonym 'F. Norris Connell), writer and theatre manager, is born in in Dublin
1916 - Pearse orders surrender of the Easter Rising rebels on this date. Approximately 64 rebels have been killed, 132 crown forces, and 230 civilians. 2,500 people have been wounded; the centre of Dublin has been devastated by the shelling
1938 - Birth of Ray McSharry, Fianna Fáil politician and EU Commissioner
1941 - Birth of Jonah Barrington, squash player, in Cornwall; a student at Trinity in the late 1950s / early 1960s, it's where he started to play squash; one of the greatest squash players of all time, he is considered to be the father of the modern professional game
1954 - Kevin Moran, football player for Dublin Gaelic, Manchester United, Sporting Gijon, Blackburn Rovers and Republic of Ireland, is born in Dublin
1957 - Daniel Day-Lewis, best actor Oscar winner for My Left Foot, is born
1986 - Seamus McElwaine, IRA-terrorist, is killed
1998 - Triple Olympic champion Michelle De Bruin comes out fighting in response to the most serious drugs-linked threat to her glittering swimming career
1999 - Governor General of Australia, Sir William Deane, is to be conferred with an honorary degree at Trinity, and is the guest of honour at the first state dinner held at Dublin Castle under President Mary McAleese's term
2001 - The Irish Council for Civil Liberties celebrates the 25th anniversary of its foundation
2001 - Des O'Malley pledges his co-operation to a new inquiry into the Arms Crisis of 1970 and challenges Charles Haughey to do the same. Mr O'Malley strongly defends his role as Justice Minister during the turbulent events surrounding the most controversial trial in the State's history
2001 - A monument is unveiled in Inniscarra, Co Cork, in honour of an Ulster chief who could have changed the history of Europe if he hadn't been killed in battle. Chief of Fermanagh, Aodh Mag Uidhir (Hugh Maguire) is shot dead during an ambush in 1600 at Carrigrohane before the Battle of Kinsale the following year, which sees the last struggle for an independent Gaelic Ireland fail. "Maguire was a great strategist, and some believe that had he survived, the result of the Battle of Kinsale might have been different, changing the course of European history. He was the Rommel of the 1600s," says Seán O´ Ceallacháin of the Hugh Maguire Commemoration Committee
2003 - Thornton’s Restaurant in Dublin ranks 25th in Restaurant magazine’s latest list of the top 50 restaurants in the world.
April 30
1428 - Sir John Sutton, Lord Dudley, is appointed lieutenant for two years from this date; he has some success against the various rebels
1795 - Rev. William Jackson of the United Irishmen returns from France, unaware that his travelling companion, John Cockayne, is a spy; Jackson is arrested and found guilty of high treason; he commits suicide in the dock by taking poison
1942 - Because of petrol rationing, all private motoring in Ireland is banned, and bicycle thefts soar overnight
1951 - The first demonstration of television in Ireland is held at the Spring Show in the RDS, Dublin
1970 - "B-Specials" reserves within the Royal Ulster Constabulary formed to contain violence in 1933 (but notoriously violent in their own right) are disbanded
1998 - Michelle de Bruin, whose career has been almost destroyed by claims of drug abuse since her Olympic wins, has never been under suspicion, FINA, the international swimming authority admits
1999 - Lord Killanin, the man credited with saving the Moscow Olympics in 1980, is laid to rest. Many of the leading lights of the world of sport, business and politics in Ireland are present as the remains are buried in the family vault at the New Cemetery in the Bohermore area of Galway city
2001 - According to Dr. Vincent Maher, consultant cardiologist at Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, has the highest rate of heart disease in the EU - claiming up to 14,000 victims each year. Lower income households are particularly at risk because of their diet, he says
2002 - Hopes that 325 workers at the Ardagh glass plant in Ringsend, Dublin, could keep their jobs are dashed with a surprise closure announcement by management
2003 - The Russell family decide to sell Dunkathel House, situated on 150 acres on Cork city fringes. The 220-year-old Georgian-style mansion has been open to the public, and is one of the most prominently-sited period homes in the greater city area, overlooking the Jack Lynch tunnel and River Lee at Glanmire. It carries a €15 million price guide.
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- Slang: Today in Irish History
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Happy First Day of the Celtic Summer!
May 1 Beltaine
1169 - A small party of Normans arrives at Baginbun and establishes a bridgehead for further invasions
1170 - Arrival of Normans in Co. Wexford. Arrival of Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, subsequently known as 'Strongbow'.
1171 - Diarmaid MacMurrough, king of Leinster, dies in Ferns, Co. Wexford; Strongbow is his (disputed) successor (MacMurrough's remaining legitimate son, Connor, has been executed while a hostage of Rory O'Connor)
1316 - Records indicate that around this date, Robert Bruce has himself crowned king of Ireland near Dundalk
1654 - Transplantable landowners are ordered to move to Connacht by this date; this deadline is then put back to 1 March 1655
1650 - William King, archbishop, theologian and Williamite, is born in Antrim
1672 - Birth of Joseph Addison, poet and dramatist; Chief Secretary to Lord Lieutenant Wharton 1708-10; MP for Cavan Borough 1709-13
1697 - The Bishops' Banishment Act passed on 25 September,1696, requires most Catholic clergy to leave the kingdom by this date, and bans Catholic clergy from entering it - the Act will never be efficently enforced
1780 - Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin, teacher and diarist, is born in Killarney, Co. Kerry
1794 - Catholics are enabled by law to attend Trinity College
1786 - The Belfast Academy is opened; it becomes the Belfast Royal Academy in 1887
1803 - James Clarence Mangan, poet, is born in Dublin
1823 - Oliver Harty, Baron de Pierrebourg, of Co. Limerick, Lieutenant-General in Napoleon's army, retires
1854 - Songwriter, entertainer and painter, Percy French, is born in Cloonyquin, Co. Roscommon. One of his many famous songs is "The Mountains of Mourne"
1919 -Birth of Dan O'Herlihy, actor; film credits include Fail Safe, Last Starfighter, Robocop
1975 - General election is held to a constitutional convention on Northern Ireland
1984 - Séan nos singer, Joe Heaney, dies
1998 - Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, urges Gerry Adams, to get the IRA to accept that there would have to be arms decommissioning if progress in implementing the Good Friday agreement was to be made
2000 - Nobel Laureate and SDLP leader John Hume is awarded the freedom of Derry at a reception in the city’s Guildhall
2001 - Limerick is tops for pub grub after one of the city's trendiest bars picks up the coveted Club Orange/Licensing World Pub Lunch award. In a business worth an estimated £1million a day, the Thomas Street premises, Auburs, beat off stiff competition from 11 monthly winners to become Ireland's leading purveyor of pub lunches
2003 - The month of April goes into the record books as one of the warmest for the last 100 years. At Valentia Observatory and Malin Head the temperatures recorded for the month were the highest since 1893.
May 2
1332 - Sir Anthony Lucy's campaign in Munster ends on this date
1656 - Birth of Sir Richard Levinge, Tory politician and Speaker of the House of Commons
1788 - An Act on this date repeals tests imposed on Protestant Dissenters
1794 - United Irishman Archibald Rowan escapes from custody and eventually makes his way to America
1806 - John Jones, sculptor, is born in Dublin
1858 - Birth of Edith Oenonne Somerville, novelist most famous for Some Experiences Of An Irish R.M written in collaboration with her cousin Violet Martin (also known as Martin Ross); in 1903, she becomes the first female Master of Foxhounds in Corfu
1884 - Birth of William Casey, dramatist and Times editor
1882 - Charles Stewart Parnell is released under the terms of the "Kilmainham Treaty"; writing off the debts of tenants in arrears. A landmark in the land agitation movement (and Parnell's career).
1921 - Lord FitzAlan of Derwent becomes the first Catholic lord lieutenant since the 17th century; he will be the last lord lieutenant
1923 - Birth in Milltown Malbay, Co. Clare of Patrick Hillery, surgeon, politician and former president from 1976 to 1990. He negotiates Ireland's entry into the European Community in 1973 and is later E.C. vice president for three years
1929 - The Fianna Fáil proposes a motion to retain the Land Annuities. It is defeated in the Dail
1945 - Eamon de Valera offers his condolences to the German Ambassador, Edouard Hempel, on the death of Adolf Hitler
1954 - Soccer great, Sammy McIlroy, is born
1957 - Death of Fr. Aloysius Roche, Irish patriot. During the 1916 Easter Rebellion, he and Frs. Albert, Augustine and Dominic bring spiritual aid to the Volunteers in the numerous garrisons and outposts throughout Dublin. Following Padraig Pearse's surrender on 29 April, Fr. Aloysius spends the next day carrying the surrender order to the main garrisons on the south side of the city. In the early hours of the morning of 3 May, Fr. Aloysius administers the last sacraments to Pearse, MacDonagh and Thomas, the first three leaders of the Rising to be executed; on May 7, Fr Aloysius accompanies James Connolly by ambulance from Dublin Castle to Kilmainham Jail for execution and stands behind the firing squad as they fire the final volley
1958 - Birth of David O'Leary, footballer for Arsenal, Leeds United and the Republic of Ireland footballer; Leeds United manager
1970 - Birth of soccer star, Steve Morrow
1982 -T he Irish government affirms its neutrality in the Falklands conflict between the UK and Argentina, and opposes EEC sanctions against Argentina
2000 - Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, arrives at Number 10 Downing St, London where he and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair are hosting talks aimed at trying to breathe fresh life into the flagging Northern Ireland peace process. The two premiers will have separate meetings with the Ulster Unionists, Sinn Fein and the SDLP to see if they can find a way to overcome the deadlock over devolution and decommissioning
2001 - Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness confirms publicly for the first time that he was the IRA's second-in-command in Derry on Bloody Sunday. The admission prompts a swift call from the Ulster Unionists for Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams to come clean about his IRA past
2003 - The Rolling Stones set a new Irish box office record when more than 16,000 tickets for their Dublin concerts sell within two minutes.
May 3
1714 - Sir Wentworth Harman, MP for Lanesborough, dies from the wounds he receives in a carriage accident on April 28
1785 - The Irish Academy, later to become the Royal Irish Academy, meets for the first time
1903 - Bing Crosby, descendant of Irish immigrants, is born in Tacoma, Washington, as Harry Lillis Crosby
1915 - Birth in Galway of novelist Walter Macken
1916 - Patrick Pearse, Thomas Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh executed by firing squad in Kilmainham jail
1921 - IRA troops under Tom Maguire fight off 600 English troops in Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo
1924 - The world premiere of Sean O’Casey’s Juno And The Paycock took place at the Abbey Theatre
1928 - Fianna Fáil petition with 96,000 signatures, calling for referendum to abolish the Oath of Allegiance rejected by Government which instead abolishes the plebiscite clause in the Constitution
1933 - Dáil passes an act removing the Oath of Allegiance from the constitution
1938 - Birth of Robert O'Driscoll, writer and professor of English
1999 - Swimmer Michelle de Bruin's hopes of salvaging her reputation and career nosedive with new allegations that a urine sample contains traces of a banned stimulant
1999 - RTÉ launches their 24-hour classical music station Lyric FM.
May 4
1699 - According to Jonathan Swift's book, Gulliver's Travels, it was on this day that Lemuel Gulliver sets sail on board the Antelope from Bristol
1715 - Joseph Deane, Justice of Assize for Munster and MP for Co. Dublin, dies of a fever resulting from a cold he caught (allegedly caused by a total eclipse of the sun) while returning from circuit on horseback
1773 - Art Ó Laoghaire, the subject of Eileen O'Leary's lament 'Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire', is killed by soldiers near Millstreet, Co. Cork
1773 - The Dublin Journal of 4-6 May reports that Thomas Burton (former MP for Ennis) 'met with the melancholy accident of being overturned in his chaise, by which he was killed on the spot, in his return home, in company with a gentleman who was to have been married to his daughter the following day'
1782 - Second and third Catholic Relief Acts (4 May, 27 July) allow Catholics to own land outside parliamentary boroughs, to be teachers, and to act as guardians
1782 - Acts establish the Bank of Ireland, and validates marriages by Presbyterian ministers
1836 - The Ancient Order of Hibernians in America is founded in New York City
1838 - Charles Williams, war correspondent, is born in Coleraine, Co. Derry/Londonderry
1916 - Edward Daly, Michael O'Hanrahan, William Pearse (brother of Padraic Pearse) and Joseph Mary Plunkett are executed by firing squad in Kilmainham jail
1928 - Poet, Thomas Kinsella, is born
1946 - Birth in Belfast of John Watson, former Formula 1 racing driver
1998 - Dissident IRA bombers strike in the heart of west Belfast to disrupt the city's annual marathon in an incident which reflects the growing divisions among republicans
1999 - TV3 pulls off the biggest coup of its short existence by securing the broadcasting rights to the UEFA Champions League for three years from the start of the 2000-01 season
1999 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has a working dinner in Government Buildings with the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is in Ireland as part of an European tour
2000 - Ciaran Nugent, the first person to start the blanket protest against the British Government’s treatment of republican prisoners, is found dead at his home
2001 - The remains of St Therese of Lisieux arrive at Mountjoy Prison where they will remain overnight
2003 - Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, tells a republican rally in West Belfast that the British government has effectively capitulated to the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party by postponing the Assembly elections until the autumn.
May 5
1795 - House of Commons rejects Grattan's Catholic relief bill
1864 - Birth in Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford of Sir Henry Wilson, soldier; chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1918 to 1922; establishes British Intelligence 'Cairo Gang' in Dublin
1881 - Richard Downey (youngest ever Catholic archbishop in 1928, who reduces his weight from 18 stone to 9 stone in the 1930s) is born in Kilkenny
1916 - Irish patriot and a leader of the 1916 Easter Uprising, John MacBride, is executed by firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol
1939 - Death of Mick the Miller, the greatest greyhound in the history of the sport
1941 - Kate O'Brien's novel The Land of Spices is banned by the Free State Board of Censors; protests will eventually lead to the setting up of an appeals procedure
1965 - Birth on Belfast of Norman Whiteside, Manchester United, Everton and Northern Ireland footballer
1981 - Bobby Sands dies at Long Kesh prison on the 66th day of his hunger strike
1999 - The remains of celebrated British actor Oliver Reed arrive in Ireland and are taken by hearse to a funeral home in the North Cork town of Buttevant, not far from his Castle McCarthy home in nearby Churchtown
1999 - Prince Charles visits Omagh and meets with relatives of those killed in the 1998 bombing and some of the young people who were injured
1999 - A team of security personnel from the White House arrive in Galway to prepare the city's National University for the visit of First Lady Hillary Clinton
1999 - Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams suggests that full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement could mean the end of the IRA
2000 - Hopes for a breakthrough in the peace process grow as high level talks at Hillsborough Castle overrun their expected timeframe by several hours
2003 - It is announced that almost a year after his death, two unpublished plays by John B, Keane have been discovered in his study and will be staged when his widow, Mary, decides the time is right.
May 6
1074 - Donatus (or Dunan), the first Bishop of Dublin, dies on this date and is buried in Christ Church Cathedral. Patrick, his successor, is sent to Canterbury for consecration (records are unreliable - the date of his death is also recorded as November 23)
1384 - Philip de Courtenay lands at Dalkey and campaigns in the midlands and the Leinster mountains
1728 - Act of Parliament removes the right to vote from Catholics
1763 - Mary Molesworth, widow of Richard Molesworth (3rd Viscount Molesworth, MP for Swords 1715-26), and her daughters Melosina and Mary die in a fire at their London house
1820 - Birth in St. Cleran’s, Co. Galway of Robert O’Hara Burke, explorer
1830 - Birth of Irish naturalist and librarian, William Archer in Magherahamlet, Co. Down. Archer did work on protozoa and was the first librarian of the National Library of Ireland
1882 - 'Phoenix Park murders' - The assassination of the British chief secretary of Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and his under secretary, T.H. Burke. Both are stabbed to death as they walk in Dublin's Phoenix Park by members of a nationalist secret society, the “Invincibles”. The attack is attributed to the Fenians. It is not actually connected with land agitation
1884 - Birth of painter William Conor in Belfast
1916 -The U-20, a German U-boat commanded by Captain Schweiger, sinks the Centurion off the south-east Irish coast; the next day, the U-20 sinks the Lusitania
1925 - Máire de Paor (née McDermott) archaeologist and arts activist, is born in Buncrana, Co. Donegal
1937 - Birth of Shay Brennan, Irish international footballer
1947 - Singer Paul Brady is born
1964 - Birth of actress Roma Downey in Co. Derry
1967 - Seven Drunken Nights by the Dubliners enters the British Top Ten
1970 - Charles Haughey (Minister for Finance) and Neil Blaney (Minister for Agriculture) are dismissed by Taoiseach Jack Lynch; later, the are arrested and charged with importing arms for the IRA. Blaney is discharged on 2 July; Haughey is acquitted on 23 October
1998 - The High Court hears that an advance of £175,000 has been negotiated by convicted IRA killer-turned-informer Seán O'Callaghan for his autobiography
2000 - Large crowds turn out in bright summer sunshine in Fenit, Co. Kerry, where President Mary McAleese officially christens the three-masted, famine ship replica, the Jeanie Johnston
2000 - Peace and prosperity are within Northern Ireland’s grasp, according to European Commissioner Chris Patten
2001 - A bomb explodes at a north London postal sorting office. It is the second such attack in three weeks and is linked to the Real IRA
2003 - The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister pledge to move the Northern peace process forward following their talks at Farmleigh in Dublin.
2008 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley officially open the Battle of the Boyne site in Co Meath. It is the last official engagement of Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach.
May 7
1689 - James II arrives from exile in France and addresses the Irish Parliament. Thanking them for support, applauding their courage and vowing to "venture my life...in defence of your liberties". Thus begins the events leading up to the Battle of the Boyne
1689 - James II's predominantly Catholic Irish parliament which is in session from this date until 18 July, implements various measures redressing Catholic grievances
1716 - John Medcalf, previously dismissed as Church of Ireland curate of Powerscourt for conducting clandestine marriages, is excommunicated for refusing to appear in the Consistory Court when cited by a woman for conjugal rights
1720 - James Cotter is executed for high treason in supporting the Jacobite cause: his son, Sir James Cotter, will later be MP for Askeaton
1741 - Anthony Tanner, perpetual curate for Holmpatrick, who has been married for less than six months, is murdered near Rush, Co. Dublin
1838 - Charles Owen O'Conor, politician, is born in Dublin
1865 - John MacBride, revolutionary, is born in Westport, Co. Mayo
1915 - The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat off the Old Head of Kinsale, Co. Cork with the loss of more than 1,100 lives
1931 - An Oige, Irish Youth Hostel Association is established. At the end of that year, it has just 215 members and 2 hostels. Today, An Óige has well over 30 youth hostels located throughout Ireland
1938 - Johnny Caldwell, flyweight boxer and winner of a bronze medal in the 1956 Olympics, is born in Belfast
1966 - The UVF carry out a petrol bomb attack on a Catholic-owned bar and off-licence in Upper Charleville Street in the Shankill Road area of Belfast. The attackers miss their intended target and set fire to the home of Matilda Gould (77), a Protestant civilian, who lived next door to the public house. Gould is severely injured in the attack and dies on 27 June 1984
1992 - Bishop of Galway, Dr. Eamonn Casey, resigns
1996 - Henry Diamond, Irish Nationalist MP, dies at 87
1999 - James le Moyne, a UN negotiator, has agreed to help break the decommissioning deadlock in the Northern peace process before the marching season begins
2001 - The Broadway play Stones in His Pockets by Belfast playwright Marie Jones receives three nominations for the theatre world's top honour, the Tony awards, in New York. Conleth Hill and Sean Campion are nominated in the Leading Actor category and Ian McElhinney is nominated for Best Director
2001 - Islanders off the coast of Cork rescue a 20ft pilot whale who became stranded at Hare Island with another dead whale.
May 8
1567 - Shane O'Neill's army crosses the Swilly estuary at Farsetmore, and is defeated in a pitched battle by Hugh O'Donnell. Many drown while trying to escape; O'Neill loses1,300 men
1597 - Execution of Fiach MacHugh O’Byrne
1796 - John Pitt Kennedy, civil engineer; road and railway pioneer in India, is born in Carndonagh, Co. Donegal
1879 - Sir William Wheeler, surgeon, is born in Dublin
1899 - The first production of the Irish Literary Theatre, The Countess Cathleen is performed. Like many of Yeats' plays, it is inspired by Irish folklore. In a time of famine, demons sent by Satan come to Ireland to buy the souls of the starving people. The saintly Cathleen disposes of her vast estates and wealth in order to feed the peasants, yet the demons thwart her at every turn; at last, she sacrifices her own soul to save those of the poor
1916 - Irish patriots, Michael Mallin, Eamonn Ceannt, Cornelius "Con" Colbert and Sean Heuston are executed in Kilmainham gaol
1935 - Birth of Jack Charlton, footballer and manager
1945 - VE Day is marked in Dublin by small disturbances throughout the city which quickly turn into major disorder
1951 - The Arts Council is founded in the Republic
1990 - Primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiach, dies in Lourdes
1999 - A freak mini-tornado hits Carraroe, near Williamstown in Co. Galway, leaving a trail of destruction in its path and almost killing a couple who just manage to escape from their mobile home before it is picked up and torn apart
2001 - A strike by more than 100 ATGWU drivers along the east coast causes havoc for 120,000 travellers who find themselves without suburban and inter-city train service; Dart service is cut in half
2003 - Visiting French angler Marc Peyronnie lands an enormous 44 lb-3oz pike following a 25 minute titanic struggle at Ardan Lake.The fish measured 1.18 metres and following this photo shoot he was returned to the lake with a kiss from his proud conqueror!
2007 - The Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness mark the end of almost four decades of bitter and bloody conflict in Northern Ireland as they are formally appointed first minister and deputy first minister. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, British prime minister Tony Blair and other dignitaries, including former US president Bill Clinton and US democrat Ted Kennedy, witness the creation of a powersharing government led by political polar opposites the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin. This is the first time that Northern Ireland will be run by a government in which all the main nationalist and unionist parties have agreed to operate power together.
May 9
1423 - Edmund Mortimer, 8th earl of Ulster, earl of March, the greatest Irish landowner and heir presumptive to the throne of England, is appointed lieutenant for nine years
1650 - The Battle of Clonmel begins with the first of two assaults. Cromwell's forces are beaten back on this date by Black Hugh O'Neill. Eventually, Cromwell loses up to 2,000 men, but O'Neill, realizing he has a shortage of ammunition, secretly withdraws
1671 - Irish adventurer Colonel Thomas Blood dresses as a clergyman and attempts to steal the British crown jewels from the Tower of London. He is arrested in possession of the crown
1691 - Charles Chalmont (Marquis de Saint-Ruth; French general) is sent by Louis XIV to command the Irish army and arrives on this date
1709 - The Irish House of Lords expresses hope that union of Ireland and England will follow union of England and Scotland
1807 - Thomas Wyatt, architect, is born in Loughlin House, Co. Roscommon
1814 - Birth in Dublin of John Brougham, actor and dramatist
1828 - Charles Kickham, Fenian, novelist, and author of Knocknagow, is born in Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary
1865 - The Dublin International Exhibition opens in Earlsfort Terrace
1896 - Austin Clarke, considered at his death to be the greatest poet of his generation after Yeats, is born
1916 - Irish Patriot, Thomas Kent, is executed at Cork Detention Barracks
1927 - Birth of John McDermott, Lord Justice of Appeal for Northern Ireland
1932 - Éamon de Valera is elected Taoiseach
1933 - Seán Swayne, priest and liturgist is born
1939 - Fianna Fáil politician and EU Commissioner, Padraig Flynn, is born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
1943 - Mystery still surrounds what happened when a mine washes up on a beach in Co. Donegal and explodes; 19 men and boys, aged between 14 and 33, who lived in Ballymanus near Kincasslagh, are killed by the blast
1947 - Birth in Cork City of actor Anthony Corlan
1982 - General Election results in Fianna Fáil victory winning 81 seats. Charles J. Haughey is elected as Taoiseach on the 50th Anniversary of the first Fianna Fáil Government in 1932.
May 10
1318- Richard de Clare, while defending his protégé Mahon O'Brien, is defeated and killed by Murrough O'Brien at Dysert O'Dea. De Clare's heir is a minor; Norman-Irish power in Thomond is thus undermined
1603 - In the revolt of the towns, or recusancy revolt, Catholic worship is re-established in Kilkenny and the main Munster towns between 11 April and this date, in the hope that James I will grant religious toleration; Mountjoy marches south and forces the towns to submit
1642 - A Catholic confederacy ('the Confederation of Kilkenny') is instituted to administer Catholic-controlled parts of the country pending a final settlement
1739 - John Thomas Troy, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and opponent of revolution, is born in Castleknock, Co. Dublin
1804 - After resigning as Prime Minister following a disagreement with George III over Catholic Emancipation, William Pitt returns to office
1838 - James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce of Dechmount; jurist, historian and Liberal politician, is born in Belfast
1870 - Jem Mace defends his heavyweight crown against Irish champ Joe Coburn; it lasts 1 hr & 17 minutes; neither is struck by a punch
1873 - Leslie Montgomery, comic writer; pseudonym Lynn C. Doyle, is born in Downpatrick, Co. Down
1886 - Richard Mulcahy, pro-Treaty nationalist and Fine Gael politician, is born in Waterford
1908 - Birth of Henry Diamond, Irish Nationalist MP
1918 - Birth of singer, Margo (Golden Irish Favorites)
1920 - Birth of Basil Kelly Lord Justice of Appeals for Northern Ireland
1925 - Birth of Danny Blanchflower; winner of 56 caps
1939 - Birth of Padraig Flynn, former EU Commissioner
1950 - Charlie Nash, former European and British lightweight champion, is born in Derry
1956 - Birth of Brendan Howlin, Labour TD and former Minister for the Environment
1960 - Paul Hewson, better known as Bono, is born at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin
1972 - In a referendum in the Republic, 83 per cent favour accession to the European Economic Community
1998 - Members of Sinn Féin vote to accept the Good Friday peace agreement, effectively acknowledging the north-south border
2000 - Arts and Culture Minister, Sile de Valera, officially opens the fully restored 1817 fountain at the Iveagh Gardens in Dublin.
May 11
1745 - At the battle of Fontenoy (30 April/11 May according to the two calendars), near Tournai in modern Belgium, the Irish Brigade of the French army under Lieutenant Charles O'Brien repulses the British and wins the day. Those killed include (on the British side) Henry Ponsonby, MP for Innistiogue and a brother of Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough
1788 - Presbyterian minister, Henry Cooke, is born at Grillagh, near Maghera, Co Derry. Cooke is famous for leading Ulster Presbyterianism away from the free-thinking radicalism which had spawned the United Irishmen's rising during his childhood
1916 - During the House of Commons debate on the Irish crises, John Dillon urges the cessation of executions
1937 - Debate on new Constitution commences
1967- The Republic of Ireland applies again to join the Common Market
1971 - Death of former Taoiseach Seán Francis Lemass
1979 - The Riordans, a drama about life in a rural Irish village and the most successful serial in the history of RTE (running for 15 years) comes to an end
1996 - Bill Graham, Irish rock journalist, dies at his home in Howth
1999 - Gay Byrne, legendary host of the Late Late Show, becomes the 64th Freeman of the City of Dublin
2000 - Figures released on this date show that tourist visitors to Ireland in 1999 exceed six million for the first time
2001 - Visually-impaired adventurer Caroline Casey arrives back in Dublin after a four-month elephant ride across India during which she raises $250,000 for charity.
May 12
563 - St Columcille establishes a community on Iona
1641 - Thomas Wentworth, English viceroy of Ireland and Earl of Stafford is beheaded
1751 - Archibald Hamilton Rowan, nationalist and United Irishman, is born in London
1784 - J.S. Knowles, dramatist and Baptist preacher, is born in Cork
1806 - James Shields, US army general and the only person to be elected a senator by three states, is born in Altmore, Co. Tyrone
1823 - Daniel O'Connell founds the Catholic Association, an organization dedicated to obtaining the franchise for Catholics
1916 - Irish Patriots, Seán MacDiarmada and James Connolly are executed at Kilmainham Gaol
1944 - Cork-born Venerable Edel Quinn, one of the outstanding missionary figures of the 20th century, dies of TB in Nairobi
1950 - Birth in Dublin of internationally acclaimed actor Gabriel Byrne
1981 - Francis Hughes, Irish political prisoner, dies on hunger strike, in Maze Prison, near Lisburn, Co. Antrim. His death comes a week after the the death of Bobby Sands on 5 May, the first to die in a republican campaign for political status to be granted to IRA prisoners
1998 - British Chancellor Gordon Brown hands the Yes campaign in the North a monster financial boost when he unveils a bumper £315 million plan — over twice what was expected
1999 - US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton become the first woman to be granted the Freedom of Galway city, following in the footsteps of her country's former presidents, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan
2003 - Dublin City Council votes by an overwhelming majority to call for the preservation of a house in Moore Street where the leaders of the 1916 Rising have their last meeting and decide to surrender to British forces.
May 13
1787 - On this date, which is a Sunday, Alderman Exshaw, accompanied by Archdeacon Hastings, is walking in Merrion Square, Dublin, when he encounters 'a great number of people, leaping, wrestling, shouting, etc.'. The archdeacon observes that this activity profanes the Sabbath and is a disgrace to Exshaw's district. The latter orders the police to advance and disperse the crowd with fixed bayonets. The MPs Richard Griffith, Henry Hatton and Sir John Freke intervene, and Griffith asks Exshaw 'to consider what he was about to do; that he had no right to order his men to fire without reading the Riot Act, and that if they fired, they must kill many innocent persons'. These words, according to Exshaw later, encourage the mob, and they immediately attack the police with stones. Exshaw will admit that there was no riot before he ordered the police to disperse the crowd, 'that some of his men were drunk, but not so much so, he said as to render them incapable of doing their duty; that it was with great difficulty he prevented them from firing on the mob'. Griffith will be found guilty of instigating a riot, and considered lucky not to be hanged
1842 - Arthur Sullivan, the son of an Irish musician, is born. Along with William Gilbert he invented the English operetta. Sullivan’s last work is entitled "The Emerald Isle"
1848 - The Irish Confederation splits; John Mitchel starts the militant United Irishman; he is arrested on this date and is sentenced to 14 years transportation under the new Treason-Felony Act
1852 - Anna Catherine Parnell, sister of Charles and Fanny, and co-founder of the Irish Ladies Land League, is born in Avondale, Co. Wicklow
1878 - Birth of Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquis Londonderry and unionist politician
1906 - According to his birth certificate, this is the day playwright and novelist, Samuel Beckett is born in Foxrock, Co. Dublin. Throughout his life, he insists his birth is on Good Friday - April 13, 1906
1919 - Dan Breen and Seán Treacy rescue their comrade Seán Hogan from a Dublin-Cork train at Knocklong, Co. Limerick; two policemen guarding him are killed
1945 - In a radio broadcast, Churchill accuses de Valera's government of frolicking with the Germans and Japanese
1954 - Sean Patrick Michael Sherrard, better known as Johnny Logan, is born. He is considered to be the most successful Eurovision Song contestant of all time
Photo Credit: Johnny Logan
1981 - Pope John Paul II survives an assassination attempt in St Peter's Square, Rome
1998 - Delegates at the Church of Ireland Synod in Dublin vote down a proposal that the church stop investing in companies involved in the production and selling of arms
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern calls on Sinn Féin and the IRA to state unequivocally that the war in Northern Ireland is over
1998 - The British Government appoints Adam Ingram as "Minister for Victims" to co-ordinate a drive towards new proposals to help the forgotten victims of terrorist violence in Northern Ireland
2000 - More than 3,500 people march through the centre of Dublin to show their opposition to the rising levels of racism directed at refugees
Photo Credit: Paul Sharp/Photocall Ireland!
2003 - Ferocious winds force an Irish team hoping to scale Mount Everest to return to their base camp. Two members of the team, Clare O’Leary, 31, from Cork and Hannah Shields, 37, from Derry, hope to become the first Irish women to scale the world’s highest peak.
May 14
1260 - Brian O'Neill, during the assault on the Earldom of Ulster, is defeated and killed by the forces of Roger des Auters at the battle of Down (renamed by de Courcy as Downpatrick)
1660 - Charles II is proclaimed king in Dublin, six days after London, thus ending Cromwell's reign as Lord Protector and beginning a brief and limited Catholic Restoration
1730 - Sir Edward Newenham, popular MP for County Dublin and strong advocate of the American colonists, is born. Newenham is introduced at the court of Louis XVI by the Marquis de Lafayette, even though Britain and France are at war
1755 - George Barrington (real name Waldron), writer, adventurer and pickpocket is born in Maynooth, Co. Kildare. A well-dressed pickpocket who "worked" in Churches and the Houses of Parliament, he is arrested and transported to Australia. Later, he becomes Australian high constable. He is known for the lines: "True patriots all; for be it understood- We left our country for our country’s good"
1784 - Foster's Corn Law regulates the corn trade
1784 - The Irish Post Office, distinct from English and Scottish services, is established by statute
1865 - The last surviving member of the Irish House of Commons, Sir Thomas Staples, who had risen in his profession to be Queen's Advocate for Ireland, dies in Lissan, Co. Tyrone 11 weeks short of his 90th birthday
1893 - George "McIrish" McElroy is born in Donnybrook, Co. Dublin. He is Ireland's highest World War One ace, with 47 victories within 40 weeks
1974 - The Ulster Workers' Council declares a general strike; Faulkner and the unionist members of the executive resign on 28 May; direct rule is reimposed the following day and the strike is called off. Power-sharing is dead
1998 - The leaders of the five main Dáil parties join forces in urging Sinn Féin and the IRA to publicly declare that the "war is over" and that weapons are redundant
1999 - Ballykissangel actor Edmund Birdy Sweeney is laid to rest in a tiny cemetery in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, just a hundred yards from St Patrick's Chapel where he had worshipped
2003 - A headless body is discovered by a Co. Offaly farmer while digging a drain close to his home. The skin is still intact on the upper torso, the clothes are preserved and there is a bracelet on the upper arm. The National Museum's head of collections, Raghnall O'Floinn, says: "it could be anywhere between 500-2000 years old.~
May 15
1395 - Richard II returns to England on this date, confident that Gaelic Irish power has been checked
1600 - Sent by Queen Elizabeth to quell the rumblings of discontent in Ulster, Sir Henry Docwra lands at Culmore with a force of 4000 foot and 200 horse soldiers; modern Derry is thereby founded
1621 - Sir Henry Docwra is created Baron Docwra of Culmore
1732 - Sir John Blaquiere, Chief Secretary and politician, is born
1753 - Isaac Corry, opposition politician, Volunteer, and Chancellor of the Exchequer is born in Newry, Co. Down
1808 - Michael Balfe, operatic composer, is born in Dublin
1829- Elected to the office of minister of Parliament for Co. Clare by recently enfranchised Catholics, O'Connell presents himself at the bar of the House of Commons, but is asked to withdraw for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy
1847 - Daniel O'Connell, "The Liberator," dies in Genoa. His body is returned to Ireland and buried in Glasnevin Cemetery
1867 - Eoin MacNeill, Gaelic scholar and co-founder of the Gaelic League, is born in Glenarm, Co. Antrim
1940 - Proinsias de Rossa, politician and leader of Democratic Left, is born in Dublin
1990 - The Church of Ireland votes for women priests
2000 - Two international inspectors who have been tasked with examining IRA arms dumps as part of the plans for the restoration of devolved government to the North arrive in Ireland
2001 - Drivers enjoy a free ride across Dublin's two toll bridges - a bonus from the booth operators' strike over pay and working hours
2003 - Four world records are made at Christie's annual Irish art sale; the main record breaker is for a mountainous wooded landscape with figures by 18th-century artist George Barret which sells for £320,000
2003 - The National Museum of Ireland says that a remarkably well-preserved headless body found by a farmer in a Co. Offaly bog could be up to 2000 years old.
