1926 in Ireland

Events

*January 1 - Dr. Douglas Hyde officially opens the Irish Free State broadcasting service, 2RN, in Dublin.
*January 4 - The country's first Aeroplane Club is formed in Dublin.
*January 19 - The Minister for Finance, Ernest Blythe, introduces a Bill providing for the issue of silver, nickel and bronze coins for Saorstát Éireann.
*January 21 - The Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture meets his Free State counterpart, Patrick Hogan. The meeting paves the way for co-operation in securing better animal health for livestock.
*February 11 - The recently opened play by Sean O'Casey, "The Plough and the Stars", is marred by ugly scenes in the crowd. One man from the audience strikes one of the actresses.
*March 11 - Éamon de Valera resigns as President of Sinn Féin at its Árd-Fheis when one of his proposals was defeated.
*April 7 - An elderly Irishwoman, Violet Gibson, shoots the Italian Prime Minister, Benito Mussolini, in Rome