2007 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern becomes the first Irish leader to address a joint session of the two chambers of the British parliament. All members of parliament - both the Lords and the Commons are invited. Senior figures from the Irish government and Irish opposition leaders are present at the event, as are prominent Irish community members in Britain. It is very rare for a foreign leader to be invited to address the Joint Houses of Parliament; Mr Ahern follows in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela, Francois Mitterand, the Dalai Lama and Bill Clinton.
May 16
587 - St. Brendan the Navigator, early transatlantic voyager, dies. In the liturgical calendar, today is St. Brendan's Feast Day
1907 - Birth of Robert Tisdall, gold medalist in the 400 meter hurdles at the 1932 Olympics
1920 - 'Soviets' are proclaimed in 13 Co. Limerick creameries, including Knocklong
1926 - Eamon de Valera founds Fianna Fáil and holds its first public meeting
1927 - 'A' Reserve established by Oglaigh na hÉireann - the Irish Defence Forces
1938 - The Department of Justice bans Photography magazine because of 'attention given to the female nude'
1945 - Eamon de Valera responds to Churchill's victory speech during which Churchill took one last jab at Irish neutrality. For Churchill's speech and De Valera's response, please click World at War
1952 - Birth of Pierce Brosnan in Navan, Co. Meath
1997 - Tony Blair visits Northern Ireland and gives the go ahead for exploratory contacts between government officials and Sinn Féin
2000 - An Post officially launches a set of four 30p postage stamps in honour of flamboyant writer and wit, Oscar Wilde
2001 - Proposals to locate the first wind farm off the country's west coast are unveiled. The £100 million project is to be located off the north Kerry coast on the southern lip of the Shannon estuary and is to involve the construction of between 20 and 30 wind turbines
2001 - The United States designates the Real IRA, a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army, as a "foreign terrorist organisation," a legal term that brings financial and other sanctions. Under US law, any assets the Real IRA has in the United States are frozen, it is illegal to support the organization and Real IRA members are not eligible for US visas
2002 - Iarnród Eireann’s first female train driver, Teresa Carey from Kerry, begins her career driving the Cork-Heuston train.
2007 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern becomes the third longest-serving EU leader in office as France’s Jacques Chirac officially steps down.
May 17
1650 - Cromwell's army is defeated in the second assault on Clonmel, suffering its heaviest losses. The following day, the Mayor of Clonmel negotiates honourable terms for surrender with Cromwell, who did not realise that O'Neill and his soldiers had left the town. Annoyed at being outwitted, Cromwell nevertheless keeps to the terms
1730 - Elizabeth, widow of William Molyneux, marries Nathaniel St Andre, a Swiss surgeon who wins an action for defamation on a charge of having killed Molyneux by administering opium to him in his last illness by her connivance
1855 - Birth in Bantry, Co. Cork of Timothy Michael Healy, one of the most brilliant and most controversial of Irish politicians. His career spans from Parnell's leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party in the 1880s to the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922; he becomes the Free State's first Governor-General
1865 - Shan Bullock, novelist, is born in Crom, Co. Fermanagh
1880 - Charles Stewart Parnell is elected Chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party
1908 - Birth of Vincent Barry, organic chemist, in Cork
1911 - Birth in Roscommon of actress Maureen O'Sullivan Boyle who is remembered for her role as Jane in a series of five movies opposite Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan
1917 - A new military viceroy, General French, acts on mistaken information that Sinn Féin is implicated in a pro-German plot and has most of the leaders arrested
1949 - The British Government recognizes the Republic of Ireland
1961 - Enya [Eithne Ní Bhraonáin] is born in Gweedore, Co. Donegal
1969 - Dubliner Tom McClean crosses from Newfoundland to Blacksod Bay, Co. Mayo, completing the first transatlantic solo crossing in a rowboat
1974 - Car bombs explode in Dublin and Monaghan, killing 34 people
2001 - A horse picture by Jack B Yeats makes a hammer price of £1 million sterling at Christie's in London. It is bought by London dealer Simon Dickenson for a private client, believed to be racehorse owner John Magnier.
May 18
1401 - John de Stanley is told that he is to be replaced as lieutenant by Thomas of Lancaster (duke of Clarence and second son of Henry IV), who is 12 or 13 years old. Lancaster's deputy, Sir Stephen le Scrope, will effectively govern Ireland for the next few years
1613 - James I's Irish parliament opens in Dublin
1825 - The House of Lords rejects the Catholic Emancipation Bill which would disenfranchise Irish forty-shilling free-holders and put clergy on state salaries
1873 - James Fagan, actor, producer and playwright, is born in Belfast
1798 - The 2nd Earl of Kingston is tried amid great pomp by the Irish House of Lords for the murder of Colonel Henry FitzGerald. An executioner stands beside Kingston with an immense axe, painted black except for two inches of polished steel, and held at the level of the defendant's neck. However, no witnesses appear for the prosecution, and Kingston is acquitted. The Directory of the United Irishmen had planned to use the occasion to kill the entire government and all the lords, but one vote cast against this scheme (by the informer Francis Magan) causes it to be abandoned
1896 - The City and Suburban Ground now known as Croke Park, hosts a soccer match for the first time. The teams are a combination of Irish and Scots women versus England. The combined team beats England 3-2
1897 - Oscar Wilde is released from prison; he goes to live in France, where he writes his famous poem, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"
1897 - The first Irish Music Festival is held in Dublin
1928 - Death of writer Standish O'Grady on the Isle of Wight. Under the influence of John O'Donovan, he studies the Old Irish myths and legends, and his works, which influence the Irish literary revival of the 1890's, popularise the Irish sagas
1939 - The first aircraft lands at the newly opened Rineanna Airfield which is later to become Shannon International Airport
1947 - Former Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, John Bruton, is born
1949 - Birth in Co. Mayo of Pat Rabbitte, leader of the Labour Party
1999 - The Church of Ireland's annual synod calls on the authorities at Drumcree to conditionally withdraw a long-standing invitation to the Orangemen to use their church ahead of the order's controversial annual march through nationalist parts of Portadown
2000 - Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble decides to accept the IRA’s offer to put arms beyond use and backs a return to the Stormont Executive with Sinn Féin
2001 - Gardenia St. George, an early 20th-century portrait by William Orpen, becomes the most expensive Irish painting of all time when it sells at Sothebys for the hammer price of £2.29 million
2004 - Clare O'Leary becomes the first Irishwoman to successfully climb Mount Everest. She is accompanied by veteran mountaineer Pat Falvey who also sets a record by becoming the first Irishman to climb Everest from both sides.
2006 - Michael O'Riordan dies in Dublin. A key figure in the Irish Communist Party, Mr O'Riordan was one of just two surviving Irish veterans of the Spanish Civil War. He was shot in Spain while with the 'Connolly Column', named after socialist leader James Connolly, which fought against General Franco's fascists from 1936-39.
Photo Credit: Communist Party of Ireland.
May 19
1660 - An Act by the British Parliament forbids the export of Irish wool
1710 - John Forster is unanimously elected Speaker of the House of Commons, replacing Alan Brodrick
1798 - Lord Edward Fitzgerald, a leader of the United Irishmen, is betrayed by Francis Magan; he's arrested and is shot while being apprehended; he dies of his wounds on June 4
1821 - Anna Maria Odell, the second wife of William Odell (former MP for Co. Limerick), gives birth to a stillborn child in the Marshalsea debtors' prison, where she had accompanied her husband
1832 - Standish Hayes O'Grady, scholar, is born in Castleconnell, Co. Limerick
1862 - Máire Ni Aodáin (Mary Hayden), Irish historian, is born
1869 - Birth of Henry Dixon, botanist
1870 - Sir Isaac Butt invents the term "Home Rule". The first meeting of the "Home Government Association" (later to become the "Home Rule League") is held in a Dublin hotel. A resolution is passed "that the true remedy for the evils of Ireland is the establishment of an Irish Parliament with full control over our domestic affairs"
1939 - John Sheahan, fiddle player with the Dubliners, is born
1961- Birth of composer, Ronan Hardiman
1966 - Seamus Heaney's first volume of poetry, "Death of a Naturalist" is published
1998 - European finance ministers reject Ireland's call for a study into the consequences of abolishing duty-free shops
1998 - SDLP leader John Hume and his Unionist counterpart, David Trimble, join U2 on stage at a concert in Belfast's Waterfront Hall to drum up support for a massive Yes vote in Friday's referendum on the Stormont agreement
1998 - Abortion is opposed in all circumstances by 58% of people as against 24% in favour, according to a Pro Life Campaign opinion poll, carried out by Irish Marketing Surveys
1999 - A five-stone lump of butter, estimated to have been buried in a bog over 300 years ago, is discovered in the Poll na gCapaill bog near Barnaderg in Co. Galway by turf cutters Tom Burke and Vincent Roche
2000 - British Airways launches its first daily flight service to Glasgow from Cork
2000 - Westlife tops the Guinness British Hit Singles book writers’ league table, with a value of £18.8 million. Their net worth is based on points scored for Number Ones, singles sold and the number of weeks spent in Britain’s Top 75 in the past year
2001 - Fleadh Ceoil celebrates its 50th anniversary as musicians throughout the country battle for their place in the provincial finals of Galway, Meath, Tipperary, Antrim, Kildare, Kilkenny, Monaghan and Wexford
2003 - Clare O’Leary, 31, a doctor at Cork University Hospital, and a member of Ireland's Everest team, decides to turn back when it becomes clear an infection has made her too weak to continue.
May 20
1311 - The war of the O'Briens of Thomond escalates as the Norman-Irish become involved on both sides: the de Burghs support Dermot O'Brien and Richard de Clare supports Donough O'Brien. There is a pitched battle at Bunratty on this date, with heavy losses on both sides; de Burgh and others are imprisoned
1648 - Truce between the confederates and Inchiquin; its adherents are excommunicated by Giovanni Rinuccini, papal nuncio to the confederates
1759 - Birth of Sir Eyre Coote, the younger; soldier, MP, and governor of Jamaica
1836 - An Act amalgamates the county constabulary and Peace Preservation Force into a centralized police force - the Irish Constabulary - which will later become the Royal Irish Constabulary
1922 - De Valera and Collins agree to a pact whereby a national coalition panel of candidates will represent the pro- and anti-Treaty wings of Sinn Féin throughout Ireland in the forthcoming general election
1927 - The opening hours of Irish public houses are restricted by the Intoxicating Liquor Act
1932 - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland for Ireland on the anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's famous flight; she lands near Londonderry/Derry and becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic
Photo Credit: Associated Press File Photo/Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College
1969 - Students stage a sit-in at University College in Dublin to protest conditions in Northern Ireland
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern assures unionists there is no hidden agenda in the Belfast Agreement and promises to stamp out dissident paramilitary groups who want to wreck the accord
1999 - 24th Biennial Conference of Irish Historians is held at University College in Cork
2001 - More than half a million people line the streets to watch the postponed St Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin
2001 - Former US president Bill Clinton begins a four-day trip to Ireland with a round of golf at Ballybunion
2003 - The Irish Government restricts alcohol adverts. The ads are banned from buses, trains, cinemas and sporting events and not permitted before 10 p.m. on television
2003 - Thousands of Irish-based Celtic fans fly to Spain to cheer on the Glasgow club in their first European final in 33 years tomorrow
2003 - Dundalk garden designer Paul Martin wins a silver medal at London's Chelsea Flower Show.
May 21
1639 - Lord Deputy Thomas Wentworth imposes the Black Oath of loyalty to Charles I on all Ulster Scots over the age of 16
1745 - Count Daniel O'Connell, a soldier in French and British services, is born in Derrynane, Co. Kerry
1917 - Birth of tenor and comedian, Dennis Day, to Irish parents in New York, NY
1916 - Clocks and watches go forward one hour as the Daylight Saving Act (Summer Time) is introduced
1920 - James Plunkett, pseudonym of James Plunkett Kelly; novelist, is born in Dublin
1944 - Mary Robinson, lawyer, youngest ever Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin; President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997; and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is born in Ballina, Co. Mayo
1980 - Taoiseach Charles Haughey and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher meet in London (and later in Dublin on December 8), and agree to consider 'the totality of relationships within these islands'
1981 - At 2:11 am, Raymond McCreesh dies on hunger strike in the Maze Prison. Later, the same day at 11:29 pm, he is joined in death by his friend and fellow hunger-striker, Patsy O'Hara
1999 - Bono and Larry appear on RTE's "The Late Late Show" to present long-time host Gay Byrne with a black Harley Davidson as a going away present on his retirement
1999 - The Jack Lynch Tunnel, described as the most challenging civil engineering project in the history of the state, is unveiled by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the entrance of the tunnel in Mahon, Co. Cork
2000 - Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams sparks a new political storm when he makes it clear he could not call on republicans and nationalists to join the North’s proposed new police service
2000 - Demonstrators picket Drogheda Heritage Centre as the death mask of Oliver Cromwell is put on display where he is reputed to have massacred thousands of defenceless civilians
2000 - Thousands of Christians celebrate the jubilee year by coming together in parishes throughout the country for National Pilgrimage Day
2001 - The EU blue flag quality mark is awarded to 111 beaches around the coast for the cleanliness of the water. Ireland, at 91.7%, ranks fourth overall in the EU when it comes to blue flag beaches. The Netherlands comes first with 96%, followed by Greece with 95% and Italy, 92%
2001 - Former US president, Bill Clinton, is rumored to have been paid £100,000 by the chairman of Independent News and Media Sir Anthony O'Reilly to talk to a select gathering at Trinity College on this date
2002 - Bono kicks off a 10-day four- nation tour of Africa in the company of US Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neill
2003 - According to a new survey published in the Wall Street Journal, the Irish remain among the most contented races on Earth. The statistics on our generally sunny disposition appear to confirm the findings of another recent study - the World Happiness Survey - which places Ireland sixth in a league of 68 countries.
May 22
1805 - Michael Doheny, poet and Young Irelander, is born near Fethard, Co. Tipperary
1849 - Novelist, Maria Edgeworth, dies in Mostrim, Co. Longford. She is laid to rest in a vault at Edgeworthstown Church. The Great Famine which decimates the people she loves mars her last years. Even though in her late seventies, she worked strenuously for the relief of the stricken peasants at the height of the famine. She shows the same involvement and generosity throughout her entire life and devotes her best talents to the betterment of the people of her adoption. Her books on the Irish people bring her world fame and the acclaim of such writers as Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, Byron and the Russian writer Turgenev.
1859 - Birth in Edinburgh of Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was the eldest son of 10 siblings born to Irish parents Charles Doyle and Mary Foley
1870 - Birth of Eva Gore-Booth, poet, trade unionist and feminist, on the Lissadell Estate in Co. Sligo
1920 - Birth of Oliver J. Flanagan, Fine Gael politician
1932 - Death of Augusta Persse, better known as Lady Augusta Gregory, Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre director; also a co-founder of the Abbey Theatre
1941 - Caitlin Maude, Irish language activist, is born
1944 - Birth of Betty Williams, former peace activist and 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner
1946 - George Best, the greatest player of his generation and the world's first superstar footballer, is born in Belfast
1950 - Bill Whelan, musician and composer, is born in Limerick; he is best known for composing the music to Riverdance
1955 - Mary Black, singer, is born in Dublin
1971 - Members of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement defy the law by bringing contraceptives bought in Belfast into Connolly railway station in Dublin
1972 - Death of Laois man Cecil Day-Lewis, one of the English language's leading poets of the early part of the 20th century, and father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis
1995 - U.S. President Bill Clinton approves a visa for Irish nationalist leader Gerry Adams to enter the United States
1997 - Pneumonia causes the quiet passing of Dr. Noel Browne in the University College Hospital Galway at the age of 81. As Minister of Health, Dr. Browne had lain the foundation stone of the same Hospital almost fifty years before
1998 - The Good Friday Agreement is overwhelmingly endorsed in referendums North (71%) and South (94%)
2000 - A survey shows that half of Ireland's small and medium-size businesses have their own website
2003 - Hurling reaches its highest peak when Gerard McDonnell from Limerick brought the spirit of the GAA to Mount Everest; he sent a ball flying above 29,000 feet
2003 - The Official Languages Bill 2002, introduced by the Minister for the Gaeltacht, Mr Ó Cuív, will give citizens the right to conduct their business with any State agency or Government department, in Irish.
May 23
1561 - The first court of High Commission, a group of officials and Protestant clergy, is set up to enforce the Reformation in Ireland
1754 - Birth of Dr. William Drennan in Belfast; physician, poet, educationalist political radical and one of the chief architects of the Society of United Irishmen. Drennan's poetic output included some powerful and moving pieces. He is chiefly remembered today for "Erin" written in 1800, in which he penned the first reference in print to Ireland as "the Emerald Isle":
"Nor one feeling of vengeance presume to defile
The cause, or the men, of the Emerald Isle."
Interestingly, he himself is quoted as saying that this expression was first used in a party song called “Erin, to her own Tune,” written in 1795. The song appears to have been anonymous
1794 - As part of a crack-down on seditious activity during Britain's war with France, the Dublin United Irishmen are supressed
1798 - United Irish Rebellion begins in Wexford
1798 - United Irish rebellion begins in Leinster
1903 - Shelah Richards, actress and producer, is born in Dublin
1920 - Oliver Plunkett is beatified by Pope Benedict XV
1920 - Railway workers refuse to transport troops from this date
1934 - Birth of former rugby international, Syd Millar
1951 - Lord Henry Mount Charles, Slane Castle impresario, is born
1954 - Former soccer international, Gerry Armstrong, is born
1966 - Birth of GAA footballer, Paul McGrath
1998 - Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, welcomes the resounding "yes" vote in the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland, calling it "a day for joy"
1998 - Thousands flock to Ennis for the 29th Fleadh Nua Traditional Music Festival
1999 - Rural post offices are thrown a life-line when the Government gives its strongest commitment yet to preserving regional services
2002 - The long simmering division between Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy erupts into a huge row and Keane is expelled from the World Cup squad.
May 24
1487 - Lambert Simnel (aged 10), the Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is brought to Ireland. It is claimed that he is Edward, Earl of Warwick (Clarence's son), but in fact, he is a baker's son - the real Warwick is a prisoner in the Tower of London and will be executed in 1499. Most of the Anglo-Irish believe that Simnel's claim is genuine and support him (exceptions are the Butlers, Waterford city and the Archbishop of Armagh, Octavian del Palatio); Simnel is crowned King of England as Edward VI in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on this date. Walter FitzSimons, Archbishop of Dublin, is present at the crowning; he will be imprisoned in the Tower because of this
1628 - 51 'graces' to Irish interest groups by Charles I are promised but various excuses are used not to grant these concessions
1798 - Archibald Hamilton Jacob conducts the Enniscorthy Yeomen Cavalry to the village of Ballaghkeen where they flog a man to death
1813 - A Catholic Relief Bill is introduced by Grattan in the House of Commons, and is narrowly defeated 251 to 247
1818 - John Foley, sculptor, is born in Dublin
1830 - Anthony Durnford, soldier, is born in Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim
1882 - Creighton Hale, actor, is born in Cork
1921 - 1st parliament for Northern Ireland is elected
1923 - Actress, Siobhan McKenna is born
1928 - William Trevor (Cox), prolific short story-writer and novelist is born in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. He has written over 30 works including 'The Story of Lucy Gault' which was short-listed for the 2002 Booker Prize
1956 - Sean Kelly, cyclist, ranked world number one (1984-1989) is born in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary
Photo Credit: Dave Lawrence, ©1992
1987 - A referendum in the Republic approves the Single European Act
1998 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams signals that the terrorist war is over and that the gun can finally be removed from Irish politics
1998 - Less than 24 hours after people on both sides of the border gave a resounding Yes to the Stormont peace agreement, dissident republican terrorists cause widespread disruption on the Belfast-Dublin railway line after a suspicious object is found on the line near Lurgan
1998 - Director John Boorman wins the Best Director prize for The General, about real life Dublin gang leader, Martin Cahill
1999 - As part of a £4.5m tourism project, Waterford Treasures on the city's quayside, is opened to the public. On display are an impressive range of Viking artefacts from settlements dating back to 853 and discovered during excavations in the city over the last six years
2000 - According to a report published on this date, 1 in 10 homeless people in London are Irish
2000 - Two more members of David Trimble’s Ulster Unionist Assembly team are to oppose his plan to return to power sharing with Sinn Féin
2002 - European parliament president Pat Cox is awarded the freedom of Limerick city. The former Progressive Democrats TD is presented with the award by Mayor Dick Sadlier at a reception in City Hall. Previous recipients of the award include John F Kennedy, The Pope and Charles Stewart Parnell
2003 - Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, meet Sinn Féin's chief negotiators Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in Dublin for talks.
May 25
1315 - Edward Bruce (brother of Robert Bruce, king of Scots), having been invited by some Gaelic chiefs, leads an expedition to Ireland with the aim of conquering it, creating a kingdom of Ireland and driving out the Norman-Irish settlers. He lands at Larne on this date and is proclaimed king of Ireland
1705 - On this date, May Eustace Sherlock, gentleman, petitions the Commons for relief from 'the great oppressions he lies under, by the undue practices and power of Maurice Annesley, a Justice of the Peace'. Annesley is an MP. The ensuing complicated legal case will eventually result in the passing by the British parliament of the 1720 Declaratory Act confirming the British House of Lords as the final Court of Appeal for Irish cases
1745 - Lord John Allen (3rd Viscount Allen), former MP for Carysfort, dies of a fever caused from cuts to his fingers inflicted by the sword of a dragoon
1830 - As a result of growing Unitarianism the General Synod reinforces subscription. Henry Montgomery, the leading Unitarian protagonist, leads a secession of Non-subscribers from the General Synod which establishes the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster. The Remonstrant Synod joins with the earlier Presbytery of Antrim in 1910 to form the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland
1842 - Birth on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, of Helen Blackburn, early leader of the movement for the emancipation of women
1885 - Gerald Boland, nationalist politician, is born in Manchester
1870 - Irish Fenians raid Eccles Hill, Québec
1895 - Oscar Wilde is sentenced to two years imprisonment for offences “against public decency”
1900 - John Hunt, expert on mediaeval art, is born in Limerick
1903 - Ewart Milne, poet, is born in Dublin
1912 - First issue of the weekly suffrage magazine, Irish Citizen, appears
1914 - British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule for the third time
1921 - The Dublin brigade of the IRA attacks and sets fire to the Customs House; 120 of its men are captured and 11 are killed
1960 - Packie Bonner, Celtic and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper, in Burtonport, Co. Donegal
1968 - Unicorn by the Irish Rovers makes it to #7 in the British charts
1993 - Dawson Stelfox becomes the first Irishman to conquer Everest
2000 - Prime Minister of Ireland Bertie Ahern, right, and his Polish counterpart Jerzy Buzek walk in front of a Guard of honor during the welcoming ceremony in Warsaw. Ahern is in Poland for an official two day visit
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski
2003 - Brendan McCann, one of the most acclaimed photographers in Northern Ireland's history dies in Belfast Mater Hospital, aged 75. In a career spanning 50 years, he covers some of the darkest hours of the Troubles.
May 26
1562 - Following his submission to Elizabeth at Whitehall in January, Shane O'Neill returns to Ireland on this date
1650 - Oliver Cromwell leaves Ireland on board the frigate President Bradshaw. His deputy and son-in-law, Henry Ireton takes control of the Irish campaign and captures Birr Castle
1798 - The rebels are defeated at Tara Hill; this marks the end of the rebellion in Co. Meath. Rebellion begins in Co. Wexford. Fr. John Murphy and local people confront the Camolin yeomanry at The Harrow. Thomas Bookey, Lieutenant of the yeomanry, is killed
1867 - Michael Barrett from Kesh, Co. Fermanagh is executed for his part in the explosion at Clerkenwell Gaol. From all the evidence, it is likely he is not guilty. He is the last man to be publicly hanged in England.
1867 - Princess Victoria Mary of Teck: the future Queen Mary, queen consort of George V of the United Kingdom is born.
1873 - Trinity College Dublin abolishes all remaining religious restrictions for entry, with the exception of the Faculty of Divinity
1897 - First publication of Dracula, written by Dublin man Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker
1924 - Dublin-born composer,Victor Herbert dies
1950 - End of petrol rationing in Northern Ireland
1972 - The Special Criminal Court, with three judges and no jury, is set up in the Republic
1980 - Derry band The Undertones reach No. 1 in the UK charts with My Perfect Cousin
2003 - Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary snubs an awards ceremony in Dublin after the no-frills airline is beaten by Aer Lingus in the Best Overall Value for Money category. It is the first time in the 10-year history of the event, hosted by the Air Transport Users Council (ATUC), that Ryanair fails to win the award.
May 27
1224 - Cathal Crovderg O'Connor, king of Connacht and brother of Rory O'Connor, dies at the age of 72. This finally opens the way for the Norman occupation of Connacht
1595 - Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeats the English forces of his brother-in-law, Sir Henry Bagenal, at the Battle of Clontibret, Co. Monaghan; he is proclaimed a traitor at Newry in June
1648 - Giovanni Rinuccini, papal nuncio to the confederates, excommunicates adherents of the truce between confederates and Inchiquin
1798 - Wexford rebels massacre Kingsborough's militiamen and yeomanry at Oulart
1877 - Hanna Sheehy Skeffington is born in Co. Limerick. A committed suffragette, she is one of the founding members of the Irish Womens Franchise League; sexual equality remains a primary concern throughout her despite a slight shift in focus after the summary execution of her husband in 1916
1936 - Following the Free State's provision for the formation of Aer Lingus as the national airline, Aer Lingus opens routes to Bristol and London, commencing with a flight from Baldonnell to Bristol on this date
1960 - The last barge on the Grand Canal makes its final journey to Limerick with a cargo of Guinness
1966 - The UVF shoot and mortally wound John Scullion, a Catholic civilian, in the Clonard area of west Belfast
1993 - Mary Robinson, the first female president of Éire, becomes the first Irish head of state to meet with a British monarch when she visits Queen Elizabeth II
1998 - Actor Brendan Gleeson strongly defends his lead role in the controversial £6m film The General, rebutting criticism that it attempts to portray the assassinated Dublin gangster Martin Cahill as a latter-day Robin Hood
2001 - The breakaway Real IRA is believed to be behind a rocket attack on Strabane RUC station which sparks a five-hour security alert. No-one is injured but 12 families are evacuated from their homes during the follow-up security operation in the Co.Tyrone town
2001 - Fears of a long, difficult summer are growing after 57 RUC officers are injured in clashes with nationalist youths on the flashpoint Garvaghy Road in Portadown following a Junior Orange parade
2001 - Thousands of traditional music fans flock to Ennis for the 50th anniversary of Fleadh Nua
2003 - Water quality has taken a dip at Irish beaches with fewer bathing areas meeting standards of cleanliness. But Irish bathing water still ranks among the best in Europe, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) annual report, and the small number of freshwater lakes and rivers tested produce their best results ever
2003 - It is announced that the Royal Irish Regiment is to be scrapped as part of a major plan to cut troop numbers in the North. British military authorities plan to abolish all three Home Service battalions, comprising nearly 3,000 soldiers under a new deal to break the deadlock in the peace process
2003 - Paul McCartney performs his first Irish show in 40 years at the RDS Arena. It's also his first solo concert in Dublin
2003 - FAI and Communications Minister Dermot Ahern announces that all Republic of Ireland competitive soccer internationals will now be available free on RTÉ.
May 28
1590 - Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, agrees to abandon further attempts at extending his territory in the north, and undertakes to force his people to adopt English laws and customs
1713 - William Molyneux, the fourteen-year old son of Sir Thomas Molyneux, a former MP, is killed when a leaden image falls on him in a garden near Dublin
1779 - Poet and songwriter, Thomas Moore, is born in Dublin
1798 - In the first Battle of Enniscorthy, the rebels take the town
1947 - Róis Ni Ógain - Rose Mabel Young - Gaelic scholar and editor of Duanaire Gaedhilge, dies
1959 - The Howth Tram makes its last journey; not only is it the highest but it is also the last of the open top trams operating in the world
Photo Credit: Philip Morgan
1970 - Charles Haughey, who will later be acquitted and become Taoiseach, is arrested with Niall Blaney for conspiracy to import arms
1974 - General strike by Unionists brings down the Sunningdale power-sharing agreement and Northern Ireland is returned to direct rule
1999 - The Provisional IRA produces the remains of Eamon Molloy, whom it killed in 1975; information from the IRA leads to several protracted searches in the Republic for the remains of other victims
2000 - A plaque to commemorate the first Irish meeting of the Orange Order is unveiled in Dublin - without a single member of the hardline Protestant group in attendance. The Dublin and Wicklow Lodge boycott the event on Dawson St in protest at its treatment over a march in the city, also planned for this date
2000 - The decision by Ulster Unionists to return to power sharing with Sinn Féin at midnight on 29 May is given a massive boost when the IRA pledges to keep their part of the bargain
2000 - Ireland's National Aquarium is opened in Galway at the Atlantiquarium on the Prom in Salthill. Built in the shape of a fish, the £6m building contains direct water links to Galway Bay and has massive tanks on its roof which collect rainwater for use in many of the fish pools
2003 - James Plunkett, best known for his epic novel of Dublin, 'Strumpet City', dies at the age of 83
2003 - William Trevor wins the €10,000 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award at Listowel Writers’ Week for his novel The Story of Lucy Gault.
May 29
1205 - King John makes Hugh de Lacy Earl of Ulster
1666 - The Act of Uniformity confirms Guy Fawkes' day (5 November) as an anniversary, and adds 30 January (execution of Charles I) and 29 May (the Restoration)
1722 - Birth of James Fitzgerald, 20th Earl of Kildare; Duke of Leinster; politician and Lord Justice
1798 - On this date, under the command of Father Murphy of Boolavogue, a priest who had been in dispute with his bishop and who had reluctantly stepped forward as leader, the Wexford insurgents, gaining strength as they advance, storm Enniscorthy. The defences of the town are swept aside by means of a stampede of cattle. Elsewhere, General Sir James Duff arrives in Monasterevin where he augments his forces before marching on to Kildare and the Gibbet Rath. On this same date, the insurgents camp on Vinegar Hill, outside Enniscorthy town. In the north, the Ulster Directory of the United Irishmen meets to plan rebellion in counties Antrim and Down
1884 - Oscar Wilde and Constance Lloyd are married
1917 - Birth of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th US president, in Brookline, Mass
1936 - The Free State Senate (upper house of parliament) is abolished
1942 - Bing Crosby records Irving Berlin's "White Christmas"
1953 - Death of James Downey; at the time he is probably the most famous publican (pub-owner) in the world for bringing to an end the longest ever pub strike. Downey’s premises in Dun Laoghaire had been the focus of a union dispute for 14 years, and brought the pub world fame
1967 - Noel Gallagher of Oasis is born
1974 - Northern Ireland is brought under direct rule from Westminster
1999 - Thirteen RUC officers are injured as tensions explode on the streets of Portadown with both Loyalist and Nationalist rioters venting their fury in the wake of a banned parade along the lower Garvaghy Road
2000 - For the second year in a row, l’Ecrivain on Dublin’s Baggot Street wins the Bushmills Malt Best Restaurant award, with proprietor Derry Clarke also taking Best Chef award
2001 - Irish artists take a stand against racism by donating original works to a special fund-raising auction. Over 100 works by both new and established Irish artists go under the hammer at the Le Chéile auction in the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2002 - Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey is €2.2m richer following the auction of a tiny part of his extensive Abbeville art collection
2002 - Arts Minister Síle de Valera hails the State’s acquisition of a previously unseen collection of original manuscripts by James Joyce as “a monumental event in Ireland’s literary and cultural history”. The collection, stored in Paris for many years, consists of 500 sheets of handwritten notes by the author. It includes notes and drafts by Joyce on several works including his classics, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, as well as notebooks dating from the early 1900s
2002 - John McGahern wins the €10,000 Kerry Ingredients Irish fiction award at the 32nd Listowel Writers’ Week for his novel That They May Face the Rising Sun
2003 - According to the Eurydice report, Ireland has the largest number of children per class in Europe and our teachers have to work longer than most to earn the top salary
2003 - Thousands of republicans and nationalists join in a series of protests across the country to mark the cancelled date for the North’s Assembly elections.
May 30
1630 - Birth of Charles Stuart who will become Charles II of Great Britain and Ireland
1784 - Belfast's first Catholic church, St. Mary's, opens for public worship
1798 - Following the massacre of Kingsborough's militiamen and yeomanry at Oulart on 27 May, rebels capture Enniscorthy and Wexford town
1807 - During the election for Co. Wexford, two of the candidates, William Congreve Alcock and John Colclough, fight a duel in front of the county sheriff, 16 magistrates and a large crowd of spectators. Alcock shoots Colclough dead; he is elected; he is also tried and acquitted for killing Colclough, but his mind is badly affected; two years later, he will be confined in an asylum for the insane
1817 - Micheal William Balfe, one of Ireland’s greatest composers, gives his first public performance, aged nine
1844 - Daniel O'Connell is fined and sentenced to 12 months in prison for 'conspiracy'
1906 - Death of Michael Davitt, "Father" of the Irish Land League. He was born at the height of the Great Famine. At four, his family was evicted and forced to emigrate to England. He joined the Fenians in 1865, became organizing secretary and was arrested in 1870 for arms smuggling. Released after seven years, he returned to County Mayo as a national hero. His travels in Connaught showed conditions had not improved. Realising that, if the power of the tenant farmers could be organised, it would be possible to bring about improvement, he arranged a convention in August of 1879. The result was a body called the National Land League of Mayo. Thus began the land agitation movement. For more details on the life of Michael Davitt, click Museums of Mayo
1944 - Eamon de Valera is returned as Taoiseach
1951 - Fianna Fáil regains power in a general election
1969 - Irish nationalist and the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin, Robert Briscoe, dies in Dublin
1972 - The Official IRA announces a ceasefire, but the Provisional IRA says it will continue fighting until the British leave Northern Ireland
1973 - In a political upset, Erskine Childers defeats Tom O'Higgins by a very narrow margin and is elected President of Ireland
1983 - The new Ireland Forum of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the SDLP meets in Dublin
1986 - Connacht Regional Airport at Knock, Co. Mayo (now Horan International) is officially opened by Charles Haughey
2000 - Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness returns to his job as Northern Ireland’s Education Minister
2001 - Bord Fáilte launches a major marketing campaign aimed at domestic holiday-makers in an effort to combat losses of £500m caused by the foot-and-mouth crisis
2002 - Writer John B. Keane dies at his home in Listowel
2002 - The Liss Ard estate, on the seaward side of Skibbereen and near historic Castle-townsend in west Cork goes on the market for €6m
2003 - A collection of previously unpublished works by John B. Keane is launched on the first anniversary of his death at Writers’ Week, the annual literary festival in his native Listowel, Co. Kerry
2003 - Less than a year after taking up the post as chief executive of Northern Ireland’s Policing Board, Bob McCann resigns for personal reasons.
May 31
1430 - Charges are made against Thomas Foster, Archdeacon of Glendalough, that he has sold the lands of the dignity, has kept concubines, has had offspring, is ignorant of letters and does not know the language of the country: if they are true, he is to be deprived on this date
1744 - Birth of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, inventor, educationist and politician
1798 - Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey is appointed as Commander of the insurgent forces In Wexford town, a civilian government led by four Protestants and four Catholics is established
1847 - Birth of Alice Stopford Green in Kells, Co. Meath. Irish historian and patriot; she is noted for proving the Irish had a rich culture before English rule. A strong supporter of the Treaty of 1921, she is nominated to the first Seanad in December 1922
1848 - At Grosse Ile, Canada, 40 immigrant vessels wait to unload. For more on this story, please click The Wild Geese
1889 - Helen Waddell, Irish scholar, translator and novelist, is born in Tokyo
1900 - During the Boer War, Piet de Wet captures the thirteenth battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry at Lindley. To British eyes, this mounted Battalion is the social and political show-piece of the new Volunteer Army; a company of Irish M.F.H.'s known as the Irish Hunt Contingent, including the Earl of Longford and Viscount Ennismore; two companies of Ulster Protestant Unionists, including the Earl of Leitrim, a whiskey Baronet (Sir John Power) and the future Lord Craigavon; and a company of English and Irish men-about-town raised by Lord Donoughmore, who had insisted on paying their own passage to South Africa. This patriotic band is commanded by a British regular, Lieutenant Colonel Basil Spragge. The surrender of Spragge's Irish Yeomanry is the cause of a ripple of mirth in nationalist circles in Ireland. In fact, there is a gallant Last Stand made by the Irish Hunt Company. Lord Longford, with blood streaming from wounds at the neck, face, and wrists, orders his men to fight to the end. "I knew it to be madness," said one of the gentlemen troopers, (son of the Irish Lord Chancellor) "and so did everyone else, I think, but not a man refused". In general, raw Irish Yeomen fought no worse than British regulars had fought in similar situations. A respectable total of 80 were killed or wounded before the White Flag went up. Piet de Wet's bag totalled about 530 men, including Spragge, Lord Longford (seriously wounded), Lords Ennismore, Leitrim, and Donoughmore (and the future Lord Craigavon), all captured, and the whiskey Baronet Power killed
1911 - The hull of the world’s most famous ship - the Titanic - is launched
1922 - The Royal Ulster Constabulary is established
1937 - Birth of Mary O'Rourke, Fianna Fáil politician
1941 - German bombs fall on North Strand, Dublin; 34 people are killed and 90 are injured
1962 - General Election is held in Northern Ireland; Unionists win 34 of the 51 seats
1970 - Death of Arkle, the greatest Irish steeplechaser of all time. Arkle had broken a pedal bone during a race in 1968. Stiffness caused by the injury becomes worse and in spite of his great courage, he can hardly stand. On this date, his vet, James Kavanagh, gives him his final injection; Arkle lies down in his box and goes to sleep forever
1976 - Birth of actor Colin Farrell in Castleknock, Dublin
1979 - RTÉ 2 (now 2FM) makes its debut
1998 - The Protestant community in a Wexford village receives an apology from Bishop Brendan Comiskey over a boycott more than 40 years ago.
He asks for forgiveness for a controversial incident in Fethard-on-Sea when local Catholics boycott Protestant shops and classes over a six-month period during 1957
2000 - It is announced by the British Government that Tom Constantine, a former director of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration will oversee policing reforms in Northern Ireland
2002 - As the Aer Lingus pilots’ dispute enters a second day;
pilots and management agree to take their dispute to the Labour Court but all the airline’s flights remain suspended, leaving thousands of passengers stranded
2002 - The people of North Kerry turn out in their thousands to pay their last respects to playwright John B. Keane.
- Details
- Slang: Today in Irish History
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June 1
1762 - Birth in Callan, Co. Kilkenny of Edmund Ignatius Rice, educator, philanthropist, and the founder of the Irish Christian Brothers' Order
1852 - The Magnetc Telegraph Company links Britain and Ireland via submarine telegraph cable. The company also operates lines from Donaghadee to Portpatrick, and connects major Irish cities, as far as Limerick, Killarney and Cork
1860 - Birth of Hugh Thomson, illustrator, in Coleraine, Co. Derry/Londonderry
1866 - Renegade Irish Fenians invade Ft. Erie Ontario from the US
1919 - Eamon DeValera begins his tour of the USA to raise money and support for the IRA's war against England
1958 - The Clean Air Act comes into force
1959 - Death of Arthur Sarsfield Ward, born in Birmingham of Irish parents William Ward and Mary Furey. Best known as Sax Rohmer, creator of the Dr Fu Manchu novels
1998 - The Irish and British Governments search for common ground on the parades crisis, amid growing indications that the summer marching season will push the North to the brink of open sectarian warfare
2000 - The controversial nomination of former Supreme Court judge Hugh O'Flaherty as a vice-president of the European Investment Bank is put on hold by the High Court.
June 2
1567 - The Ulster chieftain, Shane O'Neill, takes refuge with the MacDonnells, and is murdered by them at Cushendun, Co. Antrim. He is succeeded by Turlough Luineach O'Neill
1705 - The town of Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh is virtually destroyed by an accidental fire. One hundred and fourteen families and their servants suffer severe losses, and the barracks of her Majesty (Queen Anne) sustains great damage, the total loss being computed at 7,911 pound 13 s. 4d. A memorial is presented to the Lord Lieutenant from the Provost and Corporation, asking for the benefit of a full collection from house to house throughout the Kingdom, and in all Cathedrals and Parish Churches. It sets forth that " they never in the late reign nor in this applied to their Majesties for any relief or reward for their services and sufferings (in 1641 and 1688-90) when they had to maintain many thousands of poor stript Protestants who came for protection. But now being poor, disconsolate and entirely ruined, so that they have neither house to go into, beds to lie on, nor wherewithal to buy bread, may it please your Grace to grant your Petitioners the benefit of a full collection."
1772 - An Act of Parliament allows Catholics to lease bogland
1774 - An act of the Irish parliament enables Catholics to testify their allegiance to the king
1866 - Renegade Irish Fenians surrender to US forces
1891 - A proposal for the penalty kick is accepted by the Football Association. It is the brainchild of Armagh's William McCrum and is championed by his colleague in the Irish Association, Jack Reid
1920 - Michael O'Hehir, sports commentator, is born in Dublin
1938 - Robert and Edward Kennedy, youngest sons of the American Ambassador to London, open the children’s zoo in Regent’s Park. Children are charged sixpence to watch chimpanzees have a tea party
1949 - The Ireland Act is passed in Westminster, declaring the special relationship of Irish citizens to the United Kingdom and guaranteeing Northern Ireland's status within the UK
1954 - Bovine TB Eradication Scheme begins
1954 - John Costello becomes premier of Ireland
1956 - Joan Littlewood's production of Brendan Behan's play The Quare Fella opens at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, gaining Behan international recognition for the first time
2001 - A record 75 coastal centres are awarded blue flags, but five top beaches, including Killiney and Tramore, lose the prestigious eco-symbol. Non-compliance with water quality and bathing water requirements also cost Keem beach in Mayo, Bray beach in Wicklow, and Lough Ennell their blue flags
2002 - It is announced that Progressive Democrats president Michael McDowell is to be appointed justice minister in the coalition cabinet
2002 - The World Cup football squad is officially welcomed to their new training camp in Chiba city in the coastal surburbs of southern Tokyo with a reception in a specially created Irish Village in the grounds of the team hotel
2002 - A labour court recommendation to resolve the pilots’ dispute is accepted by Aer Lingus management but the national carrier’s fleet will remain grounded, causing continued disruption for thousands of passengers.
June 3
1798 - Government reinforces Gorey and Bunclody, Co. Wexford. Rebels decide to attack Gorey
1836 - Barry Edward O'Meara, surgeon to Napoleon, dies in London
1878 - Sinéad de Valera, née Flanagan; teacher and writer, is born in Balbriggan, Co. Dublin
1919 - The Local Government Act provides for proportional representation at local authority elections
1963 - Pope John XXIII dies the age of 81. He is succeeded by Pope Paul VI
1972 - A Protestant march against the creation of "no-go" areas in Londonderry ends in a bloody battle on the Craigavon Bridge. Soldiers use rubber bullets and water cannon to control the crowd when the so-called "Tartan gangs" at the tail end of the march begin to throw bottles and stones at the Army
1974 - Michael Gaughan dies on hunger strike at Parkhurst Prison in England
1991 - Three IRA gunmen are shot dead by British soldiers as they drive through the village of Coagh, Co. Tyrone. Their car is hit by a hail of bullets, before crashing and bursting into flames
1998 - In a landmark ruling on army hearing disability cases — immediately interpreted as a disaster for soldiers with noise-induced deafness — the High Court lays down a compensation marker of £1,500 per 1% loss of hearing
1998 - The Prince of Wales meets with the political spokesmen for loyalist paramilitary groups at a garden party hosted by Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam. The Prince also meets victims of terrorist violence and presents others with MBEs. The event at Hillsborough Castle is attended by 2,500 people including Gary McMichael and David Adams of the Ulster Democratic Party. The garden party, which Sinn Féin leaders had refused to attend because of the Prince's links to the Parachute Regiment, is the highlight of his hectic two-day visit. Representatives of the DUP are also present – less than a week after party leader Ian Paisley brands the Queen a "parrot"
2000 - Twelve people are injured, none seriously, when gas tanks explode at the rear of Cronin's restaurant, in Killarney, Co Kerry
2000 - Cathal Crumley, a former IRA prisoner faces unionist anger as he prepares to become the first Sinn Féin Mayor in Ireland since 1920
2000 - Security chiefs in the North come under fire after further reductions in troop levels following the increased threat posed by the Real IRA
2000 - Cash-conscious councillors in the North refuse to sponsor Michael Flatley's Feet of Flames concert in Belfast next month
2000 - Almost half the mainline train drivers threaten to resign rather than face the possibility of legal action for striking — or accepting the company's new pay deal and conditions
2001 - It is announced that the Irish immigration authorities are to open special visa offices in Bejing and Moscow. The move is aimed at speeding up the entry of Chinese and Russian workers and students to Ireland
2002 - Residents of east Belfast begin clearing up following another night of sectarian violence that saw armed gunmen on the streets of the city. Tension remains high in the area around the nationalist Short Strand enclave as both communities brace themselves for a fresh bout of sectarian violence
2002 - The Dublin mini-marathon, the largest gathering of its kind in the world, attracts nearly 40,000 women from all over the country and various parts of the world.
In the liturgical calendar, June 3 is the feast day of St. Kevin, also known as Coemgen and Kevin of the Angels. He is the patron of blackbirds, the archdiocese of Dublin and Glendalough, Co. Wicklow.
June 4
1487 - Thomas FitzGerald, Kildare's brother, accompanies Simnel's army of German mercenaries and some Irishmen to England on this date
1651 - Ireton, Oliver Cromwell's son-in-law, lays siege to Limerick city. By October, Limerick is in Ireton's hands. Ireton dies of the plague shortly afterwards
1731 - Allegedly, the date when the robbery of the Golden Lyon's cargo takes place at Ballyheige Co. Kerry. Owned by the Danish East India Company, the ship had become stranded near Ballyheige, Co. Kerry. Its valuable cargo is moved into a house and guarded by troops, but 'About twelve or one in the night a number of men broke into the house at Ballyheige where the money chests were kept, wounded three of the Danes and carried it off.' Eventually, about ten of the robbers are apprehended and charged, and approximately £7,524 2s is recovered
1798 - In Co. Wexford, Government troops march south out of Gorey. Rebels from Carrigrew move north, they attack and defeat Government forces at Tubberneering. Government forces withdraw north. Rebels occupy Gorey
1798 - Lord Edward Fitzgerald dies at Newgate prison from wounds sustained in the course of his arrest
1820 - Henry Grattan, the moving force behind the Irish Parliament at College Green before it was dissolved by the Act of Union, dies and is buried - against his wishes - in Westminster Abbey
1864 - Neilí Ni Bhriain, Irish Gaelic League activist, is born
1886 - Months of serious rioting begin in Belfast on this date
1909 - Charlotte Grace O'Brien, Irish social reformer dies
1909 - Robert Dudley Edwards, historian, is born in Dublin
1952 - Ciaran Fitzgerald, rugby player, is born in Galway
1957 - John Treacy, athlete, is born in Villierstown, Co. Waterford
1978 - Belfast flute player James Galway reaches no. 10 in the British charts with Annie’s Song
1980 - John Tunley, Protestant Irish nationalist, is assassinated
1998 - A collection of 15 documents, one from George Yeats, the other 14 hand-written missives signed by WB Yeats is sold by fine art auctioneers Christie's for over £5,500; a second collection of 12 letters, including eight signed by WB Yeats, and one by Ezra Pound sells for £5,585
1998 - Amid strict security, His Royal Highness, the Duke of Kent makes a courtesy visit to Lifeboat Stations in Cork and Kerry in his role as President of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)
1999 - Around 4,000 jobs are threatened in the Irish transport sector, support services and manufacturing industry after defeat is conceded in the fight to save duty free sales
2001 - It is announced that a previously unknown and heavily re-worked draft of one of the closing chapters of James Joyce's epic novel, Ulysses, is set to fetch up to £1.2 million at auction in London next month.
In the liturgical calendar, June 4 is the feast day of St. Cronan the Tanner, a disciple of St. Kevin of Glendalough. It is also the feast day of St. Berriona, an Irish woman “who lived a holy life in Cornwall”.
June 5
1646 - Eoghan Rua O'Neill, a superb military strategist, defeats Robert Munro’s Scottish army at Benburb in Co. Tyrone. The victory is celebrated by Pope Innocent X with a Te Deum in Rome
1686 - Richard Talbot, the Earl of Tyrconnell, appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland, (the first Catholic to hold the position since the Reformation) becomes Commander-in-Chief of the Irish army
1795 - An Act provides for the establishment of a Catholic seminary
1798 - Defeat of the rebels at New Ross, Co. Wexford
1798 - The Reverend William Steel Dickson, a Presbyterian minister and United Irishmen supporter is arrested and imprisoned without trial
1868 - James Connolly is born of Irish parents in Edinburgh
1880 - Birth in Dublin of William Thomas Cosgrave, the first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State
1886 - Alasdair Mac Cába, pro-Treaty nationalist, politician, and founder of the Educational Building Society, is born in Ballymote, Co. Sligo
1899 - Margaret Anne Cusack (Sister Mary Francis Clare), the 'Nun of Kenmare,' dies in Leamington, Warwickshire, England
1916 - Death of Listowel man Lord Kitchener
1920 - Cornelius Ryan, war correspondent and author of The Longest Day, The Last Battle and A Bridge Too Far, is born in Dublin
1921 - The first sitting of the Northern Ireland Parliament takes place
1932 - Birth of Christy Brown, paraplegic painter and writer. His book “Down All the Days” and the film “My Left Foot” are based on his life
1960 - Birth of singer Dominic Kirwan
1968 - Robert Kennedy is seriously injured in shooting after victory speech
2000 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair issues an apology to the Guilford Four 11 years after they had been released from prison where they each spent 15 years on a trumped up conviction
2001 - Hopes that the £200 million a year Egyptian market for Irish beef would re-open shortly receive a major set back. The authorities in Cairo decide to extend for another four months the import ban they imposed on EU beef after the BSE crisis late last year
2002 - Former US President Bill Clinton travels to Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, to open a £3m peace centre named after him in recognition of his special role in helping the divided North’s community towards the Good Friday Agreement. The centre is built on the site of the 1987 Remembrance Sunday bombing
2003 - Relics of one of the best loved and admired saints, St Anthony of Padua, arrive in Ireland for a special tour of churches in Dublin and Carlow. The remains, contained in a statue of the Franciscan monk, are received at Fairview Church by Cardinal Desmond Connell and the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto.
June 6
1333 - William de Burgh, Earl of Ulster -'the Brown Earl'-is assassinated by his own knights, John de Logan and two of the de Mandevilles, at Le Ford, Belfast. The background is one of intrigue among Norman-Irish lords: William has driven de Mandeville out of Ulster and has starved his own kinsman, Walter de Burgh, to death at Northburgh Castle. His death is followed by a rising of the de Mandevilles and de Logans, allied with the Gaelic Irish of Ulster
1592 - Red Hugh O'Donnell, son of the Earl of Tyrconnell makes a dramatic escape from the Record Tower and returns to Co. Donegal and the leadership of his Clan
1739 - John Scott, Earl of Clonmel; 'Copper-Faced Jack'; Chief Justice, is born in Co. Tipperary
1763 - William Simms, a founder and secretary of the United Irishmen, is born
1790 - Edmund Butler, 11th Viscount Mountgarret and former MP for Co. Kilkenny, fights a duel with a Counsellor Bushe during which Bushe is seriously injured in the stomach
1798 - General Needham reaches Arklow in Co. Wexford and immediately begins digging trenches
1798 - Rebellion breaks out in Ulster: Henry Joy McCracken issues proclamation calling United Irishmen in Ulster to arms
1800 - Ordination of the first priests at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. The college was founded in 1795 as the National Seminary for Ireland
1871 - Joseph Shanahan, missionary bishop in Africa, is born near Templederry, Co. Tipperary
1880 - Birth of William Thomas Cosgrave - Irish statesman and father of Liam Cosgrave*. A member of Sinn Féin, he fought in the Easter Rebellion and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Freed a year later, he was elected to the British Parliament in 1918 but protested British rule by refusing to take his seat. He helped organize an independent Irish Assembly, the Dáil Éireann in 1919. Minister for local government in the revolutionary cabinet, Cosgrave supported the 1921 treaty with Great Britain that set up the Irish Free State. After the deaths of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, he was elected president and served from 1922 to 1932. He was opposition leader of his Fine Gael, or United Ireland Party from 1932 until his resignation in 1944
1882 - In Liverpool, Mayo native-son and hero, Michael Davitt, advocates land nationalization in preference to peasant proprietorship
1898 - Birth of Dame Ninette de Valois, Wicklow-born founder of the Royal Ballet
1913 - Birth in Dublin of Patrick Campbell, author and broadcaster; he wrote sixteen books, including Life in Thin Slices, Rough Husbandry and How to Become a Scratch Golfer (he was one himself)
1940 - Willie John McBride, Ireland and Lions rugby captain, is born in Toomebridge, Co. Antrim
1968 - Following a major victory in the California presidential primary Senator Robert Kennedy addresses his supporters in a ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He leaves the ballroom through a service area to greet supporters working in the hotel's kitchen. In a crowded kitchen passageway, Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, opens fire with a .22 caliber revolver and shoots Kennedy in the head at close range. He is rushed to The Good Samaritan Hospital where he dies the next day.
1982 - Caitlin Maude, Irish language activist dies.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Jarlath, first Abbot-Bishop of Tuam.
*Liam Cosgrave was Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977
June 7
1420 - A parliament meets at Dublin
1546 - England signs Peace of Andres with Ireland and Scotland
1705 - Francis Flood, grandfather of Henry Flood, is expelled from the House of Commons for abuses against Agmondisham Cuffe MP, Cuffe's tenants and others in Co. Kilkenny
1766 - The Tumultuous Risings Act, against the Whiteboys, is passed
1798 - Father James Coigly is executed by hanging at Pennington Heath. A member of the United Irishmen, he had been arrested in Margate, England as he was about to embark for France. Papers found on his person indicate that his intention is to invite the French Directory to land an army in England. He is found guilty of high treason
1798 - In Wicklow, the Rebels burn Carnew; in Ulster, they take Larne and the Larne garrison retreats to Carrickfergus. The Rebels take Ballymena and Randalstown and then attack Antrim. They also attack Maghea in Co Derry
1861 - Death of Patrick Brontë from Ballynaskeagh, Co Down, father of Emily, Charlotte, Anne and Bramwell
1866 - Irish Fenians raid Pigeon Hill, Quebec
1892 - Birth of Irish statesman, Kevin Christopher O'Higgins in Stradbally, Co. Laois. He attempted severe repression of the Irish Republican Army in the years of the Irish “Troubles” following the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921. A man of intellectual power, he is described as “a soul incapable of remorse or rest” and - by William Butler Yeats - “a great man in his pride confronting…"
1899 - Birth in Dublin of Elizabeth Bowen, novelist and short-story writer. Acclaimed for her fictional representations of Anglo-Irish "Big House" life, she is best known in Ireland for her novel The Last September
1900 - Patricia Lynch, children's author, is born in Cork
1921 - George V opens the first Northern Ireland Parliament. James Craig becomes Northern Ireland's first Prime Minister
1925 - Death of Matt Talbot. With the help of a priest friend, Matt overcomes chronic alcoholism and models his life on that of the monks, who lived in Ireland in the 6th and 7th centuries. It is a tough programme of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. He gives away most of his wages every week to the poor at home and abroad. He is also keenly aware of his fellow workers struggle for social justice. A loyal member of Ireland's Transport and General Workers Union, a Union leader, Stephen McGonagle, describes him as "a beacon of light to Irish workers". After a life of heroic perseverance, he dies suddenly on the way to Mass. A candidate for canonization, his statue stands at the south end of the Liffey, by the bridge named after him
1952 - Birth of Liam Neeson (William John Neeson) in Ballymena, Co. Antrim
1999 - Michelle de Bruin, the swimmer who propelled her way into the history books at the last Olympic games by winning four medals, three gold, loses her appeal against a four-year ban for a doping offence
1999 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair urges an immediate Downing Street meeting in a fresh bid to end the disarmament deadlock threatening the future of the Northern Ireland peace process
2001 - At the RTÉ Radio Centre, President Mary McAleese unveils a sculpture by Galway-based artist John Behan to celebrate the 75th anniversary of radio in Ireland
2002 - An imposing white limestone statue created by Cork sculptor Ken Thompson in honour of St. Patrick is unveiled by celebrated author Brian Keenan and blessed by the Bishop of Clogher, Most Rev Joseph Duffy at Europe’s only island pilgrimage location, St Patrick’s Purgatory in Lough Derg, Co, Donegal.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Colman.
June 8
1561 - Shane O'Neill rebels and is proclaimed a traitor
1739 - Earl of Clonmell and Chief Justice John Scott, aka 'Copper-Faced Jack', is born in Co. Tipperary
1798 - In Co. Wicklow, the Arklow garrison is reinforced. In Co. Wexford, The rebel southern division moves camp from Carrickbyrne to Slievecoilte. In Ulster, General Nugent offers amnesty to rank and file rebels. Rebel forces in Antrim begin to disintegrate
1847 - Acts setting up soup-kitchens and rate-aided outdoor Famine relief come to an end
1886 - Gladstone's Home Rule Bill is defeated
1905 - Brian Coffey, poet and scientist, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1929 - Birth of Peter Rafferty, diplomat
1985 - Barry McGuigan beats Eusebia Pedrosa to become the World Featherweight Champion
1998 - The IDA and Apple Computer management continue emergency talks over the expected loss of at least 500 jobs at the American giant's Cork plant
1998 - After being nominated in six categories, Galway's Druid Theatre wins four Tony awards for its production of Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Director Garry Hynes wins best director, the first woman in the history of the Tonys to receive this honour; Marie Mullen wins best actress, Anna Manahan best supporting actress, and Tom Murphy best supporting actor
2001 - The Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland comes under fierce new pressure after big General Election victories by the Rev. Ian Paisley's hardline Democratic Unionists
2003 - An RTÉ spokesperson confirms that the popular Who Wants to be a Millionaire quiz show is to be axed due to lack of funding.
2004 - Catholic Primate Archbishop Sean Brady makes history by being the first Roman Catholic leader to attend the opening of the Presbyterian General Assembly in Belfast.
June 9
597 - Death of St. Colomcille
1641 - Patrick Darcy, a prominent constitutional lawyer, argues that the Irish parliament possesses independent authority
1657 - The Settlement Act "for the Assuming, Confirming and Settling of Lands and Estates in Ireland" is passed
1798 - Rebels attack Arklow. They are defeated with heavy losses; in Co. Down, Rebels take Saintfield and repulse a Government attack. Garrison abandons Newtownards, which is occupied by the rebels; unsuccessful attack on Portaferry
1888 - Basil Stanley Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough; unionist politician and Northern Ireland prime minister from 1943-63, is born in Colebrook, Co. Fermanagh
1953 - Cinema owners in Dublin unanimously decide not to show the film of Queen Elizabeth's coronation in London. There are real fears that any such screening would lead to widespread damage to the cinemas
1998 - Plans by supermarket chains to build shopping centres on the outskirts of towns are thrown into doubt, following the decision of Environment Minister Noel Dempsey to impose strict size restrictions
2001 - Cetacean experts head for Cork harbour after the arrival of three stocky killer whales in the estuary. The black Orcas with distinctive white markings create a huge stir in the Cobh area where the promenade is lined with people from early afternoon until near darkness as the whales circled the waters
2001 - Bord Fáilte director Maurice O'Donoghue, a pioneering figure in Irish tourism, dies after collapsing at Macroom Golf Club
2003 - Readers of the best-selling international guide to romantic hotels, Room for Romance, give their number one vote to the Stephen’s Green luxury hideaway, Brownes Townhouse
2003 - A huge amount of equipment needed for the visiting special Olympians starts rolling out of the state’s prisons as the final countdown to the tournament begins. Inmates and officers in four prisons have been working for nearly two years to produce a range of equipment, from 75,000 opening ceremony flags to power-lifting platforms
2004 - The replica famine ship Jeanie Johnston begins a four-month voyage around Ireland.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St Columcille, one of the spiritual giants of the early Christian church, and one of Ireland’s three patron saints. Born in Donegal, he founded the city of Derry — it was originally called Doiré Colmcille — and went on to establish many monasteries including Iona, the centre from which Scotland was converted to Christianity.
June 10
1642 - The first regularly constituted presbytery in Ireland constituted by Scottish army chaplains meets at Carrickfergus
1688 - Birth of royal heir, James Stuart
1798 - Rebels capture Maynooth in Leinster and Bangor in Ulster
1834 - Alfred Webb, writer and traveller, is born in Dublin
1842 - The first number of James MacKnight's “Banner of Ulster”, the newspaper of the Presbyterian Church, is published in Ulster
1904 - James Joyce meets the love of his life, Nora Barnacle
1944 - Death of Limerick man, Frank Ryan. He was the organiser and leader of the 200 Irishmen who went to Spain to fight against Franco and fascism in 1936
1953 - Garry Hynes, theatre director, is born in Roscommon
1955 - Designer Bob Crowley is born in Cork
1968 - Belfast-born Patrick Joseph Magee, is found guilty of planting the Brighton bomb which killed five people and nearly wiped out most of Margaret Thatcher's cabinet two years ago
1986 - Bob Geldof and John Paul Getty II, are made honorary knights by Queen Elizabeth II
1997 - Jimmy Kennedy, composer of many popular songs including "The Teddy Bear's Picnic" and "Did Your Mother Come from Ireland", is inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
1998 - To mark the acquisition of the Leonard L. Milberg '53 Collection of Irish Poetry, which comprises more than 1,100 printed works by 50 poets from the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, an exhibit of materials from the collection goes on display in the Firestone Library at Princeton University
1998 - Shannon Regional Fisheries Board investigate the mystery cause of a major fish kill on Loch Gara, one of the best-known coarse angling lakes on the Sligo and Roscommon border.
2000 - World-famous Irish tenor, Frank Patterson, dies suddenly at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. Mr Patterson makes his first public appearance as a boy soprano in his hometown of Clonmel and attracts the attention of critics when he wins all the major Feis Ceoil vocal awards. In his lifetime, Mr. Patterson records more than 35 albums which feature a broad range of songs
2003 - More than 1,000 taxi drivers protest in Dublin City Centre over the Government's failure to appoint a permanent regulator for the industry.
June 11
1534 - Thomas Garrett (Lord Offaly and grandson of Garret Mór Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare), rides through Dublin with a large band of followers. Known as "Silken Thomas" because of the silk worn on his followers' helmets, he has heard the false rumor spread by Henry VIII that his father, Garrett Óg has been executed in the Tower of London. He enters the Chapter House of St. Mary's Abbey where the King's Council is awaiting him and flings down his Sword of State. This is a dramatic act of defiance, by which he hopes to force his claim to power. Henry VIII treats it as an act of open revolt and confines his father, Garret Óg, to the Tower where he dies two months later
1690 - William of Orange departs for Ireland
1798 - In Co. Wexford, the Rebel southern division moves camp from Slievecoilte to Lacken Hill. In Co. Down, the Main rebel army moves from Saintfield to Ballynahinch
1862 - Violet Martin (pen-name Martin Ross; writer, sometimes in partnership with her cousin Edith Somerville) is born in Ross House, Co. Galway
1903 - Thomas Sloan and others found the Independent Orange Order in Belfast
1912 - Mary Lavin, generally acknowledged as one of Ireland's greatest short story writers, is born in Massachusetts, the only child of Irish parents
1919 - Birth of actor Richard Todd in Dublin. In 1950, he wins a Golden Globe Award (“Most Promising Newcomer”) for his performance in the film “The Hasty Heart” (1949). The film also earns him an Academy Award Nomination for “Best Actor”
1966 - John Scullion, a Catholic civilian, dies from his injuries two weeks after being shot by the UVF in the Clonard area of west Belfast
1981 - General election in the Republic leads to a Fine Gael-Labour coalition government
1990 - The Republic of Ireland plays their first ever match in the finals of the World Cup, drawing 1-1 with England in Cagliari, Sardinia
2000 - Thousands of Irish Christians march for Jesus. The giant Praise and Prayer Rally takes place outside government buildings in Dublin
2000 - Bord Glas reports that nearly 100% of all households eat potatoes at least once a week or more, putting them in the number one spot when it comes to favourite vegetables
2001 - Writer Keith Ridgway is awarded the Rooney Prize; there is no shortlist, no entry form and no categorisation for the award, now in its 26th year. The only requirement is for the writer to be Irish, under 40 and published.
June 12
1731 - The Revenue Commissioners report the robbery of the Golden Lyon’s cargo at Ballyheige. One of the robbers is caught and turns king’s evidence; the Danish Asiatic Company offers a reward of 10 per cent of the value of the cargo for its recovery. (See June 4, when the robbery allegedly took place)
1741 - At the Athy by-election following the death of Sir Walter Dixon Borrowes on 12 June, Lord Ophaly (later 1st Duke of Leinster) is returned. In the course of the election there has been a duel between William Paul Warren and Jack Hardy, which leads to Hardy's right hand and arm being shattered; it is thought that it would have to be amputated
1798 - In Wexford, Rebel northern division moves camp to Limerick Hill; Rebels launch attack on Borris, Co Carlow. In Ulster, General Nugent takes Comber and Saintfield. He moves close to main rebel camp at Ballynahinch
1916 - The Ulster Unionist Council agrees to the immediate implementation of Home Rule if six Ulster counties are temporarily excluded
1924 - Kevin O'Kelly, journalist and broadcaster, is born
1945 - Birth in Newry, Co. Down of Pat Jennings, goalkeeper with Newry Town, Watford, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Northern Ireland
1954 - The IRA makes an audacious raid on Gough military barracks in Armagh; it marks the re-awakening of IRA activity in Northern Ireland and a re-arming that leads eventually to the 1956-62 campaign
1960 - Because of graphic sexual content and frank treatment of women's attitudes toward sexuality, Edna O’Brien’s first novel, The Country Girls is banned in Ireland; six of her subsequent works meet the same fate
1988 - At the European Cup in Stuttgart, Ireland beats England in its first ever international football final
1998 - Thousands of people from all over the country take over the celebrated 'Fields of Athenry' in Co. Galway for one of the country's premier rural events, Tomorrow's Farm and Rural Enterprise, organised by Teagasc and sponsored by FBD; it is the biggest event ever held in the west and is geared to help farmers and rural dwellers confront the challenges of the next decade
1999 - Tuam, Co. Galway celebrates its first triple ordination since the early 1980s at the Cathedral of the Assumption
2000 - Deputy First Minister Séamus Mallon welcomes the Prince of Wales to Armagh; Prince Charles is in the north to officially open the Armagh Theatre and Arts Centre in Market Square
2003 - Senator Enda Kenny is chosen as Fine Gael's first spokesman on Dublin; the appointment comes on foot of an internal party report which highlights the lack of any government figure tasked with looking after Dublin’s interests
2003 - Legendary Oscar-winning actor, Gregory Peck, passes away at his home in Los Angeles
2003 - Taiwanese athletes are cleared to take part in the Special Olympics despite the country’s ongoing SARS-infected status.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Christian O’Morgair, brother of St. Malachy, and Bishop of Clogher.
June 13
1713 - Jonathan Swift becomes Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
1748 - Sir Robert King, MP for Boyle, Co. Roscommon, is created Baron Kingsborough
1798 - In Wexford, both sides of the conflict are inactive. In Ulster, the Battle of Ballynahinch takes place
1865 - Birth of W.B. Yeats in Dublin
1884 - Birth of Mary Colum (née Maguire) in Collooney, Co. Sligo, wife of Padraic Colum, Irish literary critic and founder of The Irish Review
1886 - Molly Malone reputedly "dies of the fever". The famous song, "Sweet Molly Malone" is a tribute to the memory of a real person who was a fishwife selling cockles and mussels in the streets of Dublin. A statue of her can be seen at the foot of Grafton Street in Dublin. In popular Dublin parlance, she's referred to as "The Tart with the Cart and "The Dish with the Fish"
1951 - Eamon de Valera becomes Taoiseach
1971 - Death of Máiréad Ni Ghráda, the first major woman playwright in the Irish language. She was also a radio broadcaster, and the author of school textbooks and children's books in Irish
1999 - Tuam, Co. Galway celebrates its first triple ordination since the early 1980s at the Cathedral of the Assumption
2000 - The original manuscript of James Joyce’s Ulysses arrives in its ‘‘spiritual home’’ for the first time when it goes on display at the Chester Beatty library in Dublin Castle
2000 - The world’s first virtual university for surgeons goes on line from the Royal College of Surgeons. Called BeST, or electronic Basic Surgical Training, it is launched by the Minister for Health and Children, Micheál Martin from the Dublin city centre college.
2006 - Following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer and a heart condition, former Taoiseach Charles Haughey dies at his home in the Kinsealy area of Dublin at the age of 80. The former Fianna Fail leader was a highly controversial figure who was rarely out of the headlines. He was first elected to the Dail in 1957, but was sacked from his ministerial position in 1970
June 14
1645 - The royalists, loyal to Charles I, suffer a key defeat by the English Parliamentarians at Naseby
1690 - William of Orange lands at Carrickfergus
1699 - The second session of the second Irish parliament of William III is dissolved on this date
1798 - Government reinforcements begin to march from Cork and the midlands; Rebels send small detachment to Mountpleasant, in Co Wicklow. In Ulster, the Rebels disperse
1866 - Charles Wood, composer, is born in Armagh. For most of his adult life, he lives in England, but preserves a lively interest in Ireland; in 1904 he co-founds the Irish Folk Song Society in London. Several of his chamber works and songs use Irish material. However, he is mainly remembered as a fine composer for the church and together with Charles V. Stanford is the most often played composer in the Church of England. This is reflected in his discography, which mainly concentrates on his liturgical music and does not quite represent his real work list, in which his eight string quartets stand out
Photo Credit: Thames Publishing; A Division of William Elkin Music Services
1883- Death of Edward FitzGerald, poet and translator of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
1884 - Birth in Athlone of John McCormack, tenor and papal count
1919 - Capt John Alcock and Lt Arthur Whitten-Brown take off from Newfoundland on the first non-stop transatlantic flight to Galway, in a Vickers Vimy
1946 - Bridget Nancy Margaret Haggerty (nee O'Flaherty), founder of Irish Culture and Customs.com, is born.
1974 - The first Soviet Ambassador to Ireland, Anatoli Kaplan, presents his credentials
1995 - Untimely death of Donegal-born blues guitarist and singer/songwriter Rory Gallagher. He dies at age 47 following complications after receiving a liver transplant
2000 - The Orange Order’s policy making body votes overwhelmingly not to enter into dialogue with the Parades Commission
2000 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern presents Irish troops with their official pennant just hours before their departure for United Nations duty in troubled East Timor
2001 - The controversial pro-abortion Dutch ship, the Aurora, docks in Dublin. Although the trawler is equipped to carry out abortions, the purpose of its visit to Ireland is to fuel debate on the need for Irish legislation to provide women with choice
2001 - The midland village of Castletown, Co Laois, is named as Ireland's Best Kept Town in a select cross-Border competition. The village eclipses last year's national tidy towns winner Kenmare, Co Kerry, and the north's top tidiest large town, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh to take the title
2003 - Living up to its costly reputation, Dublin is named in the worldwide cost of living survey for 2003 as the third most expensive capital city in the EU. Only London and Copenhagen are more expensive.
June 15
1555 - After Henry VIII suppresses the Chapter of St Patrick's Cathedral it is restored on this date
1698 - Count George de Browne, governor of Livonia, Latvia, and field marshal in the Russian army, is born in Camas, Co. Limerick
1798 - The Rebel's main division marches to Mountpleasant
1828 - Birth of Sir Thomas Newenhan Deane, architect, in Dundanion, Co. Cork
1919 - Pioneer Atlantic airmen Alcock and Brown land at Clifden, Co. Galway and complete the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight
1930 - Michelle Wilson is born in New York City USA. She missed being born in Drogheda, County Louth Ireland by four months.
1967 - Black Velvet Band by Johnny Kelly and the Capitol showband reaches no. 1 in the Irish charts
1979 - The memorial to James Larkin (Jan 21, 1876 - Jan 30, 1947) on O’Connell Street, Dublin is unveiled. Larkin, a revolutionary socialist, dominated the Irish Trade Union movement. G. B. Shaw once described him as ‘the greatest Irishman since Parnell’
1982 - Actor Neil Fitzgerald dies at 90, in Princeton NJ
1989 - Ray McAlly, actor, dies in Dublin at 63
1996 - A massive bomb believed to have been planted by the IRA rips through a Manchester city centre and injures more than 200 people
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern dines at Cardiff Castle as European Union heads of government celebrate the launch of "the people's Europe". Mr. Ahern is given a place of honor on the left of Queen Elizabeth II
1999 - Boyzone singer Stephen Gately confirms that he is gay
2003 - The total ban on smoking in pubs will definitely not go ahead on January 1 next, the country’s leading publicans’ representative confidently predict
2003 - According to a new international survey, Irish women are far more likely to be better educated than their male counterparts. The study based on joint UNESCO, OECD and EU data shows over 93% of 18-year-old females in Ireland are in continuing education, while only 66% of males are still in school or college.
2010 - Prior to the publication of the Saville Report, thousands of people converge at the Bloody Sunday memorial to walk to the Guildhall, symbolically completing the march which was prevented from reaching its destination in 1972. A screen erected to the side of the Guildhall shows live coverage of David Cameron's speech in Westminster. The crowd cheers when he says Bloody Sunday was "unjustified and unjustifiable"; when he says the Army fired the first shot; when he says there was no justification for the soldiers' shooting. And when he says "On behalf of the government and the country, "I am deeply sorry," It is a historic day for the people of Derry and Northern Ireland.
Photo Credit: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
June 16
1721 - The following incident is reported in the state papers: during a trial in the court of King's Bench, Dublin, on this date, 'a neighbouring chimney took fire, blew the smoke into the court and gave a panick to all the people who crowded to get out. Many were actually killed on the spot, and many desperately wounded. Among the first Mr John Ormsby, Member of Parliament and a wealthy man of above £1,800 p.ann., was killed. Judge Caulfeild got half in and half out of a window, but could not pass through, lost his wig and at last was forced back. Lord Chief Justice Whitshed kept his place and temper till at last the truth was known'
1798 - British regulars arrive in Dublin; Rebels march to Tinahely. Co. Wicklow
1871 - The 'Westmeath Act' allows detention without trial for agrarian offences
1904 - Today was when James Joyce had his first date with Nora Barnacle; ultimately, it became the date on which everything takes place in his masterpiece, Ulysses
1924 - Friends send Joyce, who is in the hospital, a bouquet of white and blue hydrangeas. He writes in his notebook: "Today 16 of June 1924 twenty years after. Will anybody remember this date?"
1924 - The first Irish soccer international. A team drawn from the newly formed Football Association of Ireland meets the United States in Dublin
1929 - According to David Norris, a Dublin senator and a leading Joyce scholar, the first official celebration of Bloomsday is held on its twenty-fifth anniversary. That night, Joyce is the guest of honor at a dinner party held at Les Vaux de Cernay, a village near Versailles. After dinner, Joyce and his protege, the Nobel Prize-winning writer, Samuel Beckett, "get pretty tight," Norris says. On the way home, frustrated by the frequency of requests, Joyce and Beckett are making for pit stops, the carriage driver decides not to wait for Joyce's drinking buddy to return from the pissoir, and leaves Beckett "ingloriously abandoned on the outskirts of Paris"
1954 - On the 50th anniversary of the first Bloomsday, Flann O'Brien has a hand in producing a major celebration in Dublin
1945 - Birth of Dr. Ken Egan, former president of the IMO (Irish Medical Organisation)
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Colman McRoi, a sixth century abbot in Dublin.
2006 - The State funeral of the former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, takes place in Dublin.
June 17
1798 - Rebels capture Tinahely, Co. Wicklow and burn the town
1800 - Birth of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse; astronomer and telescope constructor, in York
1845 - Author and poet, Emily Lawless, is born in Lyons Castle, Co. Kildare
1867 - Birth of John Gregg, publisher and inventor of the Gregg shorthand system, in Rockcorry, Co. Monaghan
1903 - An elephant named Sita kills her keeper tending her sore foot in Dublin Zoo. She was later put down by members of the Royal Irish Constabulary
1959 - Eamon de Valera becomes President of Ireland.
2008 - More than 1200 people bare all at Blarney Castle in Cork for a naked photo shoot by the US photographer Spencer Tunick. “Dare to Bare” is part of the Cork Midsummer Festival and proves a stunning success with the turnout taking even the most optimistic of the organisers aback.
June 18
1329 - The Bishop of Ossory is charged with fomenting feuds among the magnates; he flees to England and then, when summoned before the king, he flees to Rome. The king (Edward III, aged seventeen) warns the pope against him.
1769 - Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, politician and administrator, is born in Dublin
1798 - In Leinster, the Rebels are defeated at Ovidstown, near Kilcock; in Wexford, Rebels move back to Kilcavan hill. Government offensive begins; Rebels at Kilcavan are in a strong position. Government advance is stalled; Rebels withdraw from Kilcavan. Moore and Johnston move out of New Ross. General Needham moves out of Arklow; Loftus moves out of Carnew. By evening, Moore is in Foulkesmill, Needham is in Gorey and Loftus is in Craanford. Rebels southern division retreats to Wexford. Rebels northern division camps in Camolin
1815 - Battle of Waterloo, when British forces, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, a Dubliner, defeat Napoleon’s forces. The Iron Duke wasn’t the only Irish presence on the day — Napoleon’s horse Marengo was reared in Co. Wexford, and the Duke of Wellington’s mount was from Co. Cork
1831 - In the 'tithe war', yeomen kill up to 14 people at Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford
1859 - Birth of artist, Walter Osborne in Dublin. His superb images of young girls at play are still cherished by the National Gallery of Ireland: The Dolls School, The House Builders, and other examples of his work are also housed there. From the evidence of the few canvases from his last years, Osborne may be the only Irish artist who could justifiably be called 'an Irish Impressionist'
1864 - Death of William Smith O’Brien, leading member of the literary-political Young Ireland movement
1901 - Playwright, Denis Johnston is born in Dublin. His plays include The Old Lady Says 'No'; The Moon in the Yellow River; The Bride for the Unicorn and Strange Occurrence on Ireland's Eye. He also published a biography, In Search of Swift, and two autobiographical volumes, Nine Rivers from Jordan and The Brazen Horn
1936 - Fianna Fáil maintains links with the IRA until 1934 and then, on this date, declares them to be an illegal organisation
1945 - Sean T. O’Kelly becomes the first elected President of Ireland
1946 - Ray Treacy, former Irish International, is born
1970 - Ian Paisley is elected to Westminster in by-elections
1971 - Birth of Jason McAteer, International midfielder
1972 - Twelve of Ireland's most prominent businessmen are killed in a BA crash at Staines
1972 - Myles Dillon, Irish scholar of Celtic studies, dies.
June 19
1647 - James, Duke of Ormond, agrees to surrender Dublin to English Parliament
1820 - The Dublin Society for Improving Husbandry, which was originally founded on June 25 in 1731, becomes the Royal Dublin Society on this date
1841 - Birth in Roscommon of Sir George Arthur French (a relation of Percy French, the songwriter) who organised the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
1936 - Birth in Dingle, Co. Kerry of Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, née Treasa Kennedy; campaigner against poverty and homelessness
1936 - Mary Holland, noted journalist of the 1970s and 1980s in Northern Ireland and Scoop of the year award winner in 1994 (British Press Awards), is born in London
1972 - In 1971, a contract is signed with Verlome Cork Dockyard (VCD) to build an offshore patrol vessel for the Naval Service. LE Déirdre is launched on the 21st January 1972, and commissioned by LT Cdr Brett on 19th June 1972. The building of L.E. Déirdre marks a milestone in the development of the N.S., being the first ship purpose-built in Ireland to patrol in Irish waters.
2010 - Thousands of people are availed of the “once in a lifetime” opportunity on Saturday when pedestrians were invited to walk through the newly constructed Limerick tunnel, before it opens to traffic later this summer.
Photo Credit: Liam Burke/Press 22
June 20
1210 - King John lands at Waterford. He campaigns in Leinster - many of the de Lacys' followers go over to his side; he then captures Carrickfergus, where the de Lacys have made a stand, after a short siege. On 28 July, he captures William de Braose and confiscates his lands
1715 - There is a general election. The first session of the Irish parliament of George I commences on 12 November, and will continue till 20 June 1716. There will be six sessions of this parliament
1764 - Birth of Theobald Wolfe Tone, for more on Wolfe Tone click The Wild Geese
1798 - In Wexford, the Rebels retreat to Vinegar Hill. General's Loftus, Needham and Johnston close in on Vinegar Hill. General Moore defeats Rebels at Goffs Bridge
1810 - Parliament passes Unlawful Acts Bill, extending powers against secret societies
1849 - James Clarence Mangan, poet, dies
1867 - Clan Na Gael, Irish revolutionary organization and the counterpart of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, is formed by John Devoy, Daniel Cohalan and Joseph McGarrity in the USA. The objectives of the organization are to secure an independent Ireland
1891 - Birth of John Aloysius Costello, Ireland’s third Taoiseach
1955 - Aonghus McAnally, RTÉ presenter and broadcaster, is born
1992 - U2 takes part in a Greenpeace protest at the Sellafield nuclear power plant in northwest England. Wearing radiation suits, the band travels in rubber dingys with Irish dirt allegedly contaminated by the power plant, depositing the drums back on Sellafield grounds.
Today is midsummer's eve; at one time, young women in Ireland gathered yarrow with the rhyme:
Good morrow, good yarrow, good morrow to thee
Send me this night my true love to see
The clothes he'll wear, the color of his hair
And if he to me, we will marry.
The yarrow was placed under the pillow to induce dreams of the future beloved.
June 21
Today is the summer solstice. At around 3.00 am Irish time the sun reaches the most northerly point of its oscillation and the longest day in Ireland results — just over 17 hours. The sun rises over Dublin at 4.57am, and sets at 9.57 pm
1650 - Cromwell's New Model Army is victorious at Scarrifhollis, Co. Donegal
1691 - Godert de Ginkel, the commanding general of the William of Orange army, begins a ten-day siege of Athlone
1782 - The Declaratory Act, which had given Britain the right to legislate for Ireland and had denied the appellate jurisdiction of the Irish House of Lords, is repealed
1798 - The Rebels are defeated at Vinegar Hill; however, two Rebel columns escape; the Southern column camps at Sleedagh Demense; the Northern column camps at Peppards Castle. Government forces re-take Wexford town
1826 - Frederick Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, diplomat and holder of estates at Clandeboye, Co. Down, is born in Florence
1854 - Charles Davis Lucas from Drumagole, Co Armagh, age 20 and a mate in the Royal Navy, hurls a Russian shell (its fuse still burning) from the deck of his ship during the Crimean War. For this action, he will become the first recipient of the Victoria Cross in 1857. Lucas later achieved the rank of rear admiral
1877 - On a day that will long be remembered as Black Thursday, four members of the Molly Maguires - Alexander Campbell, John Donohue, Michael Doyle and Edward Kelly, shackled with chains, walk to the gallows specially constructed to accommodate four people; their lives are ended at the same split second
1897 - James Connolly is arrested during a demonstration commemorating 1798; Maud Gonne pays the fine for his release
1995 - A mass rally of the entire Irish Press Newspaper workforce and their families and friends takes place through the centre of Dublin in a demonstration of unified protest against the planned closure of the newspaper group. The march, organised by the Dublin Printing Group of Unions, draws more than 1,000 Irish Press workers and their supporters. Led by a samba band, they march through the streets of Dublin, setting off from Parnell Square toward a rally outside the Dail
1997 - At the county prison, which was closed as a jail in 1995 and reopened as The Old Jail Museum, the four Molly Maguires executed on this date in 1877, were remembered in a Memorial Mass attended by 100 of their descendants and members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
June 22
1770 - James Smyth, MP for Dundalk, is killed in a riding accident
1798 - Rebel southern column marches through Sculloge Gap, into Co. Carlow. Rebel northern column marches to camp at Croghan
1798 - Execution of John Kelly, also known as 'Kelly of Killane'
1866 - Archbishop Cullen becomes the first Irishman elevated to Cardinal
1921 - First Ulster parliament, led by Sir James Craig, is formally opened by King George V, who appeals for peace
1922 - Longford-born Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson is shot and killed by the IRA on the steps of his home in London (link to Wild Geese)
1930 - Sir Hugh Annesley - RUC Chief Constable - is born in Dublin
1932 - Eucharistic Congress in Dublin begins. The high point is when over a million people gather for Mass in Phoenix Park
1940 - The last tram to Donnybrook, Dublin leaves
1959 - Birth of Michael Kinane - jockey - in Killenaule, Co. Tipperary
1973 - Hilton Edwards and Dr. Micheál Mac Liammóir are given the Freedom of the city of Dublin
1997 - Orange parades pass off quietly amid growing fears of a further stand-off at Drumcree
1998 - An urgent appeal is made to Ireland's drivers to slow down after eight young people lose their lives in a black weekend on the country's roads
2002 - U2's Edge marries longtime girlfriend Morleigh Steinberg in a Jewish ceremony at the Garden of Eze in the south of France. Bono is the best man.
June 23
1704 - The Registration Act comes into force requiring all Catholic priests in Ireland to register in court, to furnish two £50 bonds for good behaviour, and not to leave the county in which they are registered
1777 - William Brown, founder of the Argentine navy, is born in Foxford, Co. Mayo
1798 - Rebel southern column captures Goresbridge, Co. Kilkenny and camps at Bunreagh; Rebel northern column moves into Wicklow Mountains and camps at Ballymanus
1802 - Daniel O'Connell secretly marries his cousin, Mary O'Connell
1825 - Annie French Hector, novelist who wrote under the pseudonym Mrs. Alexander, is born in Dublin. Highly successful novelist with 40 books including the Wooing of O’t (1873), and Blind Fate (1891); A Choice of Evils (1895), and Kitty Costello, semi-autobiographical (1902)
1838 - Sir James Gildea, philanthropist and co-founder of St. John Ambulance Association, is born in Kilmaine, Co. Mayo
1939 - Dáil Éireann introduces internment
1945 - Sean O'Ceallaigh is inaugurated as President of Ireland
1959 - Seán Lemass becomes Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil
1985 - An Air India Boeing 747 from Toronto crashes off the Irish coast, killing all 329 people aboard in the world's worst commercial air disaster at sea
1986 - Northern Ireland Assembly is dissolved. Police baton-charge 200 loyalist protesters outside Stormont
1998 - President Mary McAleese meets President Bill Clinton for the first time in the Oval Office; he promises that the US will remain engaged in the North peace process
Today is the eve of St. John's Feastday; it is also Mid Summer's Eve - an ancient solar feast celebrated with bonfires throughout the Celtic lands.
June 24
1754 - Death of Robin Downes. Thomas Waite writes: ‘Yesterday morning Robin Downes, member for Kildare, was found in his parlour in his house in Dawson Street with a sword run through his body. There are hopes of his recovery. He himself says ... that he received the wound in a fair duel ... but the general opinion seems to be that he transfixed himself, though no one pretends to assign the reason. My Lord Kildare is come to town in vast agitation at this accident’
1798 - Rebel southern column captures Castlecomber, Co Kilkenny and camp at Slatt, in Co Laois
1850 - Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum; soldier and statesman, is born in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry
1874 - Birth of Úna Ní Fhaircheallaigh, Irish author, feminist and language activist
1876 - Birth of Forrest Reid in Belfast. He was a novelist, critic, and autobiographer. He became a distinguished book and print collector, eventually writing a definitive work on the book of illustrators of the 1860s
1987: U2 plays Belfast for the first time since 1982
In the Liturgical Calendar, today is the feast of St. John.
June 25
1731 - The Dublin Society for Improving Husbandry, (later to become the Royal Dublin Society on June 19, 1820), is founded on this date
1783 - The Bank of Ireland is established in Dublin, by Royal charter. It issues its first notes, and opens to the public on this date; the Irish pound is worth £12/13 sterling
1798 - Northern column fails to take Hacketstown, Co. Carlow and returns to camp at Croghan. Southern column marches from Slatt, to camp at Kilcumney Hill, Co. Carlow
1870 - Erskine Childers, novelist, member of the Royal Navy, and later an Irish nationalist, is born in London. He is famous for the classic spy yarn "The Riddle Of The Sands." For more on his life, please click The Wild Geese
1891 - Charles Stewart Parnell married Katherine O'Shea in England
1938 - Dr. Douglas Hyde inaugurated as first President of Ireland; Seán T O'Ceallaigh, Eamon de Valera and Erskine Childers were all installed on the same day in 1945, 1959 and 1973 respectively
1939 - Garech A Brún, founder of Claddagh Records, music publisher and world-traveller, is born in Glenmaroon, Chapelizod, Co. Dublin. Samuel Beckett, Robert Graves, Patrick Kavanagh and the Chieftains, which he founded, feature among Claddagh's diverse recordings
1950 - Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co. Galway. He was born on the Great Blasket Island off Co, Kerry in 1904. The English scholar George Thomson, who visited the island for the first time in 1923, encouraged Muiris to write. His book "Fiche Bliain ag Fás" describes his early life on the Great Blasket. In 1933-1934(?), it was translated into English as "Twenty Years A-Growing" the same year it was published in Irish. It was later published into many other languages and has been acclaimed by international critics as a jewel of Irish culture
1970 - Restrictions on Catholics attending Trinity College removed
1992 - Joan Denise Moriarty, ballet composer, choreographer and founder of the Irish National Ballet, dies. During her career, she choreographed over 100 original works, drawing on themes from Irish mythology and legend, fusing traditional dance forms with ballet. Her aim was to create an original Irish form of this European art
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feastday of St. Moluag of Lismore.
June 26
1657 - 'Act for Convicting, Discovering and Repressing of Popish Recusants' is passed
1782 - The Relief Act gives Catholics rights concerning their education
1798 - Southern column is surprised by Government forces on Kilcumney Hill. They are defeated and decide to disperse. Many men return home but some decide to try and rejoin northern column at Croghan. Northern column remains in camp at Croghan.
1824 - Physicist and mathematician, Sir William Thomson, first Baron Kelvin of Largs, is born in College Square East, Belfast
1846 - England repeals the Corn Laws. The Corn Law Act had been passed in 1815 as a measure to protect the interests of landowners who looked as if they were about to lose out when highly inflated prices for corn ceased with the ending of the Napoleonic Wars. This kept the price of not only corn but also bread artificially high. Although an Anti-Corn Law League formed to oppose the legislation, it was not until the potato famine in Ireland that repeal was enacted in a belated attempt to alleviate some of the suffering
1887 - 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius), the highest temperature in Ireland since records began, was recorded at Kilkenny Castle
1891 - Wedding of Charles Stewart Parnell to Kitty O’Shea
1963 - President John F. Kennedy begins his state visit to Ireland
1981 - Garret FitzGerald succeeds Haughey as Taoiseach
1986 - After a bitter campaign, the referendum to legalize divorce is defeated, 63.1 percent to 36.3 per cent
1991 - The convictions of the Maguire Seven are quashed
1996 - Journalist Veronica Guerin is murdered in Dublin
2000 - The IRA makes a major symbolic break with the past by disclosing that for the first time, it has opened up its arsenal of guns and bombs to outside inspection
2001 - Paintings valued at more than £3,000,000 are stolen from Russborough House in Co. Wicklow.
June 27
1488 - Sir Richard Edgecombe is sent to Ireland with power to grant pardons; he lands at Kinsale on this date
1782 - The Relief Act gives Catholics rights concerning their education
1798 - Northern column remains in camp at Croghan
1846 - Irish statesman, Charles Stewart Parnell, is born
1864 - Charles Joly, astronomer, is born in Tullamore, Co. Offaly
1870 - Eibhlín Bean Uí Choisdeailbh, Irish language folk-song collector is born
1922 - Marie Kean, actress, is born in Rush, Co. Dublin
1987 - U2 returns to Dublin's Croke Park for the first time in two years; U2's set-list appropriately includes "A Sort of Homecoming"
2001 - The golden eagle lands in Ireland for the first time in nearly a century. Six chicks of the bird-of-prey arrive in Co. Donegal from the Scottish Highlands at the start of a programme to re-introduce a species that became extinct in 1912
2000 - More than 2,000 troops are flown into Northern Ireland to reinforce security ahead of the marching season
2001 - Passing of former Labour deputy Michael Moynihan. The 84-year-old was a TD for Kerry South during the 1980s and early 1990s. He also served as a Minister of State at the Department of Trade, Commerce and Tourism.
2007 - Ireland elects its first black mayor
A Nigerian man who came to Ireland in 2000 to seek asylum in Ireland makes history by becoming Ireland's first black mayor. 43-year-old Councillor Rotimi Adebari is elected the Mayor of Portlaoise Town Council by a vote of six to three and with the support of Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Independent members of the council. At a meeting attended by officials from the Nigerian, South African and the United States embassies, the new mayor is quoted as saying his election was proof that “Ireland is not just a country of a thousand welcomes but it is a country of equal opportunity.”
June 28
1798 - General Hunter, who replaced Lake as Commander in Wexford, becomes aware rebellion is not over and begins to re-deploy his troops. He orders General Duff to Bunclody and General Needham to Gorey
1853 - The introduction of income tax in Ireland is proposed for the first time
1861 - Explorer Robert Burke, from Co. Galway, dies in Australia
1920 - On hearing of British atrocities in Ireland, soldiers of the Connaught Rangers mutiny in protest; three are shot dead; a fourth - Private James Daly - is court-martialled and executed by firing squad. He is the last member of the British army to be executed for mutiny
1922 - The Provisional Government of the Irish Free State bombards the Four Courts in Dublin, and the Civil War begins
1939 - Pan American's Yankee Clipper lands at Foynes Flying Boat Base and inaugurates first scheduled airmail service
1985 - While rehearsing for their homecoming show the following day, U2 is forced to stop when they learn their volume is so loud at Croke Park, they have disturbed students taking exams at a school a half-mile away
1999 - It is announced by Bord Gais that the freeze on gas prices put into effect in 1984 will remain until at least 2003
2000 - Over budget and deeply in debt, the departure of millennium ship, Jeanie Johnston, is further postponed
2001 - Following the collapse of the British-based Independent Insurance company, it is predicted that thousands of Irish companies will lose upwards of £160m
2002 - Bronze Age burial pit is unearthed by students in Longford.
2010: Paisley 'drawn and hung' at Stormont
Irish artist David Nolan unveils his portrait of the former firebrand DUP leader. First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams are among the guests joining the Paisley family at the unveiling ceremony. Admiring the latest portrait - in which he is wearing his trademark hat - he is quoted as saying "It is excellent. It is sharp. It is to the point. It is just myself."
June 29
1771 - Birth of Edward Newell, United Irishman and informer, in Downpatrick, Co. Down
1820 - The Dublin Society becomes the Royal Dublin Society
1820 - Robert Jocelyn, 2nd Earl Roden, former MP for Dundalk and a leader of the Orange Order, is alleged to have led an attack on Catholic homes in Dundalk. He is struck off the Commission of the Peace and ordered to be brought to trial, but flees to Edinburgh, where he dies suddenly on this date
1848 - A gunfight takes place between Young Ireland Rebels and police at Widow McCormack's house in Ballingarry, Tipperary
1915 - Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossna, Fenian leader, dies in the U.S.
1916 - Roger Casement is convicted of treason and sentenced to death
1920 - In response to Anglo-Irish anxiety concerning their role in a future Ireland, the Dáil Éireann issues a resolution endeavoring to stem land-grabbing and to shift focus to clearing out the foreign invader
1924 - Joss Lynam, mountaineer, is born in London
1944 - Seán Doherty, Fianna Fáil politician, is born in Co. Roscommon
1985 - Máire Ni Scolai, Irish language singer, dies
1969 - Ireland enacts exemption from income tax for creators of works of 'cultural or artistic merit'
1998 - Northern Ireland braces braced violent conflict after irate Orangemen vow not to recognise a Parades Commission order banning them from marching along the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown
1999 - The political parties in the North inch their way towards a deadlock-breaking peace deal to rescue the Good Friday Agreement based on Sinn Féin’s acceptance of a timetable for arms decommissioning
2000 - The Western Health Board launches a campaign to reduce smoking in pubs
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Peter & Paul.
June 30
1691 - The fall of Athlone. Despite the bravery of legendary Sergeant Custume and others, severely outnumbered, the Connacht side of the town fell. The remainder of the Irish garrison retreats to Limerick
1790 - Birth in Knockfin, Co. Laois of Arthur Jacob - noted oculist and Professor of Anatomy in the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin
1798 - Rebels break camp, Needham sends Cavalry to pursue them. The rebels ambush cavalry at Ballyellis and inflict heavy defeat on them. By evening rebels are camped at Kilcavan
1835 - Sir Samuel McCaughey, who is destined to become a sheep tycoon in Australia, is born near Ballymena, Co. Antrim
1922 - The Four Courts, Dublin, are abandoned by Anti-Treaty forces after a two-day bombardment
1932 - De Valera abolishes the oath of allegiance and withholds land annuities from the British Government
1941 - Stephen Hayes, a former IRA chief of staff, is kidnapped; he later claims to have been 'court martialled' and tortured by the IRA; Seán McCaughey is later convicted of his kidnapping
1981 - Garret Fitzgerald replaces Charles Haughey as Taoiseach
2000 - Breakaway republicans are held responsible for an explosion which halts all cross border rail services
2001 - David Trimble resigns as Northern Ireland First Minister.
- Details
- Slang: Today in Irish History
- Hits: 722
July 1
1681 - Despite witnesses against him being discredited, Oliver Plunkett is hanged, drawn and quartered in London
1690 - Battle of the Boyne; the Jacobite forces (Irish, French, Germans and Walloons) are defeated by the Williamites (Irish, English, Dutch, Germans and Danes). The Williamite victory, being seen as a defeat for Louis XIV, is welcomed by Pope Alexander VIII
1701 - A public holiday is proclaimed for the inauguration of a statue of William III at College Green, Dublin
1798 - Rebels remain in camp at Kilcavan
1867 - Thomas Francis Meagher, Young Ireland leader, dies
1899 - Birth of singer Cavan O’Connor
1916 - The Somme offensive begins. The 36th (Ulster) Division suffers heavy casualties
1924 - The Irish Free State Aer Corps is established
1979 - The Boomtown Rats featuring Bob Geldof enter the British charts at no. 13 with I Don't Like Mondays, and eventually reach #1
1990 - The Republic of Ireland plays in the World Cup Finals for the first time. They are defeated 0-1 by Italy in the quarter-finals; an estimated half a million people take to the streets of Dublin to welcome the team home
1998 - Northern Ireland's new Assembly meets for the first time amid the growing crisis over the Drumcree Orange Order parade in Portadown. A new era in power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland begins with David Trimble and Seamus Mallon elected First Minister and Deputy First Minister respectively to the new Assembly. Sinn Féin delegates abstain from the first-ever vote in the Assembly, while anti-Agreement unionists vote solidly against the two appointments
2000 - More than 1,000 Westlife fans besiege Sligo City Hall when their heroes are awarded the freedom of the city
2001 - Ireland's national minimum wage increases from £4.40 an hour to £4.70 an hour.
July 2
1790 - In an election for Speaker of the Irish parliament, John Foster defeats William Brabazon Ponsonby by 145 votes to 105
1798 - Rebels defeat small force of Yeomanry at Ballraheen Hill; they move to camp at Croghan
1800 - The British Act of Union is passed
1819 - Edward Vaughan Kenealy, barrister and writer, is born in Cork
1869 - Birth of one of Ireland’s greatest ever tennis players, Joshua Prine, who won the Wimbledon singles in 1893 and 1894
1874 - Isaac Butt's Home Rule motion defeated in House of Commons 458-6
1903 - One of the greatest motoring events is held in Ireland - the Gordon Bennett Race, sponsored by James Gordon Bennett, owner of the New York Herald
1957 - Bridie Gallagher reaches no. 1 in the Irish charts with "The Boys From The County Armagh"
1958 - The Industrial Development Act is passed to encourage an influx of foreign capital
1970 - Irish Catholic bishops announce that it is no longer obligatory to abstain from eating meat on Friday
1970 - Following his arrest on May 28 for allegedly importing arms for the IRA, Neil Blaney is discharged
2000 - Joey Dunlop, motorcycle racer and humanitarian worker, dies in an accident during a race in Estonia
2000 - The 25th anniversary of St. Oliver Plunkett's canonization is celebrated in Drogheda, Co. Armagh
2000 - Navan-born jockey, Johnny Murtagh, rides Sinndar to an easy victory at the Budweiser Irish Derby
2001 - Ireland bids bon voyage to the relics of St Therese of Lisieux at the end of an 11-week tour which organisers claim drew three million onlookers.
July 3
1746 - Henry Grattan, Irish statesman, is born in Dublin
1798 - Remnants of Southern column reach Croghan. Fr. John Murphy dies at the hands of his captors
1952 - Bord Fáilte - The Irish Tourist Board, is founded
1976 - Former Boyzone band-member, Shane Lynch, is born in Dublin
1998 - Boyzone heart-throbs, Ronan Keating and Keith Duffy, throw a belated wedding bash for dozens of showbiz friends in Co. Wicklow; Hello! magazine picks up the expenses in exchange for exclusive photo coverage rights
2000 - The Taoiseach's brother, Maurice Ahern, is elected Lord Mayor of Dublin; Fine Gael's P. J. Hourican, a native of Co. Longford, is elected Lord Mayor of Cork; Sinn Féin's Sean McManus is elected Mayor of Sligo
2001 - The National Museum of Ireland launches a new range of craft and souvenir items which range in price from just £1 for a biro (pen) with the museum logo to £10,000 for a unique, hand crafted piece of jewellery.
July 4
1653 - Ireland and Scotland are represented by six and five members respectively in the 'Barebones' parliament
1690 - James II flees to France for assistance after his defeat by William of Orange
1921 - Awaiting truce with the English, Eamon De Valera orders the American flag flown in Dublin to "emphasize the principle for which we are fighting"
1798 - Rebels remain in camp at Croghan; General Needham prepares attack on Croghan camp
1878 - Birth of George M. Cohan in Providence, Rhode Island
1998 - It is announced that outgoing US Ambassador Jean Kennedy-Smith is to be made an honorary Irish citizen in recognition of her contribution to the peace process
1999 - Posh Spice Victoria Adams and England and Manchester United soccer star David Beckham are married at Dublin castle
2000 - Major international survey reveals that Irish workers pay the lowest tax rates in the European Union - even though pay rates are just barely below the EU average
2001 - The Orange order puts new proposals to the Parades Commission in an attempt to reverse the decision to divert next Sunday’s Orange Order march from the Garvaghy Road.
July 5
1790 - The Irish mail coach makes its first run from Dublin to Waterford
1798 - Rebels break camp and march north. They collide with a government force led by General Duff. They retreat south and turn to fight Duff at Ballygullen, near Craanford. The battle is indecisive but with three other Government columns converging on them, the rebels divide into two columns and retreat south. The smaller column moves west and into the hills near Carnew. It eventually makes its way to Glenmalure where it joins up with a group of Wicklow rebels. The main column retreats south to Carrigrew; that evening it marches north and camps in the Wicklow Mountains
1812 - Frederick Maning, judge and writer among the Maori, is born in Johnville, Co. Dublin
1828 - Daniel O’Connell wins the Clare election
1838 - The Board of Trinity College decrees the establishment of a Chair of Irish
1936 - Brendan Halligan, economist, Labour politician and Europhile, is born in Dublin
1950 - Veronica Guerin, crime journalist, is born in Dublin
1993 - U2 releases "Zooropa" worldwide, except in North America which will get the album a day later
1998 - All bus services in Belfast are suspended as riots spread across the city
2000 - Storms cause tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage and leave thousands of homes without power
2001 - A two-year project to transcribe the official records of Dáil debates since 1919 is completed; the entire archive is available at Ireland Gov.
2002 - A new EU survey shows that electricity costs for the Irish consumer are among the cheapest in Europe, but gas users are paying some of the highest rates
2002 - Over €2 billion is wiped off the value of companies on the Irish stock exchange as markets around the world continue to see sharp falls amid concerns about improper accounting standards.
July 6
1815 - Charles Bianconi, opens his first horse-drawn coach service, between Clonmel and Cahir, Co. Tipperary, a distance of 10 miles
1868 - Death of songwriter and novelist Samuel Lover. His compositions included Widow Machree, The Low Backed Car and Molly Bawn
1907 - The Irish Crown Jewels vanish from Dublin Castle, never to be found
1937 - Birth of Dave Allen, comedian
1940 - Birth of Mary Peters, Olympic gold medalist
1946 - Clann na Poblachta, a radical new republican party is founded by Sean MacBride
1960 - The first Late Late Show - TV chat show hosted by Gay Byrne- is broadcast
1998 - Cranberries' bass player, Mike Hogan, marries Siobhain O'Carroll
2000 - In an effort to curb inflation, the government orders a freeze on the price of drinks; publicans consider a Hight Court challenge to overturn the order
2000 - Tensions intensify in the North as a second major parades ban is placed on the Orange order
2001 - Official figures show that the average price of a new house is £144,116 - more than double what it was in 1996
2001 - U2 opens the European leg of the Elevation Tour at the 10,000 Forum in Copenhagen.
July 7
1691 - Ginkel offers pardon and security of property to opponents
1700 - MP for Co. Sligo, Captain Hugh Morgan of Lord Dungannon's Regiment, is summoned to appear before a board of general officers at the Curragh of Kildare to answer accusations of being 'a rogue and rascal' and several other complaints. (On 17 July, he is pardoned for failure to turn up - ????!)
1817 - Death of Dublin-born Richard Brinsley Sheridan; playwright, impresario, and politician
1823 - Francis Fowke, engineer and architect, designer of the Royal Albert Hall, London and the National Gallery in Dublin, is born near Belfast
1823 - John Kells Ingram, professor, librarian and writer, is born in Temple Carne, Co. Donegal
1913 - Home Rule bill passes in Commons for the second time
1922 - Death of Cathal Brugha from injuries received when shot by Free State forces in O'Connell Street
1930 - Death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born in Scotland of Irish parents
1970 Birth of Wayne McCullough, bantamweight boxer; Olympic silver medalist 1992; world champion (WBC)1995, in Belfast
1986 - Death in Belfast of Francie McPeake II, uilleann piper and singer. Francie, whose father wrote Will Ye Go Lassie Go, was a crucial figure in preserving the great Ulster piping tradition.
July 8
1642 - Owen Roe O'Neill accepts an offer to lead the Ulster rebels and arrives in Ulster (8-9 July); Thomas Preston, another experienced general, also arrives from the continent
1730 - Robert Edgeworth, former MP for St. Johnstown, Co. Longford, dies
1770 - Mary Anne McCracken, patriot and supporter of the United Irishmen, is born
1808 - Birth of Bernard (Barney) Hughes, baker, entrepreneur and philanthropist; first Catholic member of Belfast Town Council, in Armagh
1819 - Sir Francis McClintock, naval officer and polar explorer, is born in Dundalk, Co. Louth
1889 - In the last official bare knuckle title fight ever held, heavyweight boxer, John L. Sullivan beats fellow Irishman Jack Kilrain in a world championship bout which lasts 75 rounds
1914 - The House of Lords enacts the Government of Ireland Bill, excluding all Ulster permanently from its stipulations
1970 - The SDLP withdraws from Stormont in protest at failure to inquire into deaths of two civilians killed by army
1981 - Death of Joe McDonnell, from Lenadoon, Belfast, on the 46th day of his hunger strike
1984 - Two Irish-Americans slug it out on Wimbledon’s centre court for the men’s singles’ title - John McEnroe beats Jimmy Connors
2001 - The President and Taoiseach head a large crowd of dignitaries at the annual National Day of Commemoration in Dublin.
July 9
1751 - The foundation stone of the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, is laid by the Lord Mayor of Dublin
1790 - The "Gentleman’s Magazine" reports, regarding the MP for Cork, James Bernard who died on this date: ‘Though he had an immense fortune, he did not live at the rate of £300 a year. His tailor’s bill never amounted to £61 per annum. He did not absolutely starve himself to death, as he lately showed himself a mere voluptuary, having a few months since married a fortunate girl of tender years, to whose tender embraces, it is feared, he fell a sacrifice’
1797 - Death of the political theorist Edmund Burke in Dublin. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the development of parliamentary democracy
1809 - Birth of John O'Donovan, Irish language scholar and author of The Annals of the Four Masters, in Attateemore, Co. Kilkenny
1921 - A truce is reached between the IRA and the British army
1959 - Mary Browne from Roscommon becomes the first Ban Garda - woman police officer - pounding the beat in Dublin
1959 - Birth of Matt Connor, Offaly Gaelic footballer
1967 - Michael Carruth, winner of Ireland's first Olympic gold medal in boxing (1992), is born in Dublin.
2007 - Following a short illness, Former Tanaiste John Wilson passes away at St. Jame’s Hospital, a day after his 84th birthday. He was a TD for 20 years and held posts in seven government departments, serving under three Taoisigh: Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey and Albert Reynolds. On the sportsfield, he played for Cavan and an illustrious career brought him significant honours, including two All-Ireland medals (in 1947 and 1948) and five Ulster Football Championship medals. In paying his respects, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is quoted as saying "John Wilson was a sportsman, scholar and a politician who served Cavan and Ireland throughout many years of endeavour and in many fields. A fine orator and a classics scholar, he was a popular deputy across the House who contributed with knowledge, wit and courtesy across a broad range of issues. Through decades of activism in the sporting, cultural and political life of the country, John Wilson contributed his talents to his students and teaching colleagues in the sphere of education and to the community from which he came which later elected him to political office."
July 10
1614 - Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, politician and author, is born in Dublin
1793 - Birth of William Maginn, poet and author, in Co. Cork
1900 - Birth of Paul Carroll, playwright, in Blackrock, Co. Louth
1917 - De Valera wins election to Parliament from Clare as Sinn Fein candidate
1921 - Unionists burn 160 homes in Belfast, killing 15 and injuring 58
1927 - Kevin O'Higgins, the Irish Free State Minister for Justice, is assassinated
1949 - The last CIE tram service leaves Nelson's Column, Dublin
1956 - Birth of Frank Stapleton, international footballer, in Dublin
2000 - Northern Ireland shuts up shop ahead of Orange Order demonstrations
2000 -The Irish government concedes for the first time that a referendum may have to take place in 2001 to get voter approval for a major revision to the European Union treaties
2001 - A draft chapter from Irish writer James Joyce's classic novel Ulysses is sold for nearly £900,000 at auction.
July 11
1792 - A gathering of some ten Irish harpers and one Welsh begins in Belfast; the objective is to collect the remaining fragments of the tradition; melodies are transcribed by Edward Bunting and others See our article on the great harpist/composer O'Carolan
1798 - Rebels attack Clonard, Co Meath
1798 - Sir Joseph Larmor, mathematician, physicist and politician, is born in Magheragall, Co. Antrim
1879 - Birth in Dublin of Hugh Kennedy, first Chief Justice of the Irish Free State
1921 - Truce is declared between IRA and English forces, thus ending the War of Independence military campaign
1935 - Birth of Oliver Napier, politician and Alliance Party leader from 1972 to 1984
1967 - Censorship Act lifts the ban on certain books that had been banned for more than a decade
1986 - U2 plays at the Half Moon Club in London; it's the first time they sell out a venue in the U.K
1999 - A massive security operation swings into action as tens of thousands of Orangemen prepare to parade into Ormeau Park in the flashpoint south Belfast area on the banks of the River Lagan
1999 - Hundreds of train travellers are left stranded in Cork despite advance warnings by Ianroad Eireann management of an unofficial dispute by locomotive operators
1999 - One hundred and fifty Irish war veterans gather for the annual commemoration ceremony at the Royal Kilmainham Hospital in honor of Irish soldiers killed on UN peace keeping duties and on foreign battlefields
2000 - The world's top golfers, including Tiger Woods and David Duval, begin play at the JP McManus Invitation Pro Am in Limerick
2000 - A public health seafood scare leads to a temporary ban on the collection and harvesting of shellfish in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
2000 - For the first time in its history, the Dáil elects to appoint a parliamentary law adviser. Miss Lia O’Hegarty is chosen to fill the position.
2007 - Artist Patrick Scott is honoured by President Mary McAleese as Saoi in Aosdána at the Arts Council office, in Merrion Square, Dublin. The President presented Scott, a founder member of Aosdána, with a gold torc, the symbol of the office of Saoi. No more than five members may hold this honour at any one time. Born in Kilbrittain, Co Cork, in 1921, Scott worked on the mosaics in Busáras and has painted full-time since 1960.
Photo Credit & Copy: The Irish Times
July 12
1690 - Battle of the Boyne and victory for William of Orange
1691 - Ginkel is victorious over James II's Jacobites at Aughrim; it is the bloodiest battle ever fought in Ireland
1722 - A patent is granted to William Wood to coin copper halfpence for circulation in Ireland
1796 - The Orange Order hold its first 'Twelfth of July' demonstration, commemorating the Battle of Aughrim
1812 - Charles Patrick Meehan, priest, writer and translator, is born in Dublin
1813 - The first recorded "Twelfth of July" sectarian riots erupt in Belfast
1841 - William James McNeven, United Irish leader, dies
1849 - As many as 20 Catholics are killed by soldiers during an Orange Parade at Dolly's Brae, near Castlewellan, Co. Down
1935 - Violence in Belfast lasting two months commences on this date; eleven people are killed
1942 - Máire Ni Aodán (Mary Hayden), Irish historian, dies
1998 - The three Quinn brothers, Richard, 11, Mark, 10, and Jason 9, are burned to death by a Loyalist firebomb in Ballymoney, 40 miles northwest of Belfast
1999 - An armed gang steals a 40ft container of cigarettes valued at more than £1m from a freight train at Dunleer, Co. Louth
2000 - Violence erupts as Portadown Orangemen pledge to continue Drumcree protest
2000 - Plans to introduce pedestrianisation in Killarney on an experimental basis are confirmed.
July 13
1344 - Ralph de Ufford arrives in Ireland as justiciar with a small English army and investigates the situation in Cork
1809 - Founding of the Dublin Harp Society
1825 - The Catholic Association, dissolved in accordance with the Unlawful Societies Act on 9 March, is reconstituted on 13 July
1886 - Birth of Father Edward Flanagan, the founder of Boy's Town
1981 - Martin Hurson, Irish political prisoner, dies on hunger strike in the Maze Prison
1985 - The Live Aid concerts, organized by Bob Geldorf in aid of Ethiopian famine relief, are held in London and Philadelphia; the people of the Republic of Ireland contribute £8 million
1998 - The second stage of the Tour de France (taking place for the first time in Ireland) ends in Cork City. A crowd of between 40,000 and 50,000 turn out to see the history-making event.
July 14
1791 - Demonstrations are held in Dublin, Belfast and elsewhere to commemorate the fall of the Bastille in 1789
1798 - John and Henry Sheares are convicted of high treason and hanged in Dublin
1798 - Rebels are defeated at the Battle of Knightstown, Co. Louth
1908 - Birth of Roger McHugh, academic and writer, in Dublin
1969 - Rioting breaks out in Derry and Dungiven, resulting in the first death related to the Northern Ireland disturbances - a 70-year-old farmer who is struck in a melee outside an Orange Hall in Dungiven
1998 - Tánaiste Mary Harney announces that a minimum wage of £4.40 an hour will be introduced in April 2000
1999 - Fidelma Macken is nominated for the European Court of Justice - the first time a woman judge from any member country has reached such a high rank
1999 - Ulster Unionists reject peace blueprint
1999 - The Cabinet approves the construction of Ireland's first 50 metre swimming pool at the University of Limerick
1999 - Over 20,000 litres of fuel oil leaks into the popular fishing resort of Mucrós Bay, Co. Donegal from a supply tank at Abbotts Ireland
2000 - Angry fishermen blockade a State run fishery port as frustration and tension continues to increase over the alleged harassment of Irish tuna boats by the Naval Service
2000 - Kerry sheep farmer Patrick Morana earns a place in the Guinness Book of Records as he hand-shears 206 sheep in nine hours and becomes Irish and UK champion.
July 15
1865 - Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe; statesman, journalist and newspaper magnate, is born in Chapelizod, Co. Dublin
1871 - Birth of Gerald O'Donovan, priest and novelist, in Co. Down
1879 - Joseph Campbell, poet, is born in Belfast. He is famous for the English words he wrote to the song My Lagan Love
1899 - Sean Lemass is born in Dublin. He was the second leader of Fianna Fáil and third Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland from 1959 to 1966
1907 - Seumas Murphy, sculptor and stone-carver, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork
1927 - Countess Constance de Markievicz, Irish patriot, dies
1930 - After De Valera abolishes the oath of allegiance and withholds land annuities from the British Government, retaliatory trade legislation begins the 'economic war'
1942 - Brendan ('Paddy') Finucane from Dublin - the RAF's youngest ever Wing Commander at 21 years of age - is shot down and killed off the French coast
1987 - U2 plays its first-ever show in Madrid, Spain, attracting 115,000 people for one show, the largest crowd of the year
1998 - The Irish Nurses Organisation warns that the shortage of qualified nurses has reached crisis levels
1999 - It's revealed that since 1998, all telephone, e-mail and fax messages between Ireland and Britain, and probably the United States, were tapped by the British Government
1999 - The cream of Irish traditional and folk music turn out en masse for the inaugural Irish Music Magazine Awards in Dublin
2001 - More than 340,000 provisional licence drivers miss out on the new Driver Theory Test because test centres would not be able to handle the flood of applications
2002 - Tourism Minister John O'Donoghue, announces a new €3m marketing package for the industry.
July 16
1685 - Birth of Samuel Haliday in Omagh, Co. Tyrone. Minister of Belfast First Presbyterian Church in 1720, he refuses to sign the Westminster Confession, which leads to split between Subscribing and Non-Subscribing adherents
1803 - Following an explosion at his arms depot on this date, Robert Emmet brings forward his planned rebellion in Dublin to 23 July
1865 - James Owen Hannay (pseudonym George A. Birmingham; clergyman and writer) is born in Belfast
1929 - The Censorship of Publications Act is passed
1936 - Charles Gallagher is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA.
1999 - Olympic champion Michelle de Bruin is stripped of her Irish swimming records; the triple gold medal winner at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta was banned for four years by the FINA in August of 1998 for tampering with a urine sample
2000 - The All Party Committee on the Constitution rejects total ban on abortion
2002 - The IRA leadership issues a statement which includes an apology for the killing of 'non-combatants.' Northern Ireland secretary, Dr John Reid, welcomes the gesture as one of unprecedented strength.
July 17
1221 - Geoffrey de Marisco, justiciar of Ireland, is accused of financial irregularities and resigns: he is replaced by Archbishop Henry of London on this date
1846 - Birth of Fenian, John McLure. He is one of 30 Fenian prisoners released in a general amnesty by the British government on January 5, 1871. They are released on condition that they exile themselves to the country of their choice and not return until their sentences have expired. Many choose to go to Australia, but John McClure, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, John Devoy, Henry Mulleda and Charles Underwood O'Connell, who had all been imprisoned together, decide to go to America and ship out from Liverpool on board the "Cuba." The so-called 'Cuba Five' arrive in New York to a hero's welcome and even receive a resolution of welcome from the US House of Representatives
1871 - Birth in Comber, Co. Down, of John Andrews, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1940 to 1943
1879 - Séamus O'Sullivan (James Sullivan Starkey),writer and editor, is born in Dublin
1884 - Louise Gavan Duffy, teacher and revolutionary, is born in Nice
1945 - Shannon Airport and customs free zone opened
1951 - The Abbey Theatre in Dublin burns down. The play that evening closed with soldiers on stage singing, ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’.
1970 - The National Youth Orchestra of Ireland makes its debut
1998 - Salmonella food poisoning outbreaks in Wicklow and Donegal threaten the £10 million import industry in eggs from Northern Ireland
2000 - Guinness announces plans to lay off as many as 200 workers as part of a major cost-cutting strategy
2002 - New birth figures show that one in three children in Ireland are born out of wedlock.
July 18
1561 - Battle of Red Sagums - Shane O'Neill defeats English
1579 - James Fitzmaurice lands forces in Dingle with the intention of encouraging an uprising against England
1689 - The Mountjoy ship breaks the blockading boom and ends the Siege of Derry after 238 days
1794 - Feargus O'Connor, a leader of the Chartist movement, is born in Connorville, Co. Cork
1822 - The Theatre Royal in Dublin opens its doors to the public for the first time
1863 - Birth of Francis Erlington Ball, historian, in Portmarnock, Co. Dublin
1865 - Birth in Belfast of novelist Canon James Owen Hannay
1870 - Michael Davitt is sentenced to 15 years' penal servitude for gun-running
1874 - Cathal Brugha (Charles Burgess) an anti-Treaty nationalist,is born in Dublin
1920 - 19 people are killed in four days of sectarian violence in Derry/Londonderry
1966 - The rebuilt Abbey Theatre re-opens
1970 - After having been in prison for unlawful assembly and breach of peace, the "anti-popery" Reverend Ian Paisley is elected to Westminster
1999 - After a long illness, acclaimed actor Donal McCann dies in Dublin
1999 - Boyzone star Shane Lynch escapes unhurt from a dramatic 100 mph crash during a car rally
2000 - U2's official web site at U2.com is opened to the public
2000 - Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy faces heavy criticism over his handling of the economy as inflation soars
2000 - Former Supreme Court Judge Hugh O’Flaherty sells his Dublin home for almost £3 million.
July 19
1608 - Preparations commence for the plantation of six Ulster counties (Armagh, Cavan, Coleraine, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone)
1735 - Garrett Wellesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, politician, musician, and father of Duke of Wellington, is born in Dublin
1785 - Richard Crosbie’s third attempt to cross the Irish Sea in a balloon is unsuccessful
1851 - William Wilson, astronomer and physicist, is born in Belfast
1982 - Dexy’s Midnight Runners reach No. 1 in the British charts with Come On Eileen
1994 - Eilis Dillon, novelist and author of Across the Bitter Sea, dies
1998 - Garvan McGinley, national organizer of the Progressive Democrat Party resigns
1998 - It is confirmed that three chaplains have quit the Orange Order and another dozen are considering their future in the wake of the Drumcree stand-off and the murders of the Quinn children in Ballymoney
1999 - Amnesty International honors its longest serving member in Ireland, Iris Bardon, with a presentation on her 100th birthday.
2009 - Irish author Frank McCourt dies of cancer. A New York city schoolteacher for more than 30 years, he achieved literary fame later in life with his best-selling childhood memoir "Angela's Ashes". With a first printing of just 25,000, the book became an instant favourite with critics and readers and is perhaps the ultimate case of the non-celebrity memoir, the extraordinary life of an ordinary man. He received the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award for the book, which was eventually published in 25 languages and 30 countries then later made into a film. He is also the author of 'Tis, which continues the narrative of his life, picking up from the end of the previous book and focusing on being a new immigrant in America. Teacher Man, published in 2005, details the challenges of being a young, uncertain teacher.
Source: BBC
Photo Credit: Educated Nation
July 20
1616 - Death in Rome of Hugh O'Neill, 3rd Baron Dungannon and 2nd Earl of Tyrone. He led an unsuccessful uprising against the English, and was eventually forced into exile as part of “the Flight of Earls.”
1798 - Rebel camp at Timahoe surrenders
1835 - First report of the select committee on Orangeism is presented to the House of Commons
1902 - Jimmy Kennedy, lyricist, is born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone
1904 - Birth of writer Molly Keane
1922 - The Free State army takes Limerick from the anti-treaty Republicans
1933 - Eoin O'Duff becomes leader of the National Guard ('Blueshirts')
1982 - The IRA kills ten servicemen in bomb attacks in Hyde Park and Regent's Park, London
1998 - Seven-year old Adele Chapman from Derry leaves hospital; 12 weeks earlier, she became Britains first triple-organ transplant child when she underwent a pioneering liver, pancreas and small bowel transplant at Birmingham Children's Hospital
1998 - Thirty-three years after the roadway was first proposed, plans for the £80m by-pass of Waterford city are unveiled
1999 - Munster MEP Pat Cox to play a pivotal role in the new European Parliament as President
1999 - The funeral Mass of actor Donal McCann is held at Dublin’s Terenure College Chapel.
July 21
1750 - Under-Secretary Waite reports to Chief Secretary Weston that ‘This morning I am informed that Lord Allen and Captain Eustace of Irvine’s have slit if not cut off a great part of a gentleman’s nose in a fray which happened a day or two ago in the road between Dublin and Naas. The occasion of it was very trifling, such as the gentleman returning the salutation of a fellow which they gave him and which they thought proper to deem an affront upon persons of their rank and in red coats.’ The victim, a Mr. Butler from Co. Tipperary, indicts Allen and Eustace in the courts; Waite writes on 11 August that Allen ‘will have three or four Butlers to fight after they have harassed him by due course of law’
1860 - Birth of Chauncey Olcott, famed Irish balladeer and writer of “My Wild Irish Rose.” He also co-wrote “Mother Machree” and “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”
1887 - Thomas Bodkin, lawyer and professor, is born in Dublin. Director of the National Gallery from 1927-35, he wrote several books on Irish art and artists
1903 - Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visit Ireland
1920 - 12 people die in Belfast riots which take place from 21-24 July
1920 - Sectarian violence continues in Derry/Londonderry
1920 - Catholics are forced out of Dromore, Co. Down following the funeral of an RIC man
1922 - The Free State army takes Waterford from the anti-treaty Republicans
1928 - John B. Keane, playwright, novelist and poet, is born in Listowel, Co. Kerry
1964 - Steve Collins, World Middleweight Boxing Champion, is born in Dublin
1972 - 'Bloody Friday' in Belfast; the Provisional IRA kills 19 and injures 130 in 22 bomb attacks
2002 - Approval is granted to open a €30m marine research centre in Galway.
July 22
1606 - A commission is instituted to remedy defective land titles
1817 - William Sadler makes the first balloon crossing of the Irish Sea, from Dublin to Anglesey
1860 - Johanna Butler is born in the Rower, Co. Kilkenny. She entered the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary at the age of sixteen in Béziers, France. Popularly known as Mother Butler, Mother Joseph was the founder of Marymount School and College in Tarrytown, New York. On August 26, 1926, she was elected general superior of the order and remained in that position until her death on April 26, 1940
1866 - Birth of D.J. O'Donoghue, writer, bookseller and librarian
1873 - James Cousins, writer and teacher, is born in Belfast
1933 - The anti-Fianna Fáil Army Comrades Association, which developed into a fascist-inspired group nicknamed the "Blueshirts," is outlawed
1999 - Loyalist Volunteer Force rules out any further weapons handover
2001 - Ranked 25th, Ireland falls below most of Europe in its healthcare.
2007 - Dubliner Padraig Harrington becomes the first Irish golfer to win the British Open in 60 years when he snatches victory from the jaws of defeat at Carnoustie in Scotland. He is the first European golfer to secure a major victory since Paul Laurie on the same course in 1999 and Ireland's first since Fred Daly in 1947. President McAleese was the first to convey her congratulations to Harrington, while Labour sports spokesman Jack Wall said: "Padraig Harrington's magnificent victory in the Open without doubt represents one of the greatest days in the history of Irish sport."
July 23
1803 - In opposition to the Act of Union, Robert Emmet leads an armed outbreak that is easily suppressed
1834 - St. Vincent’s Hospital, established by the Sisters of Charity, opens in Dublin
1883 - Birth of Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke; military commander, in Bagnéres-de-Bigorre, France
1889 - Birth in Chicago of writer Raymond Chandler, creator of Philip Marlowe. He was born to Irish Quaker and Irish Catholic parents
1948 - John Cushnahan, Alliance Party and Fine Gael politician, is born in Belfast
1998 - Irish under-18 squad defeat Cyprus to reach final in European Football Championship
1999 - The nation pays its last respects to arson victim Garda Sergeant Andy Callanan, who is buried with full State honours
1999- - Guinness Blues Festival gets underway in 30 venues across Dublin
2001 - Under heavy garda surveillance, the gangland funeral of Seamus "Shavo" Hogan takes place at St Agnes' Church, Crumlin, Dublin
2002 - According to the United Nations report, Ireland is regarded as one of the least corrupt countries in the world.
July 24
1261 - The Norman-Irish under the justiciar, William de Dene, are heavily defeated by Fineen MacCarthy at the battle of Callann in Co. Kerry; the MacCarthys and O'Sullivans now control the south-west corner of Ireland.
Richard de la Rochelle becomes justiciar
1294 - Before the council of Dublin, de Vescy accuses John Fitz Thomas, Baron of Offaly, of defaming him to the king and council in England. Fitz Thomas retorts that de Vescy has described the king as the most perverse and dastardly knight of his kingdom. A wager of battle follows and the party are summoned before the king at Westminster. On this date, de Vescy appears ready to give battle but Fitz Thomas does not; de Vescy thus wins his case by default. However, he has been removed from the post of justiciar
1750 - John Philpott Curran, lawyer, politician, and defender of prominent United Irishmen, is born in Newmarket, Co. Cork
1878 - Edward Barrett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, fantasist, playwright and short-story writer is born in London
1909 - Geoffrey Bing, Irish human rights activist and author, is born in Belfast
1940 - The Picture Post magazine is banned in Ireland after a campaign by the Irish Catholic which objected to the “vulgarity and suggestiveness of the illustrations”
1998 - Cork Opera House announces significant rise in operating losses
2000 - The new Student Drama Theatre in the NUI Galway opens
Photo: Ray Ryan
2000 - Bus strike cripples large areas of Dublin
2000 - Galway district court Judge John Garavan refuses to extend late night opening hours to a number of nightclubs because the women frequenting them are “dreadful and not respectable”
2002 - Latest census figures show that the population of the State is just over 3.9 million - the highest level since 1871.
July 25
Today is the feast day of St. James. Since mediaeval times, Dubliners held an annual drinking festival in the Saint’s honour. Fittingly, Guinness chose St. James’ Gate as the site for their brewery
Click here to read our article on Guinness.
1633 - Thomas (Viscount) Wentworth becomes Lord Deputy of Ireland
1750 - Birth of John Curran, Irish statesman, in Newmarket, Co. Cork
1758 - Elizabeth Hamilton, author and educator, was born
1814 - Robert Peel establishes the Peace Preservation Force to counter rural unrest
1820 - Michaelangelo Hayes, painter, is born in Waterford
1917 - The Irish Convention - an attempt by Lloyd George to arrive at a political settlement - meets in Dublin; the opposition of Sinn Féin and the Ulster unionists will render it irrelevant
1919 - Death of Sir Sam McCaughey, known as ‘the Sheep King’. Born near Ballymena, he owned many millions of sheep in Victoria and New South Wales
1987 - U2 plays in Cardiff, Wales, in response to a fan who gathered 10,000 signatures on a petition requesting the show
1999 - A countrywide lobby is organised to persuade the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to ban foxhunting in Ireland
2000 - An Aer Lingus 737 carrying Irish passengers to Paris is the last aircraft allowed to land in Charles de Gaulle airport after the Air France Concorde explodes, killing 113 people.
July 26
1575 - On the orders of Essex, John Norris and Francis Drake lead an attack on Rathlin island, a stronghold of the MacDonnells. After the surrender of Bruce's castle, its 200 occupants are killed, as are 400 others found hiding in caves and cliffs
1739 - George Clinton, first governor of New York State, is born to an Irish family that had immigrated to New Britain, a small town near the Hudson River. He served as vice president under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
1782 - Birth of composer John Field in Dublin. His nocturnes for piano are the inspiration for much of Chopin’s work
1813 - A Catholic is killed at the 'Battle of Garvagh', a sectarian confrontation in Co. Derry/Londonderry
1856 - The Anglican Church of Ireland is disestablished as the state religion by the Irish Church Act
1856 - Birth in Dublin of George Bernard Shaw
1869 - British Royal assent is given to the Bill disestablishing the Irish Church (Anglican)
1914 - Arms which Sir Roger Casement had procured in Germany for the Easter Uprising are landed in Howth from Erskine Childers’ yacht, the "Asgard"
1927 - Entertainer, Danny La Rue is born Daniel Patrick Carroll in Co. Cork
1950 - Sir Gilbert Laithwaite and John Dulanty are installed as the first UK ambassador to Ireland and Irish ambassador to the UK respectively
1960 - Death of Dubliner Cedric Gibbons, art director and designer of the Oscar awards
1987 - Stephen Roche becomes the first Irishman to win the Tour de France
1998 - Robert Saulters, the Grand Master of the Orange Order, puts his leadership on the line with a call for talks with nationalist residents
2001 - Thirteen-year old Michael Beirne wins first prize in the Irish Animation Festival competition.
2006 - In what is described as a discovery 'of staggering importance' it is announced that an ancient book of psalms has been found in a bog in the midlands. The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.
July 27
1602 - O'Neill's principal vassal, Donal O'Cahan, submits to Docwra
1662 - Ormond becomes Lord Lieutenant and arrives in Ireland on this date
1663 - The "Cattle Act" restricts Irish trade with colonies as well as exports to England
1669 - Molly Malone is christened in Dublin
1710 - George Carpenter, former MP for Newtown, is wounded at Battle of Almenara, Spain
1782 - Poynings' Law is amended by Yelverton's Act which was passed on this date: only bills passed by both houses of the Irish parliament will be forwarded to England for assent
1782 - Second and third Catholic Relief Acts (4 May, 27 July) allow Catholics to own land outside parliamentary boroughs, to be teachers and to act as guardians
1805 - Death of Brian Merriman, poet famous for his translation of "The Midnight Court"
1830 - Birth of John O'Leary, Fenian, in Tipperary; referred to famously by Yeats in his poem "September 1913": 'Romantic Ireland's dead and gone/It's with O'Leary in the grave'
1846 - William Smith O’Brien leads the Young Irelanders out of the Repeal Association
1860 - Birth of John Henry Bernard, scholar, Archbishop of Dublin and provost of Trinity College Dublin
1866 - Completion of the first submarine cable link underneath the Atlantic, from Valentia Island, Co. Kerry to Trinity Bay, Newfoundland
1960 - Ireland sends troops to serve with UN forces in the Congo; nine are killed by Baluba tribesmen in an ambush at Niemba on 8 November; one of these, Anthony Browne, will be awarded the Military Medal for Gallantry
1980 - U2 plays its first-ever open-air show at the "Dublin Festival 1980" in front of 15,000 at Leixlip Castle in Kildare
1998 - A former lieutenant of drugs baron George Mitchell, is caught red-handed with £2.7m worth of cannabis in Co. Meath
1998 - Unionists claim proposals to ban RUC recruits from groups like the Orange Order may be illegal
2000 - The cream of Irish opera talent performs popular classics in aid of charity at the National Concert Hall. Headlining Pop Opera 2000 is Ireland's foremost soprano, Cara O'Sullivan
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams warns that the Good Friday Agreement would be "holed below the water line," if the British Government did not properly implement the Patten Report on the reform of policing in Northern Ireland
2001 - According to the National Treasury Management Agency annual report for 2000, Ireland's national debt is among lowest in Europe.
July 28
1210 - King John captures William de Braose and confiscates his lands
1674 - Birth of Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery; Jacobite soldier and editor
1769 - Birth in Galway of Sir Hudson Lowe, soldier, and governor of St Helena responsible for guarding Napoleon
1846 - O'Connell and the Young Irelanders party split over use of physical force
1895 - Birth of John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin, in Cootehill, Co. Cavan
1927 - The first automatic telephone exchange in Ireland, serving more than 700 customers, is opened at Ship Street
1954 - Birth of Mikey Sheehy, Gaelic footballer. in Co. Kerry
1998 - Marine Minister Dr. Michael Woods firmly rules out an extension of the salmon season
1999 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern predicts on local radio that Moscow Express will win the Galway Plate at Ballybrit. The horse is steered to victory by current Irish champion jockey Ruby Walsh
1999 - TV3 announces that model Amanda Byram will spearhead Ireland’s first ever breakfast television programme
1999 - The Central Statistics Office publishes the most popular baby names for the previous year; the leading boy’s name is Conor, followed by Seán, Jack, James and Adam. Across the gender divide, Chloe tops the list, ahead of Ciara, Sarah, Aoife and Emma
2000 - Seventy-eight republican and loyalist prisoners are released from the Maze prison
2001 - BirdWatch Ireland appeals for loans of ghettoblasters as part of a bid to save the corncrake.The blasters are needed to replay the sounds of farm traffic - tractors and their grass mowers - in areas where the rasping, croaking corncrake can still be heard, mainly along the banks of the River Shannon. The hope is they will attract the birds so they can be banded and tracked.
2005 - IRA issues statement ending its armed campaign. Gerry Adams says that it offered an unprecedented opportunity to revive the peace process. He called on unionists to fully embrace the principles of the Good Friday Agreement. The 36-year campaign of armed conflict has cost 3,500 lives, 1,800 of them at the hands of the Provisionals.
July 29
1693 - Patrick Sarsfield is mortally wounded at the Battle of Landen. He dies of his wounds three days later at Huy in Belgium, where he is buried in the grounds of St. Martin's Church
1805 - Brian Merriman, Irish language poet famous for his epic poem Cúirt an Mheeadhon - The Midnight Court, dies
1848 - Young Ireland rising centres on the 'Battle of the Widow MacCormack's cabbage garden' near Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary. William Smith O'Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher, Terence Bellew McManus and Patrick O'Donohue are arrested, convicted of high treason and sentenced to death in September-October. Sentences are commuted to transportation in June, 1849
1883 - James Carey, member of the Invincibles, turns Queen's evidence; five of his associates are hanged for the murders of Burke and Cavendish. Carey is followed to South Africa by Patrick O'Donnell, and shot dead on the Melrose, en route from Cape Town to Natal. O'Donnell is hanged in London on 17 December
1969 - The Irish Finance Act exempts people considered by the Revenue Commissioners to have written works of cultural or artistic merit from income tax on money earned by the works
1975 - Death of 40-year-old Tom Dunphy of the Royal Showband in a car crash near Carrick-on-Shannon
1998 - The threat to Irish rail services on August Bank Holiday Monday is lifted following the intervention by the chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, Kieran Mulvey
1999 - Quinze coasts to an easy victory in the Guinness Galway Hurdle Handicap
1999 - Brian Meehan is jailed for life after he is convicted of the murder of journalist, Veronica Guerin
2001 - Thousands of people climb Mayo's holy mountain, Croagh Patrick, for the annual national pilgrimage
2001 - Michael Flatley announces his retirement in Dallas at the last show of his Feet of Flames World Tour
2002 - The first public-private partnership deal to fast-track the building of 170 million euro hospital scheme is launched.
July 30
1650 - Edward Parry, Church of Ireland Bishop of Killaloe, dies in Dublin from the plague
1715 - Birth of Nahum Tate the first Irish-born poet laureate of England. Playwright and hymn writer, his best known work is While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
1761 - Birth of Henry FitzGerald, diplomat, soldier and brother of Lord Edward FitzGerald
1761 - Richard Nugent, MP for Fore and still a teenager, fights a duel with a Mr. Reilly and dies of his wounds a week later
1862 - Death of Eugene O’Curry, influential music collector
1863 - Birth of Henry Ford, son of William and Mary Ford who crossed the Atlantic from Ireland by steerage. Ford changed the entire world through his revolutionary assembly-line manufacture of motor cars
1927 - Novelist and critic John Broderick is born in Athlone, Co. Westmeath
1942 - Birth of artist Charles Harper on Valentia Island in Co. Kerry
1947 - The Soviet Union blocks Ireland’s application for entry into the UN on the grounds that Ireland, being neutral, had not helped to set up the organisation. However there are strong suspicions that the Soviet Union’s real objections are because Ireland is a Catholic country and would therefore always vote against the communist bloc countries
1971 - Red Hurley and Nevada reach no. 1 in the Irish charts with ‘Sometimes’
1998 - Orange Order leaders file notice of four planned marches along the nationalist Garvaghy Road during August
2000 - Michael Flatley's Lord of The Dance extravaganza is staged at Belfast's historic Stormont Castle
2000 - It is announced that Dublin is to get a full-scale underground metro system as part of a multi-billion pound plan to tackle the capital's crippling traffic congestion
2002 - Soccer legend George Best enters hospital for a liver transplant.
July 31
1661 - The Act of Settlement confirms some adventurers' landowning rights but allows claims from 'innocents' and royalist supporters
1689 - Robert Lundy, Governor of Derry/Londonderry, advises surrender at the approach of James's army but is overruled and allowed to escape. The city holds out under siege for 105 days and is relieved on this date
1689 - The Enniskillen Protestants defeat Jacobite forces at Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh
1737 - Robert Adair, MP for Philipstown, dies on this date, having 'had one of his legs cut off above the knee for a mortification and died soon after'
1834 - Inauguration of the first Dublin — Dun Laoghaire horse-drawn "train service"
1838 - Enactment of the Irish Poor Law
1877 - Minority of Home Rulers begin obstruction tactics in Commons
1893 - Founding of the Gaelic League in order to revive the use of the Irish language and foster appreciation of Ireland's Celtic heritage
1917 - Death of poet Francis Ledwidge, from Slane, Co. Meath, who is killed by a stray shell at Ypres during World War I
1922 - Harry Boland shot by Free Staters in Skerries; he would die three days later
1981 - Kevin Lynch, political prisoner, dies on hunger strike in the Maze prison
1978 - U2 plays McGonagle's in Dublin in support of Modern Heirs and Revolver
1998 - Parades Commission rejects a fresh application by Orangemen to parade along the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown on August 2
2000 - The British Army begins dismantling the controversial Borucki observation post which has dominated the skyline in Crossmaglen for more than 20 years.
2007 - After 38 years, the occupation of Northern irland by the British Army ends at midnight. Operation Banner is the Army's longest continuous campaign in its history with more than 300,000 personnel serving and 763 directly killed by paramilitaries.
- Details
- Slang: Today in Irish History
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August 1st. Lughnasa
Today is Lúghnasa; in the old days this was the Feast of the god Lúgh, a thirty-day agrarian celebration with August 1 at the center. It is also the first day of Autumn in the Celtic Calendar
See our articles Celebrating the Harvest & Putting out the hare, putting on the harvest knots.
1166 - Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster and ally of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, is defeated in battle by Rory O'Connor and forced to flee from Ireland
1535 - John Travers, Chancellor of St Patrick's Cathedral, is executed for high treason at Oxmantown Green for conspiring with Lord Offaly
1649 - Jones defeats Ormond at Rathmines, ending royalist hopes of taking Dublin
1714 - Following the death of Queen Anne, George I accedes to the throne. The second Irish parliament of Anne's reign is thereby dissolved
1800 - The Act of Union dissolves the Irish parliament and transfers legislative powers to Westminster
1822 - Irish Constabulary Act sets up county police forces and salaried magistracy
1851 - The Ecclesiastical Titles Act forbids Catholic bishops to assume ecclesiastical titles taken from any place in the United Kingdom
1872 - Gladstone's first Land Act, decreeing that tenants who were evicted be compensated for improvements and that tenant who were evicted for any reason other than nonpayment of rent should also be compensated
1915 - Nationalist Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa is buried in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin
1931 - Seán Ó Riada, musician and composer, is born in Cork
1981 - After 71 days on hunger strike, Kevin Lynch dies at the Maze Prison in Belfast
2001 - One of Ireland's best loved actors, Joe Lynch, dies after being taken ill at his holiday home in Spain.
August 2
1800 - The last session of the Irish parliament ends
1820 - John Tyndall, physicist, and first to discover why the sky is blue, is born in Leighlin Bridge, Co. Carlow
1932 - Actor Peter O'Toole is born in Co. Galway
1981 - Death of Kieran Doherty, TD for Monaghan-Cavan, on the 73rd day of his hunger strike
1988 - The first Aer Lingus flight with an all-female crew departs Dublin for Shannon. The Shorts 360 commuter aircraft is piloted by Capt. Grainne Cronin and co-piloted by Elaine Egan
1998 - Renegade republicans tighten the screw on Northern Ireland's fragile peace process with a fresh wave of incendiary attacks
1999 - Ireland's longest-serving rain observer, John Joe ‘Goggles’ Doyle retires; he has taken daily rainfall readings in his native Tulla since 1943 for Met Eireann and earned his nickname because of the goggles he wears when he takes his daily readings
2000 - Co. Kerry, the country’s top tourism area, claims that business is down by about 20% because of the rail strike
2001 - Torrential rain causes flash floods in Cork, Dublin, Tipperary and other areas of the country
August 3
1823 - Thomas Francis Meagher, nationalist and transportee; journalist and lecturer; brigadier-general on Union side in US civil war, and Governor of Montana, is born in Waterford
1857 - George F. FitzGerald, physicist who postulated the FitzGerald-Lorenze contraction, is born in Dublin
1916 - Roger Casement, Irish patriot, is hanged by the English in Pentonville Prison, London. He was the last to be executed as a result of the Easter Rebellion
1998 - In a landmark deal, the Apprentice Boys of Londonderry and Catholic residents of the city's Bogside reach agreement on a contentious parade after a weekend of tense negotiations
1998 - Between 20,000 and 25,000 people throng Youghal over the four days of the Murphy's-sponsored International Busking Festival
1999 - Continental Airlines announces increased availability of what it says are the cheapest direct flights between Ireland and the US
2001 - Met Eireann reports that up to 22 millimetres of rain has fallen in the south. Insurance companies believe the cost of flash-flooding in Cork and Tipperary could hit £2 million
2001 - A potentially fatal bacterium forces St. James Hospital in Dublin to close its general intensive care unit to new admissions.
August 4
1654 - Birth in Midleton, Co. Cork of Thomas Brodrick, politician in Irish and British Houses of Commons who led the inquiry into the 'South Sea Bubble'
1805 - Birth in Dublin of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, mathematician and astronomer
1846 - The Great Southern & Western Railway line between Dublin and Carlow opens
1878 - Birth of Margaret Pearse, teacher, politician and sister of Padraic Pearse, in Dublin
1998 - Gerry Adams is under growing pressure to declare the republican war over after loyalists warn that the North's peace agreement is in real danger of collapsing
1999 - The Government abandons all plans to transform the Great Blasket Island into a State Park and the 1,132 acre island is to remain in private ownership
2000 - The stand-off in the seven-week old train strike intensifies as Transport and Public Enterprise Minister Mary O’Rourke refuses to intervene
2000 - Loyalists protest after Northern Ireland health minister Bairbre de Brun, a member of Sinn Féin, refuses to fly the Union flag outside her Belfast offices to mark the 100th birthday of Britain’s Queen Mother
2000 - Residents of Belfast’s Lower Ormeau Road vote overwhelmingly against allowing Orange parades through the flashpoint district
2002 - Less than two months after turning professional, rookie Graeme McDowell from Portrush, Co Antrim, wins the Scandinavian Masters.
August 5
1722 - Birth of William Fortescuem, politician and sportsman, who tried unsuccessfully in the 1760s to introduce a bill 'to preserve partridges and hares and to take away the lives of above half the dogs in the nation'
1888 - Philip Henry Sheridan, the son of Irish immigrants from Cavan, dies in Nonquit, Massachusetts. He became an officer in the Federal cavalry and is infamously credited with the phrase: "The only good Indian is a dead one"
1891 - The Land Purchase Act further facilitates tenants' purchase of acreage from former landlords and establishes a board to purchase and redistribute land at a local level in the west
1901 - Peter O'Connor sets long jump record at 24' 11 3/4". He was born in Ashford, Co.Wicklow, but he lived and worked as a solicitor in Waterford City for most of his life. He won his first title in 1899 at the age of 25 years and his last in 1906 - but that was the Olympic title. He was the first IAAF ratified long jump world record holder and his remarkable world, and Irish, long jump record, set in Ballsbridge, Dublin on this date lasted for 20 years
1931 - Birth of Billy Bingham, Northern Ireland footballer and manager, in Belfast
1934 - Gay Byrne, broadcaster, is born in Dublin
1984 - U2 finish recording "The Unforgettable Fire"
1999 - A unique exhibition - "75 Years of Giving" - is officially opened in in Dublin by President Mary McAleese. It comprises a collection of treasures from museums and art galleries throughout the country and marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland (FNCI).
August 6
1312 - John de Wogan ceases to be justiciar; Edmund le Botiller will act as justiciar for the present
1761 - Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin, MP for Fore, and still a teenager, dies of wounds he received after fighting a duel with a Mr Reilly on July 30
1775 - Daniel O'Connell, Irish patriot, is born in Cahirciveen, County Kerry
1853 - Sir William Ridgeway, classical scholar, is born in Ballydermot, Co. Offaly
1920 - The Dáil orders the boycotting of Belfast unionist firms
1927 - Poet Richard Murphy is born
1998 - Triple Olympic champion, Michelle de Bruin, is banned for four years by FINA, the swimming's world governing body, for tampering with a urine sample
1999 - Labour analysts at the Economic and Social Research Institute announce that the country is heading for full employment for the first time in history
2000 - In Waterford, a team of six men, five of them former international boxers, skip their way into the Guinness Book of Records by smashing the 24 hour relay skipping record
2000 - The first annual Witness Festival comes to a close at Fairyhouse in Co. Meath
2001 - The chairman of the International Commission on Decommissioning, General John de Chastelain, reveals that his members and an IRA representative have agreed on a method for decommissioning.
August 7
1798 - Examination by secret committee of MacNeven, O'Connor, Neilson, Thomas Emmet, and Bond begins in the House of Lords
1832 - The Parliamentary Reform Act increases Irish seats from 100 to 105 and introduces ten-pound franchise in the boroughs: the electorate is increased to 1.2% of the population (county electorate 60,000; borough electorate 30,000). 1 Irish urban dweller in 26 and one Irish rural dweller in 116 now has the vote, as compared to 1 in 17 and 1 in 24 in England
1892 - Birth of Tom Falcon Hazel, WWI Ace, in Clifden, Co. Galway
1916 - O'Neil of the Glen, the first production released by the Film Company of Ireland, premiers at Dublin's Bohemian Theatre
1937 - Rosemary Smith, rally driver, is born in Dublin
1943 - Sarah Purser, Irish painter, dies
1998 - Unemployment falls for the 16th month in a row to reach its lowest level in almost eight years
2001 - British Airways begin a training programme for the crew of the Concorde aircraft at Shannon Airport amid speculation the supersonic plane could be back in the air within the next number of weeks
2001 - Family and close friends gather in the Spanish resort of Alicante for the cremation of one of Ireland's best loved actors, Joe Lynch
2002 - The government announces that American Special Forces will not be allowed to use Irish airspace or airports during any attack on Iraq.
August 8
1588 - The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English, with some Spaniards slain upon reaching the coasts of Ireland and some survivors remaining
1694 - Birth of Francis Hutcheson, Presbyterian philosopher, in Co. Down
1781 - James Gandon moves from London to Dublin; the first stone of his Customs House is laid on this date
1923 - The Civic Guard is renamed the Garda Siochana
1953 - The library of Alfred Chester Beatty, containing his unique collection of oriental manuscripts, opens in Dublin
1961 - On Edge of U2 (David Evans) is born in Barking Maternity Hospital, East London
1976 - Founding of the Peace Movement in the North
1981 - Thomas McElwee, Irish politicl prisoner , dies on the 62nd day of his hunger strike in Maze Prison, Northern Ireland.
2000 - A leading figure in the Young Ireland Movement, Edward Walsh, poet, folklorist, song writer and teacher, is remembered on the 150th anniversary of his death
2001 - The Taoiseach and Tánaiste urge Irish workers and employers not to panic as computer giant Gateway signals a shutdown of Irish operations with 900 job losses.
August 9
1690 – First siege of Limerick commences when William of Orange encamps just outside the walls of the old city, with an army of about 26,000; the Irish defenders were similar in number though not nearly as well armed.
1850 – Irish Tenant League is founded.
1886 – Death of Sir Samuel Ferguson, Irish poet, barrister, antiquarian, artist and public servant.
1920 – The Restoration of Order in Ireland Act receives Royal assent. The Act gives Dublin Castle the power to govern by regulation; to replace the criminal courts with courts martial; to replace coroners’ inquests with military courts of inquiry; and to punish disaffected local governments by withholding their grants of money.
1922 – Free State army and anti-Treaty forces fight a short but bloody battle. The Free State troops take 36 republican prisoners.
1922 – National Army soldier is killed in ambush at Ferrycarrig, Wexford.
1922 – General Prout’s Free State column takes Redmondstown, Co Kilkenny, with the aid of artillery.
1971 – Internment is introduced in Northern Ireland. During the internment round-up operation in west Belfast, the Parachute Regiment killed 11 unarmed civilians in what became known as the Ballymurphy massacre.
1979 – The first Vietnamese boat people arrive in Ireland.
1998 – U2’s PopMart movie debuts at the Festival Revue in Edinburgh, Scotland.
2000 – Secondary picketing by striking train drivers, who are members of the Irish Locomotive Drivers’ Association, causes transport chaos for thousands of Dublin commuters.
Sources:
History of Ireland – Stair na hÉireann
Irish History
Boat People Photo Credit: RTÉ Archives
August 10
1316 - Battle of Athenry. Irish rising in support of Edward Bruce of Scotland
1636 - The Annals of the Four Masters is completed
1719 - The House of Commons proposes that all unregistered priests in Ireland should be branded on the cheek. The plan is ultimately abandoned.
1854 - A statutory provision is made for the establishment of a national gallery of paintings, sculpture and fine arts in Ireland
1857 - Death of John Wilson Croker, Galway-born politician and writer
1890 - Death of journalist and republican John Boyle O’Reilly
1848 - Birth in Clonakilty of William Hartnett, master of still life painting
1886 - Death of Joseph Medlicott Scriven from Seapatrick, Co. Down, who wrote the words for What A Friend We Have In Jesus
1920 - Death of actor James O’Neill, in Kilkenny. Remembered for his portrayal of the Count of Monte Cristo, he was also the father of playwright Eugene O’Neill
1928 - Peter Barry, Fine Gael politician, is born in Co. Cork
1971 - Birth in Co. Cork of soccer star Roy Maurice Keane, the "human dynamo"
1975 - Death of Robert Barton, last of the surviving 1921 Treaty signatories
1984 - John Treacy wins a silver medal in the marathon at the LA Olympics
1998 - Car clamping of illegally parked cars is introduced in Dublin
1998 - After 26 years on the air, Gay Byrne confirms he will quit his RTÉ morning radio programme at Christmas and will give up the Late Late Show next June
1998 - After serving 21 years, William Moore, the last member of the terrifying Shankill Butchers Gang to remain behind bars is released, despite a Judge's recommendation that he should never go free. He was given 14 life sentences for his role in the abduction and murder of 19 innocent Catholics
1999 - Lakes featured in The Quiet Man are put on the market
2000 - Ruth-Kelly Walsh from Bray, Co. Wicklow wins the special prize for the 'Most Creative Hat' in the RDS Ladies Day Competition at the Kerrygold Horse Show.
Photo Credit: Joe Dunne
August 11
1691 - A Jacobite force under Patrick Sarsfield, guided by Galloping Hogan, destroys a Williamite siege train at Ballyneety, hampering the siege of Limerick
1835 - Henry Grattan Guinness, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1894 - Dan Breen, nationalist revolutionary and politician, is born near Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary
1927 - After the Free State general election on June 9, de Valera and Fianna Fáil enter the Dáil as the largest opposition party; the Cosgrave administration brings the Farmers' Party into government (independent Ireland's first coalition government, though not so called)
1927 - The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is established to control the Shannon hydro-electric scheme and take over all existing projects for the electrification of Ireland
1979 - Disaster overtakes the Fastnet Challenge yacht race when the biggest-ever fleet of 303 vessels is caught in a vicious storm. Seventeen people lose their lives
1998 - Fine Gael warns that many farmers who are at the mercy of the worst harvesting weather for 20 years will have no incomes by Christmas unless the Government adopts a strategy to help them out
1999 - Last almost-total solar eclipse of the century takes place in Western Europe. Cloud cover in many parts of Ireland spoils the view, but hundreds in Croke Park, Dublin watch the phenomenon under cloudless, blue skies
2000 - Hugh O'Flaherty's nomination to the European Investment Bank may be in jeopardy after the bank confirms it has the power to recommend someone else for the job
2000 - The Royal Ulster Constabulary welcomes deal which will allow a low-key policing operation for a loyalist march at the weekend in Derry.
2003 - Model plane goes transatlantic after "The Spirit of Butts Farm" - named after its testing site - lands safely in County Galway, Ireland, 38 hours after it took off from Canada. The balsa wood and mylar plane flies 3,039 kilometres (1,888 miles). US, Canadian and Irish engineers work together using satellite navigation and an autopilot system overseen by engineers and radio operators using laptop computers.
August 12
1646 - Archbishop Giovanni Rinuccini, papal nuncio to the Irish Confederate Catholics, condemns their adherence to Ormond's peace terms for failing to fully recognize Catholicism
1652 - 'Act for the Settling of Ireland' allows for the transplantation to Clare or Connacht of proprietors whose land is confiscated by Cromwell to meet promises to adventurers and soldiers; also known as the "To Hell or Connacht" Act
1796 - Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin receives its first prisoners
1804 - Birth of James Whiteside, orator and Lord Chief Justice, in Delgany, Co. Wicklow
1821 - George IV begins his visit to Ireland; he is received enthusiastically by O'Connell and others
1822 - Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, commits suicide by cutting his throat with a penknife
1870 - Sir Hubert Gough, soldier and participant in 'Curragh mutiny' of 1914, is born in Gurteen, Co. Waterford
1898 - Irish Local Government Act sets up elective county and district councils
1899 - First issue of James Connolly's Workers Republic
1914 - Death of John Holland, from Liscannor, Co. Clare, designer of the first submarine
1920 - Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, arrested by British; he immediately goes on hunger strike
1922 - Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Fein, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage
1969 - British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland after riots in Derry and Belfast
1998 - Freak twister ravages Martinstown in Co. Antrim; no injuries or fatalities are reported
1999 - Memorial service is held for the victims of the Omagh bomb attack
2001 - Playing to a capacity crowd at the Manchester Evening News Arena, U2 kicks off their European tour with a plea for peace in Northern Ireland
2001 - Loyalist protesters block a main road in north Belfast to prevent the republican Wolf Tone flute band from joining a major march commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 1981 IRA hunger strikes.
August 13
1689 - The Duke of Schomberg lands at Groomsport with his 10,000 strong Williamite army
1819 - Birth of Sir George Gabriel Stokes, mathematician and physicist, in Skreen, Co. Sligo
1846 - Birth of Otto Jaffe in Hamburg. Otto was the first non-Protestant to hold the office of Lord Mayor of Belfast — he was Jewish
1881 - First issue of United Ireland, Parnellite weekly
1887 - Special committee appointed to investigate Parnell's ties to Phoenix Park murders
1898 - The first issue of Workers’ Republic
1947 - The Health Act extends the powers of county councils and provides maternity care
1974 - Kate O'Brien, Irish writer, dies
1999 - A new set of 30p stamps is issued by An Post to honour the Gaelic Football team of the Millennium. It depicts the members of the An Post-GAA official Gaelic Football Team of the Millennium as chosen by a panel of experts
2000 - The RUC promises an increased profile at sectarian flashpoints in Belfast after a large scale attack on Catholic houses further heightens tensions.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Muredach.
August 14
1598 - Hugh O'Neill defeats the English at the Battle of Yellow Ford
1778 - Gardiner's Catholic Relief Act is enacted and grants rights of leasing and inheritance to those who have taken the oath of allegiance: the first rolling back of the penal laws
1784 - Nathaniel Hone, painter and member of the Royal Academy at the time of its founding in 1768, dies
1814 - Mary O'Connell is born in Co. Limerick. Known as Sister Anthony, she serves in the American Civil War as a nurse
1850 - The Irish Franchise Act is enacted and has the effect of increasing the electorate from 45,000 to 164,000
1903 - The Land Purchase Act (Wyndham Act) is enacted and allows for entire estates to be purchased by the occupying tenantry, subsidized by the state
1907 - H. Montgomery Hyde, author and unionist MP, is born in Belfast
1968 - Golfer Darren Clark is born in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone
1969 - First deployment of British troops in Northern Ireland
1992 - Boxer Michael Carruth wins an Olympic Gold medal in Barcelona
1998 - The Family Mediation Service, which enables separating couples to reach agreement on a range of issues relating to their break-up, is to be expanded nationwide
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pledges that the Stormont Agreement relating to the release of prisoners convicted of killing gardaí has to be honoured by the Government
1998 - "The Sovereign Nation", a publication of the 32-County Sovereignty Movement is launched in Dundalk
2000 - The Irish Locomotive Driver's Association rejects a bid to end the two-month-old rail dispute
2001 - Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid strongly criticizes the IRA after they withdraw a plan to put their weapons beyond use
2002 - Emer McGrath from Ballynew in Ballinrobe on the Mayo/Galway border becomes the country’s top student with eight Leaving Certificate A1s and one A2.
August 15
1649 - Oliver Cromwell arrives in Ireland as Commander-in-Chief and Lord Lieutenant with an army of 20,000, a huge artillery train and a large navy
1715 - On this date, Frederick Hamilton, former MP for Donegal, writes to George I that although the county is well affected, 'The great scarcity of armes in ye country is beyond anything I could have imagin'd till about three days ago that I had occasion to send some men after seven Tories that were hunted out of Fermanagh, & in the barony of Kilmakrenan, I could not get thirty men tolerably armed tho' I believe the country will be able to array seven thousand men'
1755 - Molesworth Phillips, sailor and companion of Captain James Cook, is born in Swords, Co. Dublin
1803 - Edmund Rice opens a school for poor boys in Waterford - precursor of the schools run by the Christian Brothers
1843 - Daniel O'Connell holds meetings for Repeal of the Union, attended by hundreds of thousands, at Trim and the Hill of Tara
1880 - Five people drown in Derrybeg, Co. Donegal when a chapel is flooded during Mass
1882 - Unveiling of O’Connell monument in Dublin
1919 - Birth of Benedict Kiely, novelist, short story-writer and critic, in Dromore, Co. Down
1917 - Birth of Jack Lynch, Taoiseach, in Co. Cork
1998 - Massive bomb explodes in Omagh shopping center; 29 people are killed and hundreds injured
1999 - The Portmarnock Hotel in Dublin wins the Powers World Irish Coffee Making Championship for the second successive year
1999 - Mobs in Derry attack police, loot businesses and torch buildings
1999 - Founder member of the SDLP, Paddy Devlin, dies in Belfast’s Mater Hospital after a long illness.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is also the feast day of St. Daga, 6th century Bishop of Iniskin, Dundalk.
August 16
1793 - The Convention Act bans representative bodies set up to campaign for a change in the law, i.e. putative rivals to the parliament
1832 - An Act is passed which allows for tithe payments to be commuted
1878 - The Intermediate Education Act grants female students the right to participate in public examinations and to enter into careers and professions
1879 - National Land League of Mayo is founded
1882 - Charles Stewart Parnell becomes a Freeman of the city of Dublin
1892 - National Literary Society is founded
1920 - Court-martial of Terence MacSwiney, Irish Volunteer and Lord Mayor of Cork
1921 - The first Dáil Éireann is dissolved and the second Dáil convenes
1981 - U2 plays its first show ever at Slane Castle outside Dublin, and its only Irish show of the year
1982 - Malcolm McArthur, who is wanted for the murder of a nurse named Bridie Gargan, is found in the flat of the Attorney General, Patrick Connolly; Mr Connolly resigns on this date
1995 - More than 100 people are evacuated from The Kitchen, the basement nightclub below the Clarence Hotel in Dublin after a fire is spotted on the roof. No injuries or fatalities are reported
1997 - On the 20th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, U2's PopMart show in Vienna, Austria is filled with tributes and references to the King
2001 - Dozens of wild birds, including swans, mallard and moorhens are rounded up by animal welfare workers after a major oil spill in the River Liffey at Palmerstown in Co. Dublin.
August 17
1779 - William Corbet, United Irishman and soldier, is born in Ballythomas, Co. Cork
1786 - Birth of Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and son of an Irishman
1791 - Birth of Richard Lalor Sheil, dramatist and politician; first Catholic privy councillor, in Drumdowney, Co. Kilkenny
1846 - Lord John Russell's Whig administration decides not to interfere with internal or export markets for food
1878 - Birth of Oliver St. John Gogarty, writer, and the model for the ‘stately, plump Buck Mulligan’ in Joyce’s "Ulysses"
1922 - RIC is disbanded to be replaced by the Garda Síochána
1978 - Thousands gather in Carnsore Point to protest against nuclear power
1999 - Mandate, the largest union representing bar and retail workers, demands the Millennium New Year’s Eve off for their workers
1999 - Emir Holohan Doyle is crowned Miss Ireland
1999 - Junior doctors threaten a period of industrial action throughout the country
2000 - The last RUC passing out parade takes place in Belfast before the force’s controversial name change to the Police Service of Northern Ireland
Photo credit: Paul Faith
2000 - President Mary McAleese leads mourners at the funeral of former Fine Gael Minister John Boland in St Patrick’s Church, Skerries, Co. Dublin
2000 - Beo 2000, the inaugural festival of Irish traditional music, takes place at the National Concert Hall in Dublin
2001 - General SemiConductor announces that its plant in Macroom, Co. Cork will close; 670 jobs are lost.
August 18
1579 - Death of James Fitzgerald, rebel leader
1728 - James Caulfeild, 4th Viscount and 1st Earl of Charlemont; soldier and nationalist, is born in Dublin
1814 - Birth of David Moriarty, Catholic Bishop of Kerry and opponent of nationalism, in Kilcarah, Co. Kerry
1961 - Death of playwright, humorist and writer Lynn Doyle
1986 - Chris de Burgh reaches no. 1 in British and Irish charts with Lady In Red
2000 - Guinness agrees to suspend the closure of its Dundalk plant and plans to axe 90 jobs at the Harp Brewery
2000 - Thousands flock to Kilrush in Co. Clare for the 40th anniversary of Ireland's only concertina-based festival which is held every year in memory of Elizabeth Crotty
2002 - In a bid to redress the huge population imbalance, it is announced that the Government is to scrap tough planning laws banning the building of single houses in rural Ireland.
August 19
1504 - After Ulick Burke of Clanricard seizes Galway city, Edward Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare, goes to Connacht and defeats Burke at Knockdoe. This is the largest battle ever fought between Irishmen, with 10,000 participants and 2,000 fatalities; however, most of the fighting is done by gall óglach - foreign warriors - or gallowglas. As a reward, Fitzgerald is made a Knight of the Garter
1792 - Edward Hincks, orientalist, is born in Cork
1839 - Act passed for the "improvement of navigation on the Shannon"
1876 - The ship Catalpa arrives in U.S. with Irish Fenian prisoners rescued from Australia
1887 - Birth of poet Francis Ledwidge in Slane, Co. Meath
1995 - After 26 years of shows by some of Ireland's top artists, Dublin's Baggot Inn hosts its final live concert performance
1998 - David Trimble demands that the British government introduce anti-terrorist laws equal to those planned by the Republic
1998 - Sonia O'Sullivan wins the 10,000m at the European championships in Budapest
1999 - The Connemara Pony Fair in Clifden- the west of Ireland's most prestigious horse festival - is marred by brawls between two traveller groups. The violence is a result of a long running feud between the McDonagh and Ward families
2001 - The remains of Aer Lingus chairman Bernie Cahill, who is believed to have drowned after an accident while attending his boat, are received by Rev. Fr. Michael Nolan at St. Mary's Church in Schull.
August 20
1778 - Birth of Bernardo O'Higgins, of Co. Meath origins, first Chilean head of state
1798 - Richard R. Madden - writer, historian, traveller and abolitionist - is born in Dublin
1818 - Birth in Dublin of scientist and Alpine traveller, John Ball
1860 - An expedition led by Robert O'Hara Burke, an Irish policeman, leaves Melbourne with the intention of making the first European crossing of Australia. They will make the crossing, but Burke and fellow-explorer, William Wills, will die on the return journey
1872 - Sectarian rioting in Belfast which began on August 15 continues through this date
1876 - The Irish Republican Brotherhood Supreme Council withdraws its support from the Home Rule movement
1880 - Death of Ellen Kean, one of the greatest actresses of her time
1919 - The Irish Republican Army is established by the Dail Eireann
1927 - The Currency Act establishes a separate currency for the Irish Free State
1951 - Birth of Thin Lizzy lead singer, Phil Lynott
1979 - Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats reach no. 1 in the British charts with I Don’t Like Mondays
1981 - Twenty-seven-year-old Michael "Mickey" Devine, from the Creggan in Derry dies on the 60th day of his hunger strike. He was the third INLA Volunteer to join the H-Block hunger strikers and he was the last of the group to give their lives in order to retain their status as political prisoners.
1999 - The main square in Tralee rocks to the Grand Old Man of Soul, James Brown, as the 41st International Rose Ball kicks off in the new Festival Dome
2000 - Teenage heartthrobs, Westlife, make their first appearance in Tralee. More than ten thousand fans attend the free, open air concert
2002 - Postal deliveries in small communities across the country are delayed again on the second day of industrial action by members of the Irish Postmasters Union.
August 21
1791 - Birth of the word ‘quiz’ (allegedly and disputed). Richard Daly, a theatre proprietor in Dublin, makes a bet that within 48 hours he can introduce a new word into the English language. After the evening performance, Mr. Daly distributes cards to all the staff with the word written on it, and instructs them to write it on walls all over the city. Thus ‘quiz’ enters the language
1861 - Birth in Belfast of Frederick Crawford, militant unionist and organizer of Larne gun-running
1855 - Last ever Donnybrook Fair, held in Dublin since 1204. The general uproar of the annual event results in its suspension
1879 - A Vision of the Virgin Mary is witnessed by 15 villagers in Knock, Co. Mayo
1882 - Birth in Gloucester of Arthur Luce, a professor of philosophy and fellow of Trinity College in Dublin for 65 years
1911 - Irish Women's Suffrage Federation is formed
1920 - Birth in Belfast of Rinty Monaghan, world flyweight boxing champion
1970 - The Social Democratic and Labour Party is founded with Gerry Fitt as leader
1978 - RTÉ broadcasts Eddie Macken on Boomerang winning the Aga Khan trophy
1982 - Bono marries his high-school sweetheart Alison Stewart at a ceremony in Raheny, Dublin
1983 - A train from Tralee failed near Cherryville Junction and was run into from the rear by a train from Galway. Seven passengers die in the crash and and another passenger later dies from their injuries
1998 - A salmonella alert is issued following the deaths of five elderly people in two separate outbreaks at a hospital and home for the aged in Co. Galway
2000 - Two men are shot dead in broad daylight as an all-out war erupts between rival loyalist terror gangs in Belfast
2000 - The Catholic hierarchy confirms it is actively considering allowing lay people to be ordained deacons in a bid to cope with the shortage of priests
2001 - Sinn Féin warns British prime minister Tony Blair he should take note of a poll which found the vast majority of British people believe the North should no longer be part of Britain
2001 - Unionists withhold their endorsement of the Government's new implementation plan for future policing arrangements in Northern Ireland
2002 - Celestica Electronics sheds half of its workforce of 500 at Swords, Co Dublin.
August 22
1791 - Theobald Wolfe Tone publishes "An argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland"
1798 - A French force of 1,019 men under General Humbert lands at Killala, Co. Mayo
1846 - John Keegan Casey, Fenian, poet and writer of "Rising of the Moon" is born near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
1850 - First Catholic Synod in Ireland since the Middle Ages in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Paul Cullen summons the synod which runs from this date through September 10
1881 - Second Gladstone Land Act introduces the 'three Fs' - fair rent, fixity of tenure, free sale - and sets up the Land Commission
1889 - Birth in Belfast of Seán McEntee, Fianna Fáil politician
1918 - Dublin-born WWI ace Dennis Latimer shot down. A Bristol Fighter pilot and the highest scoring ace in 20 Squadron, Latimer shot down 28 enemy aircraft between March and August of 1918. On this date, he and his observer, Lieutenant T.C. Noel, were shot down near Westroosebeke by a member of Jasta 7. Latimer was captured, Noel was killed
1922 - Michael Collins is assassinated. On the last day of his life, he set out from Cork in a convoy that passed through Bandon, Clonakilty, and Rosscarbery on its way to Skibbereen. He stopped at Woodfield, and there in the Four Walls, the pub situated across the road from the house where his mother had been born, he stood his family and escort to the local brew - Clonakilty Wrastler. On the return trip they again passed through Bandon. Michael Collins had only twenty minutes more to live. Around eight o'clock, his convoy was ambushed at a place known as Beal na mBláth - the mouth of flowers. Only one man was killed--Michael Collins. It is thought that Irregulars did the shooting, but some say that it might have been his own men. To this day, there is controversy about what actually happened
1933 - The National Guard is banned
1954 - Birth of Jimmy Barry Murphy, hurler and Gaelic footballer, in Cork
1966 - The Munster & Leinster, Provincial and Royal Banks merge to form Allied Irish Banks
1977 - Cardinal Tomas Ó Fiaich becomes the 112th successor to St. Patrick as Primate of All Ireland
1998 - The republican splinter group INLA calls for a total and unconditional ceasefire and says it has instructed all units to desist from the "armed struggle"
1999 - Yann Reynard Goulet - "The Fox" - Breton patriot and Irish Republican dies in Ireland
2000 - Prominent loyalist Johnny ‘‘Mad Dog’’ Adair is sent back to prison after Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson suspends his early release licence
2002 - Caroline Corr, drummer with Irish pop band The Corrs, marries Frank Woods on the Spanish island of Mallorca
2002 - U2's "Elevation 2001: Live From Boston" picks up the "Best Music Release DVD" award at the 5th DVD Awards in Hollywood.
2010 - Finance Minister Brian Lenihan steps onto the podium and into history as the first Fianna Fáil minister to deliver the keynote speech at the annual Michael Collins commemoration in Béal na mBláth.
Photo Credit: Fin Facts Ireland
August 23
1170 - Strongbow, a henchman of Henry II, arrives in Waterford at the behest of Dermot McMurrough, an event described in the Annals of Ulster as “the beginning of the woes of Ireland”
1742 - Birth of Walter Hussey (Burgh), lawyer, politician and orator
1798 - Frenchman General Humbert proclaims at Ballina, Co. Mayo, “Union, liberty, the Irish Republic”
1887 - The Land Act gives courts the power to revise and fix rents
1908 - Birth in Dublin of Mervyn Wall, writer who wrote under the pseudonym of Eugene Welply
1912 - Birth of Irish American actor Gene Kelly
1920 - Violent clashes in Belfast; 30 people are killed between August 23 and August 31; Catholics are expelled from shipyards and engineering works
1953 - Birth of John Rocha, fashion designer, based mainly in Dublin since the late seventies
1972 - Lord Killanin becomes the first Irish president of the International Olympic Committee
1995 - RTÉ reports on the closure of the Irish Press newspaper
1998 - A memorial service for the victims of the Omagh bombing is held at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin and attended by many dignitaries including President Mary McAleese
1999 - Dublin Bus opens the controversial Stillorgan Quality Bus Corridor and triples travelling time for city bound motorists
1999 - Bus Éireann announces a luxury Expressway coach hourly daily service from Limerick to Dublin
2001 - An Bord Pleanála grants permission to build a four-lane bridge between Macken Street and Guild Street in Dublin
In the liturgical calendar, it is the feast day of St. Eogan.
August 24
1210 - King John sails from Dublin for England. He had landed at Waterford in June and campaigned in Leinster; after a short siege, he captures Carrickfergus, where the de Lacys have made a stand. On 28 July he captures William de Braose and confiscates his lands. Hugh and Walter de Lacy, lords of Ulster and Meath, forfeit their lands but escape to Scotland. John has defeated the hostile Norman magnates and has established relations with various Irish kings. Cathal Crovderg O'Connor, king of Connacht, has fought in John's army but then quarrelled with him - O'Connor offered his son Aedh to John as a hostage, but Aedh's mother refused to allow this. The dispute is later resolved
1747 - Birth in Dublin of William La Touche, founder of the Bank of Ireland
1798 - Generals' Cornwallis and Lake leave Dublin. Lake travels fast by road with a small force. Cornwallis travels with the main force down the Grand Canal
1803 - James Napper Tandy, Irish patriot, dies in exile in France. Originally a small tradesman in Dublin, he gained attention by his attacks on municipal corruption and his proposal to boycott English goods as a reprisal for the restrictions placed on Irish commerce. He joined the Irish volunteer army and he aided Theodore Wolfe Tone in founding the Dublin branch of the United Irish Society. When faced with a sedition charge in 1793, Tandy fled to the United States and then to France,where he was given the title of general. In 1798, he landed in Ireland, but when he discovered that the French expedition of General Humbert to aid the Irish rebellion had failed, he fled to Hamburg, where he was arrested. He was returned to Ireland, sentenced to execution, but reprieved through French influence. His fame is perpetuated in the Irish ballad “The Wearing of the Green”
1962 - Death of Agnew McMaster, the last of the touring actor-managers who presented Shakespeare’s plays throughout rural Ireland
1968 - The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association marches from Coalisland to Dungannon in Co. Tyrone in one of the first large-scale marches of the six-county civil rights movement
1990 - Brian Keenan is released on 24 August, having spent 52 months as a hostage in Beirut
1998 - Shops re-open in Omagh; among the shops to open was Wattersons, which lost three members of staff, and the Oxfam shop, whose two teenager volunteers were also killed
1998 - Eight Navy divers are injured during an air-sea rescue display.
The men who are all members of the Navy Diving Team were taking part in a demonstration by the Defence Forces as part of the Tall Ships festival in Dublin
1999 - Waterford Crystal is chosen to usher in the millennium in the city of New York with a gigantic cut glass Star of Hope ball. The component parts of the six foot diameter sphere, made of 572 crystal panels each consisting of five diamond shapes, will be assembled in New York. It is planned to hang 22 stories high over Manhattan and be lowered down a 77ft high flagpole in time for the stroke of midnight
2000 - Additional troops are ordered onto the streets of Belfast night as fears grow for the fragile peace process
2001 - Bono's father, Bob, is laid to rest at Old Balgriffin Cemetary in Co. Dublin.
August 25
1170 - Richard de Clare (Strongbow) marries MacMurrough's daughter Aoife, as part of an agreement made two years earlier
1645 - Edward Worcester, Earl of Glamorgan; aristocrat and inventor, is sent to Ireland to raise troops for the king, and makes two secret treaties with the confederates on this date and on 20 December
1764 - James Hope, a member of the United Irishman, is born in Templepatrick, Co. Antrim
1769 - Henry Flood, MP for Callan, kills James Agar, MP for Tulsk, in a duel. The Flood and Agar families had disputed the representation of Callan for many years
1798 - Humbert takes Ballina after token resistance by Government forces
1803 - The British capture Robert Emmet
1863 - Eugene O'Growney, priest and Irish-language revivalist, is born in Ballyfallon, Co. Meath
1865 - Robert Lloyd Praeger, botanist and writer, is born in Holywood, Co. Down
1882 - Birth of Sean Ó Ceallaigh, Ireland’s second president
1921 - Birth in Belfast of Brian Moore who is best known for his novel "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne"
1958 - The first Rose of Tralee festival is held
1986 - ‘Hurricane Charlie’ hits Ireland and the heaviest rain-fall over a 24 hour period is recorded — 10.63 inches at Kippure Mountain, Co. Wicklow
1998 - British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, arrives in the North to announce a security crackdown in the wake of the Omagh bombing
1998 - An armada of tall ships from around the world sails away from Dublin, ending a five-day visit
2001 - U2 brings the Elevation Tour to Slane Castle north of Dublin, site of the annual Slane Festival since 1981. It's U2's first performance at Slane since that first festival 20 years ago, when they were on the support bill for Thin Lizzy.
August 26
1725 - Five Dublin children receive the first recorded smallpox innoculations in Ireland
1798 - Humber leaves Ballina bound for Castlebar. He takes an indirect route through the mountains
1904 - Lord Dunraven forms the Irish Reform Association to campaign for some devolution; the following December, unionists form a United Unionist Council to resist Dunraven's plan
1913 - Also known as "The Great Dublin Lockout", the Dublin Transport Strike, led by Jim Larkin and James Connolly, begins
1921 - Re-election of Éamon de Valera President of Dáil Éireann. He is proposed and seconded by Commandant Sean MacEoin and General Richard Mulcahy — both of whom later line up against him in the Civil War
1940 - German aircraft bomb a creamery at Campile, Co. Wexford; three women are killed
1997 - U2 plays at the Botanical Gardens in Belfast. It is the band's first show in Belfast in 10 years
1998 - British Prime Minister, Tony Blair meets with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Ashford Castle, Co. Mayo. They join forces to fight terrorism and discuss laws which will be introduced in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing
2002 - Roy Keane’s journey from unemployed potato picker in Cork to multi-millionaire player on the world stage is related in his book "Keane - The Autobiography" which is released on this date.
August 27
1695 - The second Irish parliament of William III is called in Dublin; Robert Rochfort is unanimously elected Speaker
1798 - Humbert appears outside Castlebar. The Government forces are deployed to cover the direct route and Humbert unexpectedly appears on their flank. Humbert attacks. French advance causes Militia to run. Government defence collapses and Humbert takes the town. Cornwallis reaches Tullamore. Rebels assemble on Rebel hill, near Baileborough, Co Cavan
1870 - The Oceanic, a liner built in Belfast by Harland and Wolff for the White Star Line, is launched
1908 - Birth of Niall Ó Dónaill, Irish-language scholar and lexicographer, in the Rosses, Co. Donegal
1920 - Birth of James Molyneaux, Ulster Unionist Party leader
1928 - The Galway Gaelic Theatre - afterwards called the Taibhdheare Theatre - opens with Micheál Mac Liammóir's production of Diarmuid agus Gráinne
1937 - The first traffic lights in the Free State are installed at the junction of Merrion Square and Clare Street
1979 - Assassination of Lord Louis Mountbatten off the coast of Co. Sligo
1982 - The official police death count of the Troubles reaches 3,000 on this date with the killing of Hugh McKibbin in Belfast
1999 - On their first official overseas visit, Prince Edward and his new bride Sophie Rhys Jones arrive at Dublin Castle for the opening of the Millennium Gold Encounter. A total of 77 young people from 25 countries who have won their nation’s equivalent of the Gaisce award will attend the conference. Prince Edward is the chairperson the International Awards Association
2000 - A former member of British military intelligence reveals that weapons used by loyalist gangs who rampaged through Belfast's Shankill district the previous week were provided by British intelligence as part of a plan to defeat the IRA
2001 - Opponents claim that the introduction of tolls on the planned Kinnegad-Enfield-Kilcock motorway will cost commuters to Dublin an extra £20 a week; they outline their objections at an oral inquiry in Mullingar to plans by the National Road Authority to charge car users £1.65 to use the new 35 kilometre road
2001 - The newly restored century-old trading schooner, Kathleen & May arrives in Youghal after a 24-hour historic voyage from England to Ireland
2002 - Roy Keane's autobiography breaks the record for first day sales of a hardback book in Ireland.
August 28
1170 - Richard de Clare marries Aoife Ní Mhurrachadha and sets a precedent for Norman rule in Ireland
1710 - A board of trustees for linen manufacture is established
1788 - Sir Aubrey de Vere, poet, is born in Adare, Co. Limerick
1788 - James Digges La Touche, banker and philanthropist, is born in Dublin
1798 - Cornwallis reaches Athlone; Humbert entrenches in Castlebar
1814 - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, novelist and journalist, is born in Dublin
1815 - Mary Letitia Martin, 'Princess of Connemara,' novelist, philanthropist and daughter of 'Humanity Dick' Martin is born in Ballynahinch Castle, Co. Galway
1860 - Napier's and Deasy's Land Acts are passed
1872 - The first horse drawn tram cars enter service in Belfast
1877 - Charles Stewart Parnell becomes president of Home Rule Confederation
1896 - Birth of Liam O'Flaherty
1929 - "Health And Efficiency" becomes the very first publication banned by the Irish Free State
1975 - Willie John McBride retires from international rugby
1998 - The Real IRA and the 32 County Sovereignty Committee are to be placed on an international terrorist list by the US Government. An FBI clampdown on American supporters of both groups is also planned
1998 - The Northern Ireland Assembly heads for its first major crisis after a confidential document discloses that senior Ulster Unionists warned the British government they could no longer endorse the Good Friday agreement
1998 - One of the largest passing-out parades for the Defence Forces in recent years takes place; 86 recruits receive their two-star private rating at a ceremony in Gormanston Army Camp, Co Meath
2000 - Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy faces calls for his resignation as former judge Hugh O’Flaherty withdraws his controversial nomination for vice-presidency of the European Investment Bank.
August 29
1729 - Birth of David La Touche, banking magnate and MP
1798 - Cornwallis reaches Tuam
1803 - Samuel Neilson, co-founder of the United Irishmen, dies
1844 - Death of Edmund Ignatius Rice, founder of the Irish Christian Brothers Order
1890 - The Science & Art Museum and The National Library of Ireland open
1871 - Birth of Jack B. Yeats, painter and author, in London
1950 - Birth of Dick Spring, politician; Labour Party leader and Tánaiste, in Tralee, Co. Kerry
1951 - Bill Graham, rock journalist and author, is born in Belfast
1975 - Death of Eamon de Valera
1992 - U2 plays the first of two shows at Yankee Stadium in New York. They are only the second rock artist to play in this venue. Billy Joel was the first
2000 - Irish Travellers are granted the same legal protection as other ethnic minority groups by a judge in London
2002 - Sixteen soldiers are injured during sectarian street clashes in flashpoint east Belfast
2002 - According to Transparency International’s annual corruption index, Ireland has slipped five places and is now perceived as the third most corrupt country in Europe.
August 30
1559 - Lord Sussex, is sworn in as Lord Deputy
1690 - First siege of Limerick ends
1708 - Penal Laws passed in 1695 restricting Catholics rights are strengthened for the second time
1709 - All registered Catholic priests in Ireland are required to renounce the claims of the Stuarts to the thrones of England and Ireland — only 33 out of 1,089 comply
1841 - The Cork Examiner, now The Irish Examiner, hits the streets for the first time
1855 - Birth of Feargus Edward O’Connor, Chartist leader
1874 - Michael Banim, storywriter, dies; along with his brother and co-author John, he sought to create sympathetic, yet non-stereotypical Irish characters in his stories
1875 - National synod of Catholic bishops begins at Maynooth; they renew condemnation of Queen's Colleges and condemn Trinity College
1911 - The Chamber of Commerce calls for Ireland to adopt Greenwich Mean Time — 25 minutes behind Irish Standard Time
1928 - William Trevor, pseudonym of William Trevor Cox, short-story writer and novelist, is born in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork
1950 - Birth of Dana, pseudonym of Rosemary Scallon, singer/songwriter
1967 - Black Velvet Band by the Dubliners enters the British charts
1997 - U2 returns home for the first of two shows at Dublin's Lansdowne Road stadium
2000 - SDLP leader John Hume, announces his intention to quit as a Stormont Assembly member
2000 - As many as 21 houses in the County Antrim town of Carrickfergus are attacked in incidents linked to the North’s bitter loyalist feud
2001 - Death of Donal O'Sullivan; he was Cork's captain in the 1956 All-Ireland football final against Galway and prominent in GAA administration at county and provincial level
2002 - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson accuses the United States of trying to scale back plans to save the world’s poorest people.
2013 - World-renowned poet and playwright Seamus Heaney dies in a Dublin hospital following a short illness. Mr Heaney was awarded numerous prizes over the years and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. He was born to a farming family at Mossbawn near Bellaghy in Co Derry on 13 April 1939 and was the eldest of nine children born to Margaret and Patrick Heaney.
His upbringing often played out in the poetry he wrote in later years. Educated at the St Columb's College Catholic boarding school in Derry, he later studied at Queen's University Belfast, before making his home in Dublin, with periods of teaching in the United States. Among the academic posts he held were professorships at Harvard and Oxford universities. Mr Heaney was an honorary fellow at Trinity College Dublin and last year was bestowed with the Seamus Heaney Professorship in Irish Writing at the university, which he described as a great honour. The writer is survived by his wife Marie and children Christopher, Michael and Catherine Ann.
Photo Credit & Content Source: RTÉ
August 31
1767 - Birth in Belfast of Henry Joy McCracken, United Irishman and leader of Ulster insurgents in 1798 rebellion
1803 - French "Irish Legion" organized in Brittany
1806 - Birth in Dublin of Charles Lever; fiction writer who was famous for his rendering of Trinity College's privileged atmosphere
1830 - William Fitzpatrick, biographer and historian, is born in Dublin
1957 - Birth of Colm O'Rourke, Meath Gaelic footballer, in Co. Meath
1994 - IRA announces a cease-fire
1997 - U2 pays tribute to Princess Diana at Dublin concert
2000 - First Minister David Trimble is understood to be involved in secret talks with the Ulster Volunteer Force in an attempt to resolve the bloody loyalist feud raging on the streets of Northern Ireland
2000 - Former SDLP Derry Mayor Annie Courtney is to replace John Hume as an Assembly member for Foyle
2000 - The world’s largest fishing vessel arrives in Dublin after completing its maiden voyage from Norway. "Atlantic Dawn", which took over two and a half years to build in a Norwegian shipyard, cost Irish owner Kevin McHugh £50 million
In the liturgical calendar, it is the feast day of St. Aidan.
- Details
- Slang: Today in Irish History
- Hits: 762
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.
- Details
- Slang: Today in Irish History
- Hits: 756
October 1
1600 - Robert Grave, Church of Ireland Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, and his family drown in Dublin Bay on their way home to Wexford by sea
1796 - The Royal College of St. Patrick. a Catholic seminary, is opened in Maynooth, Co. Kildare
1751 - Cornelius Bolton, politician, Volunteer and improving landlord is born
1761 - In the climate of sectarian tension created partly by the Mathew-Maude controversy, the Whiteboys, a violent agrarian protest movement, begins in Tipperary and spreads through Munster and West Leinster
1911 - Statue of Charles Stewart Parnell is unveiled in Dublin
1930 - Actor Richard Harris is born in Limerick
1979 - RTÉ broadcasts Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland
2000 - Eight men, including one Irishman, are feared dead after their fishing vessel sinks off the Clare coast in gale force winds and treacherous seas
2000 - President Mary McAleese leads the tributes to the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Luciano Storero, who died at 8am this morning in the Mater Hospital in Dublin at the age of 74
2001 - Journalists from all over Ireland gather to pay tribute to colleague Martin O'Hagan who was gunned down last week. More than 1,500 people attend his funeral in his hometown of Lurgan, County Armagh
2001 - The Black & White Pub of The Year Award 2001 goes to Fitzpatrick's Bar of Jenkinstown, Co Louth.
October 2
1600 - O'Neill engages Mountjoy's forces in the Battle of Moyry Pass
1833 - Birth of Father William Corby who became Chaplain of the Irish Brigade in Detroit, Michigan
1852 - William O'Brien, writer and nationalist, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork
1875 - Arthur Conway, mathematician and president of University College Dublin, is born in Wexford
1879 - Kate Coll arrives in New York from Ireland on board the SS Nevada. She later marries Juan Vivion de Valera, and gives birth to Éamon on October 14, 1882 in New York
1900 - Hubert Butler, writer and local historian, is born near Bennettsbridge, Co. Kilkenny
1942 - The British cruiser Curaçao sinks off Donegal after colliding with the Queen Mary; 338 lives are lost
1975 - Death of sculptor, Seamus Murphy
2001 - Máire Ní Chathasaigh, harpist and composer wins the TG4 Traditional Music Award 2001
2002 - In Málaga, Spain, a street is to be named after deceased Irish painter, George Campbell. Mr Campbell, from Arklow, Co Wicklow, died in 1979. He spent five months of every year of his last 27 years in Málaga
2002 - A 1.3 acre site at Railway Square in Waterford city is sold at auction for €4.9 million – over twice its guide price and a record for the region.
2009 - Irish voters strongly endorse the European Union's Lisbon Treaty - 16 months after their first vote rejecting it plunged EU reforms into deadlock. According to final results, 67.1% of Irish voters approved it, while 32.9% voted "No". Turnout in the three-million electorate was 58%.
Photo Credit: Reuters
October 3
1691- Treaty of Limerick is signed, ending the Williamite War in Ireland; the treaty allows evacuation of the Irish army to France and promises tolerance of Irish Catholics
1750 - James McLaine, gentleman highwayman born in Monaghan, is hanged at Tyburn
1871 - Gen. John O'Neill and a small force of Fenians invade Canada at Pembina, Manitoba
1943 - Richard Caborn, Sports Minister, is born
1961 - Ireland applies for membership of the European Economic Community on 1 August and joins UNESCO on this date
1966 - Birth of Niall Quinn, footballer
1971 - Death of Seán Ó Riada, founder, composer, and arranger for the Chieftains. He composed Mná na hÉireann (Women of Ireland). Guided by his vision, traditional music changed radically, and became accessible to a modern Irish audience, and through this traditional music, the cultural life of Ireland was invigorated. (taken from the book "Bringing It All Back Home" by Nuala O Connor)
1975 - Dr Tiede Herrema, chief executive of the Dutch-owned Ferenka factory in Ballyvarra, County Limerick, is kidnapped by the IRA
1981 - In the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland, ten IRA and INLA hunger-strikers die between 5 May and 12 August; the hunger strike is called off on this date
2000 - The death toll in storms that have raged for two days off the coast of Galway reaches 20
2002 - Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness condemns a weekend gun attack on a bus driver in his home city of Derry which police believe was the work of the IRA.
October 4
1582 - Pope Gregory reforms the calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 45BCE: 4 October is followed by 15 October. However, the reform will not be implemented in Ireland till 1752
1693 - Irish Brigade of France fights in the battle of Marsaglia
1733 - Henry Boyle, the future Earl of Shannon, is unanimously elected Speaker of the Irish parliament. He will serve till 1756 - the longest-serving Speaker of the 1692-1800 parliaments
1741 - Edmund Malone, editor and Shakespearian scholar, is born in Dublin
1842 - Birth of heavyweight bare-knuckle boxer Jim Dunne in Co. Kildare.
Dunne won the American heavyweight title from fellow Irishman Jim Elliot - the pair were jailed after the illegal event
1886 - Lennox Robinson, playwright and one-time Abbey Theatre manager, is born in Douglas, Co. Cork
1959 - Direct dialing is launched in Ireland
1961 - General election is held in the Republic. Fianna Fáil gains 70 of the 144 seats
1999 - Aer Lingus announces it will drop its Knock Birmingham route. The decision by the national airline to cease operations on this route also means the severing of its only regular link with Knock Airport. A spokesperson for Aer Lingus confirms that the last flight on the Knock Birmingham route will be on October 29
2001 - Cork will be Europe's Culture Capital in 2005 after landing the prestigious title ahead of Galway
2002 - Thousands of people from all over the country march in protest over redundancy payments
2002 - The North's police service launch dawn raids on Sinn Féin's offices at the Northern Ireland parliament at Stormont
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Francis. Traditionally, many people have their pets blessed in honor of the patron saint of all animals.
2010 - Graeme McDowell after delivering the match-winning point for Europe in his final singles match against the USA's Hunter Mahan at the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in Wales. For the first time in its history, the Ryder Cup stretched into a fourth day due to inclement weather
Photo Credit: Irish Times.
October 5
1731 - Parliament meets at the new parliament house in College Green for the first time
1873 - Leslie Montgomery, comic writer under the pseudonym Lynn C. Doyle, is born in in Downpatrick, Co. Down
1878 - New York Gaelic Society is formed
1911 - Birth of Brian O’Nolan, aka Flann O’Brien and Myles na gCopaleen in Strabane, Co. Tyrone
1923 - Birth of Philip Berrigan - militant priest, Virginia, Minn
1924 - John Joe Barry, athlete who is known as 'the Ballincurry Hare', is born
1938 - Frank Patterson, tenor, is born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
1954 - Bob Geldof, rock musician and charity organizer, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1968 - Police clash with Derry civil rights marchers, giving birth to the civil rights organization People's Democracy
2000 - With pressure growing on Trimble to withdraw from the Northern Ireland power sharing executive, parliamentary colleague William Thompson, the West Tyrone MP is quoted as saying ‘‘He is on the skids and he cannot survive’
2000 - In one of the largest operations in the history of the State, over 150 gardaí and officers from the FBI search a warehouse and distribution center. At the centre of the investigation is a Shannon based company that is alleged to have sold counterfeit aircraft parts to aircraft maintenance and repair facilities
2000 - Ireland's ban on tobacco advertising stands despite the decision by the European Court of Justice to knock down an EU wide ban
2000 - Michael Collins who wrote The Keepers of Truth and Brian O’Doherty who wrote The Deposition Of Father McGreevy are among the six authors shortlisted for Britain’s Booker Prize
2000 - The World Windsurfing Grand Prix is held in Ireland for the first time
2000 - Midleton Distillery in Co. Cork wins the Distillery of the Year award
2001 - Former NI First Minister David Trimble announces plans to go to the House of Lords after failing to overturn a ruling that his ban on Sinn Fein ministers attending cross-Border meetings is illegal
2001 - Ten thousand rail travellers are delayed when Dublin's Heuston railway station closed because of a bomb alert
2003 - First Sunday edition of the Star newspaper is published.
2010 - At age 62, Maurice Ignatius "Moss" Keane loses his heroic battle against cancer. Tributes from the worlds of sport and politics pour in for the much-loved Ireland, Munster and Lions star who was capped 51 times for his country and was part of the famous Munster side that beat New Zealand in Thomond Park, Limerick, in 1978.
October 6
1175 - Under the Treaty of Windsor, concluded on this date, Rory O'Connor recognizes Henry as his overlord and agrees to collect tribute for him from all parts of Ireland. Henry agrees that O'Connor can be king of the areas not conquered by the Normans. But O'Connor cannot control the territories of which he is nominally king, and Henry and his barons annex further land without consulting him
1216 - The union of the diocese of Glendalough with that of Dublin, having been promulgated by Pope Innocent III last year, is confirmed by Pope Honorius III
1649 - Owen Roe O'Neill dies
1798 - Grattan removed from Irish Privy Council, falsely charged with being a sworn member of United Irishmen
1891 - Death of Charles Stewart Parnell, champion of tenants rights and co-founder of the Land League; often called the "Uncrowned King of Ireland"
1901 - Birth of C. S. 'Todd' Andrews, revolutionary and public servant, in Dublin
1903 - Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton is born at Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. He and Sir John Douglas Cockcroft were awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles
Photo Credit: Nobel.se
1928 - Death of Galway man Pádraic Ó Conaire, who was among the first writers to develop a new modern literature in the Irish language
1928 - Maeve Kyle, athlete and hockey player, is born in Kilkenny
1948 - Birth of Gerry Adams
1970 - Opening of the arms trial involving Charles Haughey
1980 - Mella Carroll, first female judge in the Republic, is appointed
2000 - It is announced that John Monks, a pig farmer from Cloughran, north Dublin who died last year, left almost £8 million in his will; he accumulated the vast sum from selling land to developers
2000 - The High Court grant gardaí the right to detain Slobodan Milosevic if he sets foot in Ireland
2002 - Some of the highest tides in a century are set to swamp the Irish coastline this week, prompting flood contingency plans in a number of high-risk areas.
October 7
1731 - A complaint is made to the House of Commons 'that Mr Anthony Tenison did, in a violent and notorious manner, assault John Bourke, Esq., a Member of this House, by presenting a pistol to his breast, and threatening to shoot him, on the thirtieth of December last'
1878 - Birth of Margaret (Gretta) Cousins, Irish women's rights activist.
1910.- Premiere of Percy French’s play The Immigrant’s Letter
1919 - A cabinet committee is appointed to consider Irish self government
1935 - Birth of Thomas Kineally, Irish-Australian author of Schindler’s List which was originally called Schindler's Ark
1968 - Death of Margaret Mary Pearse, Irish language educator
1998 - The Bank of Ireland announces an unprecedented 20-year fixed rate of 6·99% within the first of a wave of interest cuts that will bring Irish rates into line with Europe for the introduction of the euro on January 1
1999 - The Corrs and The Divine Comedy emerge as Ireland’s favourite music stars winning three awards each at the Hot Press Rock Awards in Dublin. U2's "Sweetest Thing" wins for "Best Single"; Westlife picks up the prize for best Irish pop act; and Robbie Williams’s sell out concert at The Point Theatre, Dublin, wins him best live performance by an international act
1999 - Ireland moves a step closer to raising the recruitment age of the armed forces from 16 to 18
1999 - Aiming to raise awareness of world poverty, The Corrs and chartered accountants KPMG jointly launch the NetAid web site
2000 - The tenants of a Dublin inner city community refuse to leave their houses after been evicted. The tenants of 28 cottages - - almost all single mothers - block access to their homes when they go up for viewing to prospective buyers
2001 - The 46th Murphy's Cork Film Festival opens with a showing of Disco Pigs which was partly filmed in the city
2002 - Police in Northern Ireland are attacked with bottles and other missiles after a crowd of youths go on the rampage through Kilkeel, Co. Down
2002 - The peace process faces its gravest crisis with the announcement that Ian Paisley’s DUP two ministers will withdraw from the government
2002 - A man is shot and critically wounded in east Belfast in what is believed to be an escalation of a bitter feud between the Loyalist paramilitary groups, the UDA and UVF.
October 8
1822 - Birth in Dublin of Richard D'Alton Williams. He is educated at Carlow Academy and studies medicine at Saint Vincent's Hospital, Dublin. He becomes a member of the Young Ireland movement and contributes poetry to The Nation under the pseudonym 'Shamrock'. In 1848, he is tried for treason for articles he publishes in the Irish Tribune, but he is successfully defended by lawyer and fellow poet Samuel Ferguson
1949 - Edith Oenone Somerville, Irish novelist, dies in Castletownshend, Co. Cork.In her late twenties, she meets her second cousin Violet Florence Martin who writes under the pseudonym Martin Ross. They become lifelong companions and literary partners, collaborating on a series of humorous novels about the rural Irish gentry. Their most important literary achievement is their novel The Real Charlotte which is published in 1894
1959 - Birth of musician Gavin Friday
1962 - Kerrygold butter is launched on the world market
1974 - Seán MacBride, President of the International Peace Bureau, Geneva, Switzerland, and President of the Commission of Namibia, United Nations, New York, USA, is awarded a half share of the Nobel Peace Prize
Photo Credit: Nobel.se
1998 - Minister for Defence, Michael Smith TD strongly defends his decision to close down six army barracks after several delegates stage a walk-out at the PDFORRA conference in Ennis, Co Clare
1999 - Rosmoney Shellfish of Co. Mayo is crowned as Ireland’s Best Oyster Grower in the 1999 BIM Guinness Quality Oyster Awards
1999 - On the grounds of Belfast City Hall, a six-foot statue is dedicated to the memory of the late James Magennis. He is finally honoured in his native Belfast 54 years after he was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry during the Second World War
2000 - Catholic bishops begin a three-day meeting in Maynooth during which they will attempt to reach agreement on the ordination of lay people as deacons
2000 - More than 40,000 jubilant supporters turn out to welcome the victorious Co. Kerry football team and the Sam Maguire Cup back to the Kingdom
2001 - Northern Ireland's political institutions are plunged into a new crisis as Ulster Unionists begin a phased withdrawal of ministers from the power-sharing executive
2002 - Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams claims that the raid on his party’s Stormont offices last week is a plot to throw the peace process into crisis
2002 - Catholic Bishops back the Nice Treaty, stating there is a stronger case for voting in favour than against.
October 9
1651 - The Navigation Act provides that goods imported to any Commonwealth lands shall be carried in English ships only
1849 - First tenant protection society established at Callan, Co. Kilkenny.
1913 - Birth of golfer Harry "The Brad" Bradshaw near Delgany, Co. Wicklow
1968 - Champion racehorse, Arkle, is retired to see out the rest of his days in Bryanstown, Kildare
1974 - Death of poet and playwright Padraic Fallon. He was born in Athenry, Co Galway in 1905. His only collection during his lifetime, "Poems" was published a few months before his death
Photo Credit: Gallery Press.
1978 - Birth of Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne in Dublin. Better known as Nicky Byrne, singer with the boyband Westlife
2000 - The Dinn Ri, Carlow Town, Co. Carlow, scoops the Black & White Pub of the Year Award for a third time
2001 - Nearly 450 jobs are lost as the economic fallout from the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US continues to hit home. More than 1,600 workers at Waterford Crystal are also preparing for a complete shutdown next week for five days
2002 - SDLP Leader Mark Durkan urges the British and Irish Governments to do everything possible to minimise the damage to the Good Friday Agreement. Following talks in Downing Street with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mr Durkan acknowledges that the power-sharing government in Stormont may have to be suspended after allegations of an IRA spy ring operating within the Northern Ireland Government
2003 - The famous cranes at Belfast's Harland and Wolff shipyard, which dominate the city's skyline, are listed as historic monuments to ensure their preservation.
October 10
1084 - Patrick, Bishop of Dublin, dies in a shipwreck
1711 - The Linen Board meets for the first time
1771 - During his visit to Ireland, Benjamin Franklin attends a meeting of the House of Commons on this date
1790 - Birth in Co. Tipperary of Fr. Theobald Matthew, “The Apostle of Temperance” and campaigner against alcohol
1819 - Birth in Templemore, Co. Tipperary of Charles Stanley Monck, the first Governor General of Canada
1865 - Magee College is opened as a combined arts and Presbyterian theological college in Derry/Londonderry
1899 - Irish Transvaal Committee is formed to aid Boers against the English
1899 - Eoin O Grownley, Irish language scholar, dies
1969 - The Hunt Committee Report on Ulster police recommends abolition of the B-special troops and the creation of the Ulster Defence Regiment
1971 - Birth in Cork of Roy Keane, football player for the Cobh Ramblers, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and the Republic of Ireland
1981 - The Fureys reach no. 14 in the British charts with When You Were Sweet Sixteen
1990 - RTÉ reports on the closure of Phoenix Park Racecourse
1998 - THE IRA and Sinn Féin embark on a series of secret talks with Protestant churchmen and community leaders in a bid to prevent the peace process and the new Northern Ireland Assembly foundering
2000 - Taooiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister, Tony Blair signal the start of a concerted attempt to rescue the faltering Northern Ireland peace process
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern joins the ranks of the publicly contrite world leaders when he finally apologises to three journalists for the tapping of their telephones in the early '80s
2002 - After 22 years at the National Museum in Dublin, an eighth-century silver chalice, silver paten and stand and a decorated bronze strainer ladle are returned to their original resting place at the monastic site of Derrynaflan, near Littleton Bog, Co Tipperary.
October 11
1649 - Massacre at Wexford when the town falls to Cromwell
1703 - John Asgill, newly elected MP for Enniscorthy, is expelled from the Irish parliament on this date on account of a pamphlet he published in Dublin in 1698, arguing that man may pass into eternal life without dying. The pamphlet is burned by the common hangman. He will spend much of the rest of his life in prison in England, for blasphemy or for matters arising from land speculation in Ireland
1741 - Birth of James Barry, painter, in Cork
1921 - Anglo-Irish negotiations open with Griffith and Collins leading the Irish delegation
1922 - The Irish Constitution for the Free State, drafted by the Thomas Cosgrove Dáil, is adopted
1974 - Adoption of the Celtic League American Branch
1999 - Hospitals begin scaling down their services after nurses vote overwhelmingly to go on strike
1999 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pays tribute to Mo Mowlam’s courage and understanding after it emerges that she is leaving her Northern Ireland post
2000 - In an historic move, Ireland’s Bishops vote at the autumn meeting of the Irish Bishop’s Conference in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth to seek the permission of Pope John Paul II to establish a Permanent Diaconate in Ireland. What this means is that Irish men will be ordained as deacons in the Catholic Church within the next five years and will have powers to officiate at weddings, baptisms and funerals
2002 - Eamon Dumphy announces he will quit his popular radio drive-time show “The Last Word” on Today FM
2002 - Geraldine Kennedy is appointed editor of The Irish Times and becomes the first female editor of a national daily newspaper
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Canice.
2011 - Historian Annesley John Malley loses his battle with cancer. The Belfast native Annesley was instrumental in charting the history of the north west dating back to the 1600s. He attended Regent House School in Newtownards before being trained in England as a surveyor. When he returned to Northern Ireland he worked as a surveyor in the north west. His friend and fellow historian Ken McCormick said it was that background in surveying which sparked Annesley’s interest in land surveys, old maps and historic properties and monuments.
October 12
1645 - Archbishop Rinuccini arrives in Ireland
1671 - Peter Drake, soldier and memoir author, is born in Co. Meath
1798 - French fleet intercepted off Donegal. Wolfe Tone captured when the Hoche strikes its colors
1876 - Jerome Connor, sculptor, is born near Anascaul, Co. Kerry
1911 - Birth in Portrush of Fred Daly, the only Irishman to win a golf 'major' - the British Open in 1947
1938 - Birth in Waterford of Brendan Bowyer, "Ireland's answer to Elvis" and the lead singer with the Royal Showband
1945 - Emer Colleran, microbiologist and environmentalist, is born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
1969 - Louis Gavan Duffy, Irish language educator, dies
1970 - Founding in Dublin of what is considered to be the first Celtic rock band, Horslips
1975 - Sir Oliver Plunkett is canonised
1999 - Former US Senator George Mitchell moves his make or break review of the Good Friday Agreement to London, just hours after new Secretary of State Peter Mandelson arrives in Northern Ireland to meet the North’s political leaders
2000 - Roman Catholic and Protestant Bishops are on a collision course following Archbishop Dr Desmond O’ Connell’s backing of the controversial document “Dominus Iesus” which proclaims the Catholic Church to be the one true church
2002 - Paddy's Bar, owned by Cork woman Natalia Daly, is destroyed in a series of explosions which kill more than 200 people in Bali. Most of those killed or injured are Australian tourists; the dead and injured also include Swiss, Germans, Swedes, Americans, Britons and Italians. Three Irish people are still unaccounted for.
October 13
1494 - Poynings lands at Howth and summons a parliament to Drogheda. He then campaigns in the north
1729 - William Conolly resigns as Speaker of the Irish House of Commons on grounds of ill health. Sir Ralph Gore is elected unanimously in his place
1823 - Sara Atkinson, a writer on religious and historical subjects is born
1881 - Charles Stewart Parnell and others are arrested for Land League activities
1923 - Republican prisoners in Mountjoy prison begin mass hunger strike
1928 - The Dublin Gate Theatre Company produces its first play - Ibsen's Peer Gynt - in the Peacock Theatre
1940 - Mick Doyle, rugby player and coach, is born in Castleisland, Co. Kerry
1998 - Farmers, furious over the collapse in cattle prices, stage an overnight sit-in protest at the Department of Agriculture and Food in Dublin and warn much tougher action will be taken
2000 - Provisional IRA gunmen are blamed for the murder of a leading member of the Continuity IRA, Joseph “Jo Jo” O’Connor who is shot dead in West Belfast
2002 - Three Irish tourists are among 25 people still unaccounted for following a massive bomb blast which ripped through two packed bars on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
October 14
1693 - The Earl of Tyrone dies and apparently appears promptly to Lady Nicola Hamilton, the widow of Tristram Beresford MP; he makes a number of predictions that turn out to be correct; one of them was that she would die on her 47th birthday
See our article A Triple Treat for Halloween
1702 - Irish Brigade of France fights in the battle of Friedlingen
1767 - George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend, becomes Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1783 - Edmond Sexton Pery is unanimously re-elected as Speaker of the Irish parliament
1791 - Wolfe Tone visits Belfast for the first time; the Society of United Irishmen is founded there on this date by Tone, Henry Joy McCracken, Thomas Russell and Samuel Neilson
1814 - Birth of author and patriot, Thomas Osborne Davis in Mallow, Co. Cork
1880 - Nationalist and Gaelic League activist, Mary Ellen Spring-Rice is born
1882 - Eamon de Valera, nationalist campaigner, Fianna Fáil leader, Taoiseach and president of Ireland, is born in Brooklyn, New York of a Spanish father and an Irish mother
1920 - Tipperary IRA man, Sean Treacy, is killed in a gun battle in Talbot Street, Dublin
1932 - Between October 4 and this date, strikes, marches and protests are held in Belfast against low unemployment payments, temporarily uniting Catholic and Protestant unemployed; payments are raised
1998 - A 15th century painting of Pietro de Francesco Degli Orioli which is part of the Murnaghan collection goes up for auction in Dublin
Photo Credit: Chris Bacon
1999 - More than 1,000 mourners gather in Belfast for the funeral of Patrick Campbell, a hard line republican paramilitary who was murdered in a drugs dispute
2000 - David Guiney, well known Irish sporting personality and journalist, dies in Dublin. Mr Guiney won an AAA title for the Shot Putt in 1948 and went on to compete for Ireland in the Olympic Games in London that year
2001 - The first multiple State funeral is held in honour of 10 IRA Volunteers, including Kevin Barry, who were executed for their role in the War of Independence. More than 80 years after they were buried in the grounds of Mountjoy Prison, the bodies of the 10 men were exhumed and reinterred in a special new plot at Glasnevin Cemetery. The ten men were Kevin Barry, Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Frank Flood, Patrick Moran, Thomas Whelan, Bernard Ryan, Thomas Traynor, Edmond Foley and Patrick Maher.
October 15
1582 - Pope Gregory reforms the calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 45BCE: 4 October is followed by 15 October. However, the reform will not be implemented in Britain and Ireland till 1752
1690 - After taking Cork on 28 September, Marlbourough takes Kinsale for the Williamites, who now control Munster
1763 - Birth of United Irish leader, Lord Edward Fitzgerald at Carton House in Co. Kildare
1842 - First issue of "The Nation" published
1949 - Death of Eoin MacNeill, Irish historian and founder of the Irish Volunteers
1964 - UK general election; unionists win all 12 Northern Ireland seats; Harold Wilson forms a Labour government
1980 - Ronnie Bunting, Protestant Irish nationalist, is assassinated
1995 - Seamus Heaney wins the Nobel Prize for literature
1999 - The music world mourns the death in Co. Kildare of Derry-born tenor Josef Locke
2001 - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat asks Ireland to use its influence on the UN Security Council to help resume peace talks in the Middle East
2002 - Following the suspension of the Northern Ireland Government and Assembly, London resumes direct rule of Northern Ireland
2002 - The hero of the Polish Solidarity movement, Lech Walesa, makes an impassioned plea to the Irish people to vote Yes to Nice.
October 16
1678 - Proclamations against Catholic clergy and schools in Ireland are issued
1827 - Cavan-born Thomas Baron von Brady, general in the Austrian army, dies in Vienna
1854 - Oscar Wilde, playwright, novelist and essayist is born in Dublin
1890 - Michael Collins is born in Clonakilty, Co. Cork
1929 - Birth in Bailieborough, Co. Cavan of Captain James Kelly, Irish army intelligence officer who would later be involved in the 1970 arms trial
1961 - RTÉ reports on the closure of the West Clare Railway
Photo: From the County Clare Library
1961 - Opening of Cork Airport
1981 - Ben Dunne, joint managing director of Dunnes Stores, is kidnapped by the IRA
1998 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern leads the applause for Nobel Peace Prize winners John Hume and David Trimble, describing it as a deserved tribute to two of the principal architects of the Good Friday Agreement.
October 17
1171 - Henry II, fearful that Strongbow will grow too powerful in Ireland, lands at Waterford with an army. The Normans, Norse and Irish all submit to him, except for the most remote Irish kings
1738 - In a duel at Mullingar, Arthur Rochfort, MP for Co. Westmeath, shoots Dillon Pollard Hampson in the stomach. Hampson, a former Junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Irish Freemasons, recovers
1803 - Birth of Young Irelander, William Smith O'Brien in Dromoland, Co. Clare
1882 - The Irish Nationalist League is founded
1886 - John Dillon announces "Plan of Campaign" for Irish tenants against unfair rents
2000 - Ireland becomes the 30th country to pick up the TV show, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"
2002 - Chieftains’ harpist Derek Bell dies unexpectedly during a recovery period from minor surgery in the United States.
October 18
1718 - Birth in Dublin of actress, Peg Woffington
1791 - First public meeting of the Society of United Irishmen in Belfast
1881 - A “no rents manifesto” is issued by the Land League under the guidance of Parnell
1900 - Sarah Makem, Irish traditional singer, is born
1970 - Máirtin Ó Cadhain, Irish language writer and author of Cré na Cille, dies
2000 - More than 20,000 passengers are stranded as Aer Lingus grounds planes in the worst strike to hit the airline in 20 years
2001 - The five-star Aghadoe Heights Hotel in Killarney named AA Hotel of the Year.
October 19
1610 - Birth of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond; royalist soldier; and three times Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1680 - Birth of John Aberneth, dissenting clergyman, near Moneymore, Co. Tyrone
1745 - Jonathan Swift dies
1751 - Birth in Dublin of Charles Edward Kilmaine who was a general in the French army
1913 - Irish historian, novelist and poet, Emily Lawless dies
1955 - Archbishop McQuaid calls for an international football match against Yugoslavia in Dublin to be cancelled, but it goes ahead in front of a capacity crowd
1989 - After serving 15 years in prison, the "Guildford Four" - Gerard Conlon, Patrick Armstrong, Carole Richardson and Paul Hill* are released in what is considered to be one of the biggest-ever miscarriages of justice in Britain
*Paul Hill is taken to a Belfast prison where he was serving time for murder; he was also expected to be released
1991 - Seán Kelly wins the Tour of Lombardy
1998 - Discussions between British Prime Minister Tony Blair, David Trimble and Martin McGuinness fail to break the deadlock on the surrender of arms
1998 - Justice Minister John O'Donoghue imposes tough new visa rules to curb the arrival of Slovakian gypsies, following an influx of 1,600 in search of asylum in Britain in just two months
1998 - Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh admits that the Irish beef crisis, which has seen prices collapse to a 25-year-low, could deteriorate even further
1999 - On the first day of their historic industrial action, thousands of striking nurses take to the picket lines
Photo Credit: Ray Ryan
2000 - The Dalai Lama meets with fellow Nobel peace laureate John Hume MP at the Ulster Hall, Belfast. The Buddhist spiritual leader is in Belfast for three days at the invitation of the World Community for World Peace.
Photo Credit: Martin McCullough
2000 - A fourth man is arrested in connection with the Omagh bombing
2001 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern becomes the latest target of the anthrax scare sweeping the country after a letter containing an unidentifiable white powder is sent to Government Buildings in Dublin
2001 - The dying wish of IRA volunteer Patrick Maher is fulfilled when his remains are brought from Sarsfield Barracks to his native Co Limerick for burial tomorrow with full military honours. Mr Maher, 32, was executed after his alleged part in the rescue of IRA man Seán Hogan from a heavily guarded train in Knocklong in May 1919, which resulted in the death of RIC man Peter Wallace. Mr Maher had always protested his innocence.
October 20
1674 - Birth of James Logan, Colonial statesman and scholar in Lurgan, Co. Armagh
1775 - Two hundred passengers are lost in the shipwrecks of the brigs Trevor Totty and Nonpareil. Among the casualties are The Hononorable Major Francis Caulfield, MP for Charlemont, his wife and daughters; also lost is Mr French, Member for the County of Roscommon
1794 - John Gustavus Crosbie, candidate in a parliamentary by-election for Co. Kerry, takes offence at some real or supposed breach of neutrality on the part of Sir Barry Denny, the sitting MP. A duel follows on this date; at the first fire Denny is shot fatally through the head 'by the haphazard aim of a man who had never before discharged a pistol in his life'
1808 - Death of composer Michael William Balfe in Dublin. He is best known for his opera "The Bohemian Girl"
1881 - The Land League is outlawed
1892 - Birth near Castleblaney, Co. Monaghan of General Eoin O’Duffy, first commissioner of the Garda Síochána (Blue Shirts)
Photo Credit: Garda Museum
1933 - The Irish Free State government purchases the copyright of Peadar Kearney's "The Soldiers Song" which becomes the national anthem
1949 - Birth of Eddie Macken, showjumper, in Granard, Co. Longford
1962 - Birth of Nicholas English, Tipperary hurler, in Cullen, Co. Tipperary
1998 - Dance superstar Michael Flatley and his former manager John Reid dramatically settle their multi-million pound court wrangle
1999 - Death in Dublin of former Taoiseach, Jack Lynch
2001 - President Bill Clinton calls on all sides not to give up on the Good Friday Agreement; he also pledges to visit Northern Ireland while still in office
2002 - The Irish vote Yes to the Nice Treaty.
October 21
1879 - Founding of the Land League by Michael Davitt
1803 - Execution of Thomas Russell, United Irishman, in Downpatrick for “high treason”
1805 - The Irish dead at the Battle of Trafalgar include Lieutenant William Ram, son of Abel Ram, MP for Co. Wexford, who is killed on board the Victory
1901 - Douglas Hyde's Casadh an tSúgán - The Twisting of the Rope - is presented at The Gaiety Theatre in Dublin and becomes the first staged Irish-language play
1904 - Birth of poet Patrick Kavanagh in Inishkeen, Co. Monaghan
1999 - President Mary McAleese leads mourners at the removal of former Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader, Jack Lynch, from Dublin’s Royal Hospital to the Church of St Paul of the Cross, Mount Argus
1999 - Hundreds of striking nurses from the midlands join a rally through the streets of Dublin
Photo Credit: Billy Higgins
2001 - Gas pipeline work on a hillside at Kilmacanogue in the Wicklow Mountains uncovers the remains of a house dating back to 2,000 BC. Only eight similar discoveries have been made thus far in Ireland
2002 - The Real IRA pledges to continue their campaign of violence, ignoring a call by the prisoners in Portlaoise to disband and confirm the organisation has split
2002 - Even on paper Keane is faster than McCarthy; on the day of its launch, just one copy of Mick McCarthy’s World Cup diary is sold at Waterstones outlet on Dawson Street in Dublin
2003 - The last flight of the Concorde supersonic jet arrives at Belfast International Airport, Aldergrove.
October 22
1389 - Thomas Mortimer who was appointed justiciar on 5 March is replaced by John de Stanley who lands at Howth on this date
1641 - Rory O'More, Lord Maguire and Sir Pheilim O'Neill initiate a major revolt in Armagh. Known as the Ulster Rebellion, in the ensuing six months, at least 4, 000 Protestants are killed and Catholics are massacred in reprisals
1740 - Birth in Dublin of Sir Philip Francis, civil servant, duellist, and gambler; he may have been the author of the Junius Letters
1761 - John Ponsonby is unanimously re-elected Speaker of the Irish parliament
1906 - Charles Lynch, pianist, is born in Parkgariff, Co. Cork. He gave his first public recital at nine and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, London, at fifteen. In addition to concert recitals he broadcast regularly with the BBC and in 1937 acted as assistant to Sir Thomas Beecham at Covent Garden
1955 - Belfast-born Ruby Murray has two singles in the British top 20 — I’ll Come When You Call and Evermore. Her much quoted achievement was that she had five top 20 songs at one time - a feat only surpassed by pop singer Madonna four decades later
1993 - Former South African President Nelson Mandela visits Dublin
1998 - Demonstrations by construction workers sweep the country in protest at the jailing of two builders in Mountjoy for a second night. A number of protesters are arrested after they clash with gardaí in Dublin
1998 - The remains of four males are uncovered by workmen during excavation work for a new drainage system to serve the South Tipperary town of Carrick-on-Suir. A coin dated 1805 found nearby, leads locals to believe the remains date from the early 19th century when a fever hospital stood on a nearby site, now occupied by St Brigid's Hospital
1999 - The coffin of former Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, is removed from St. Paul of the Cross Church, in Harold's Cross in Dublin, after an interdenominational service, on the first leg of its journey to Cork city, where a state funeral will take place
Photo Credit: Graham Hughes/Photocall Ireland!
2002 - Some of the worst storms on record lash the North wreaking havoc on roads and flooding hundreds of homes.
October 23
1662 - The Irish parliament orders the annual observance of this date as a day of thanksgiving for deliverance from the 1641 rising; for over a century, church services on this day will remind Protestants of Catholic disloyalty
1766 - Birth of John Claudius Beresford, banker, MP, and controversial figure in 1798 rebellion, during which he was alleged to have flogged suspects at his riding house in Marlborough Street, Dublin; the slogan 'Mangling done here gratis by Beresford and Co.' was daubed on it
1771 - Benjamin Franklin ends his visit to Ireland
1931 - The IRA and other organizations are declared illegal in the Free State and the Catholic Church excommunicates members of all of them, including Saor Eire, which soon dissolves
1948 - Gerry Robinson, (UK businessman, is born in Co. Donegal
1969 - Samuel Beckett wins Nobel Prize for Literature. He was born in Foxrock, Dublin on Good Friday,13 April 1906. (Although his birth certificate says it was a month later). "Waiting for Godot"
is generally regarded as his best-known play
Photo Image: Nobel Peace Library
1970 - Charles Haughey, former Minister for Finance, is acquitted of charges that he and Neil Blaney, former Minister for Agriculture, imported arms for the IRA
1999 - The Guinness Jazz Festival in Co. Cork receives a spiritual blessing with the surprise appearance of an infamous cleric. Mother Bernadette Marie O’Connor, or the artist (formerly) known as Sinéad O’Connor, performs in Ireland for the first time in five years
2001 - Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble welcomes official confirmation that the IRA has put a quantity of guns and explosives beyond use
2001 - The Government announces it will sell off one-third of Aer Lingus at a knock-down price in order to fund a drastic rescue plan for the airline.
2001 - Former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam is presented with the International Woman of the Year Award at a ceremony in Dublin. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson's wins the Overall Award at the Irish Tatler Women of the Year Awards
2002 - Thornton’s in Stephen’s Green, Dublin, is awarded the Jameson Restaurant of the Year. It is among the national award winners announced to coincide with the launch of Georgina Campbell’s Jameson Guide Ireland 2003.
October 24
1642 - Irish Confederate rebels establish government at Kilkenny
1789 - Work begins on the construction of the Royal Canal
1854 - Birth of Sir Horace Plunkett, agricultural reformer and politician
1880 - Fanny Parnell launches the Ladies' Land League in New York. Known as the Patriot Poet, Fanny Parnell is the leading spokeswoman throughout the United States for the organization
1940 - Pat Gallagher is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA.
1942 - Birth of Frank Delaney, writer and broadcaster, in Tipperary town
1990 - The IRA kills 6 soldiers and a civilian in bomb attacks at Derry and Newry
1998 - New British proposals for a European defence force which could undermine Irish neutrality are outlined at a key summit of EU heads of government in Austria
1999 - The first state funeral ever held in Co. Cork takes place for former taoiseach Jack Lynch at St Mary and Anne’s Cathedral in Cork
1999 - Westlife become the first boy band to score number ones with their first three singles; and, as their song Flying Without Wings hits the top, they beome only the third act ever to see all of their first three releases go straight into the charts at number one
2000 - Hallowe'en firework displays are dampened after gardaí seize rockets and bangers worth close to £1 million in a warehouse north of Omeath, Co. Louth
2002 - President Mary McAleese is named the Irish Tatler Woman of the Year. Northern Ireland Woman of the Year is awarded to blind world water-skier champion Janet Gray
2003 - A smoking ban in all enclosed workplaces except private dwellings is signed into law. Prisons will be excluded to prevent security and conduct problems. The law will go into effect on January 26, 2004. Hoteliers and publicans consider legal action.
October 25
1212 - John Comyn, Archbishop of Dublin, dies and is buried in Christ Church Cathedral
1784 - A radical reform congress commences in William Street, Dublin
1818 - Birth of opera singer Catherine Hayes in Limerick
1899 - Birth of Micheál Mac Liammóir, actor and writer
1909 - The Engineering and Scientific Association of Ireland assures the population that flying machines will never be of any practical use
1920 - Terence MacSwiney, the Mayor of Cork, dies in a London prison after 73 days on hunger strike. His last words to a priest by his side were, "I want you to bear witness that I die as a soldier of the Irish Republic."
1922 - The Dáil approves the Constitution of the Irish Free State
1960 - Death of Harry George Ferguson, environmental pioneer, aircraft designer, inventor of the Ferguson tractor and revolutioniser of mechanised farming. He was from Dromore, Co. Down
1985 - First commercial flight from Knock Airport (Horan International Airport) in Co. Mayo
1999 - Inter-party talks resume at Stormont as the Northern Ireland peace process enters its final and most crucial phase
2000 - The Provisional IRA throws beleaguered Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble a lifeline after it agrees to allow a number of its arms dumps to be re-examined by international inspectors
2002 - Limerick-born movie star, Richard Harris, loses his battle to cancer.
October 26
1601 - A Spanish army under Don Juan del Aguila, which had landed at Kinsale on 21 September, is besieged by Lord Mountjoy on this date
1771 - John (Juan) MacKenna, who would rise to fame in South America, was born in Clogher, Co. Tyrone
1791 - Founding of the United Irishmen movement
1831 - Birth of painter Nathaniel Hone in Dublin
1837 - James Lawlor Kiernan, Union general in America's Civil War, was born in Mount Bellew, County Galway
1932 - Margaret "The Unsinkable Molly" Brown, daughter of Irish immigrants, dies in New York
1943 - Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, the coordinating body for Irish-language organizations, is formed
1997 - The country's first women soldiers hold their passing out parade
1998 - A price war rages over the video of Oscar-winning Titanic, which is set to become Ireland's biggest selling video of all time.
1999 - A major opinion poll reveals that a majority of people in Northern Ireland would vote ‘yes’ in a new referendum on the Good Friday Agreement
1999 - A line of tractors backs up for miles as a cavalcade of farmers make their way to the annual Great Maam Cross Fair - the last great fair of the millennium
2000 - The new Manchester United Superstore is officially opened in Dublin
2000 - The country’s 350,000 secondary school students are asked by the Department of Defence to propose a name for a new £20m naval patrol boat.
October 27
1651 - Surrender of Limerick
1673 - A proclamation declares the banishment of Catholic bishops and priest and the closure of religious houses and schools under Charles II's reign
1878 - Between October 24 and this date, Fenians propose a 'New Departure': an alliance with the Parnellites
1905 - Birth in Dublin of Bryan Guinness, 2nd Lord Moyne; brewer and writer
1980 - Beginning of the Hunger Strike by seven Republican prisoners in the 'H' Blocks at Long Kesh. They are later joined by three female prisoners at Armagh Prison
1998 - 200 delegates of the 24,000-strong INO (nurse's union) vote unanimously to reactivate industrial action if their claims are not met
1999 - Fifty bar workers are to sue their bosses in the first smoking related personal injury claim in the history of the State
1999 - NUI Galway marks its 150th anniversary
2000 -The IRA says that the re-examination of a number of its arms dumps by the international inspectors has already taken place 2002 - Severe storm batters Ireland causing power cuts and interruptions in road, rail, air and sea transport services
2002 - After comments by British prime minister Tony Blair that the continued existence of the IRA is an obstacle to rescuing the peace process, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams says the IRA is never going to disband in response to ultimatums.
October 28
1659 - Birth of Nicholas Brad, Anglican clergyman and poet, in Bandon, Co. Cork
1758 - Edward Moore, 5th Earl of Drogheda and former MP for Dunleer, drowns with his son Edward, chaplain to the House of Commons, en route from England to Dublin
1875 - Death of William Howard Glover, composer and music critic
1907 - John Harold Hewitt, poet who wrote the Glens of Antrim, is born
1909 - Birth in Dublin of Sir Francis Bacon, painter
1958 - The State Opening of Parliament is televised for the first time
1976 - Máire Drumm, Irish Republican and Sinn Féin vice-president, is assassinated in her hospital bed by Unionist gunmen
1999 - Ulster Unionist and Sinn Féin politicians grapple with a new formula designed to break the deadlock in the peace process
2000 - Athlete Sonia O'Sullivan returns to her hometown of Cobh and is presented with the Freedom of The Town
2001 - Republican sources claim the IRA has destroyed up to 300 weapons in its first act of decommissioning.
October 29
1835 - Michael William Balfe's opera Siege of Rochelle is first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre in London
1885 - Confederate Civil War Gen. Joseph Finegan, from Co. Monaghan, dies in Rutledge, Florida
1892 - Death of Clonakilty artist, William Hartnett
1922 - Birth of Neil Blaney, politician, in Rosnakill, Co. Donegal
1953 - The Health Act provides for a free mother-and-child healthcare scheme in the Republic
1958 - The Dáil announces a bill to introduce a system of proportional representation into the Republic
1972 - Gilbert O’Sullivan reaches no. 1 in the British charts with Clair
1998 - The tax on tourists row flares up again when members of the Dáil Committee on Tourism clash over a proposed £1 levy on visitors to the Aran Islands
1998 - In tribute to emigrants who sailed to the New World on coffin ships, Coillte announces plans for the establishment of the Forest of Dunbrody on the outskirts of New Ross, Co Wexford. The public, and particularly Irish-Americans, will be invited to buy a tree in the name of their loved ones
2001 - Hardline unionists seek to block David Trimble's re-election as Northern Ireland First Minister
2001 - Over £3.5m will be spent converting Limerick's city centre into a pedestrian area. Within five years, only buses, taxis and delivery vehicles will be able to travel up O'Connell Street
2002 - Continuous heavy rain brings severe flooding to many parts of the country
2002 - Thousands of homes and businesses face massive disruption to Christmas mail delivery following a vote by postmasters in favour of industrial action
2002 - Broadcaster Gerry Ryan becomes the latest homegrown celebrity to feature in the Irish version of Madame Tussaud's collection when he unveils a life-size model of himself at the Dublin museum.
October 30
1751 - Birth in Dublin of dramatist and orator, Richard Brinsley Sheridan
11816 - Sir Richard Quain, physician to Queen Victoria, is born in Mallow, Co. Cork
1865 - Róis Ní Ógáin (Rose Mabel Young), Gaelic scholar and editor of Duanaire Gaedhilge, is born
1928 - Birth of Sir Charles Brett, architectural historian
1972 - Northern Ireland Secretary of State, William Whitelaw's paper "The Future of Northern Ireland" declares no UK opposition to unity by consent
1998 - The South County Bar in West Douglas has become the first pub in Cork to win the James Joyce Pub Award
2000 - The Good Friday Agreement hangs in the balance with the Government seeking to establish whether or not the North’s First Minister David Trimble can ban Sinn Féin Ministers from cross-Border committee meetings
2001 - One of the country's largest estates, Farnham, on about 1,200 acres in Cavan, is bought for around £5m by a locally-born businessman, pharmacist Roy McCabe
2001 - A major anti-litter initiative is launched which will hold every town in Ireland accountable for its cleanliness
2002 - The crisis in the Northern Ireland peace process deeps after the IRA announces its decision to end contact with the arms decommissioning body
2003 - A wreath to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, the Vatican priest who is credited with saving the lives of thousands of people during the second World War is laid on his grave in Cahersiveen Co Kerry.
October 31
1641 - The Ulster rebels take Dundalk
1804 - Morgan O'Connell, soldier and politician, is born in Dublin
1838 - General Sir William Frances Butler, soldier and author, is born in Suirville, Co. Tipperary. He had a remarkable and often controversial military career spanning over 50 years. During the Land War he became a great personal friend of Charles Stewart Parnell and campaigned for tenants' rights and Home Rule. Late in 1900 Sir William was promoted to Lieutenant General, a rank he held until his retirement in 1905. The last five years of his life were spent at Bansha Castle among his own people.
He died in Bansha Castle on June 7 1910 and his funeral to Killaldriffe was one of the largest seen in the region
1845 - A committee is formed to examine the extent of the potato crop failure and suggest remedies
1883 - Birth of Sara Allgood, stage and Hollywood actress, in Dublin. Considered one of the greatest character actresses of her time, the crowning point of her career came with her nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in "How Green Was My Valley" in which she played Mrs. Morgan. She began her acting career with Dublin's world famous Abbey Theatre and had a long career on stage before making her film debut in: "Just Peggy". Film credits include "The World, The Flesh and The Devil", Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" with Spencer Tracy, "The Lodger" with George Sanders, "Jane Eyre" with Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine, "The Keys of the Kingdom" with Gregory Peck, "Cheaper by the Dozen" and “Sierra” - her last film. She moved to the U.S. in the 1940s and became a U.S. citizen in 1945. She died on September 15, 1950 in Woodland Hills, California of a heart attack at age 66
1930 - Birth of Michael Collins, an Irish-American born in Rome, and pilot of the command module of the Apollo 10 lunar landing in 1969
1939 - Comedian Tom O'Connor is born in Merseyside, Liverpool
1998 - Dungarvan's milk processing plant in Co. Waterford, operational since the turn of the century, closes with the loss of 135 full-time jobs
1999 - In Co. Wexford, a millennium party catches the imagination of Halloween revellers as the ESB Drum Carnival entertains ghouls and goblins of all ages. The carnival features the largest drum in the world - a staggering 15ft in diameter and part lambeg and bodhran in design
2001 - Pierce Brosnan, Aidan Quinn, and Julianna Margulies, are on location at Castleknock College, Dublin, for the filming of Evelyn which is being produced by Brosnan's film company
2002 - Distributors predict the film The Magdalene Sisters will hit the €1 million mark within five weeks, making it one of the biggest-grossing movies ever screened in Ireland
2002 - In a meeting with employers and unions in Dublin Castle, Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy says the boom is finally over and workers face a pay freeze of up to a year.
2006 - Demolition work finally gets under way at the former high-security Maze Prison, where thousands of republican and loyalist paramilitary inmates were detained during the Troubles. The 360-acre site near Lisburn in Co Antrim will be cleared for housing, a multi-purpose sports arena and what is called a "centre for conflict transformation."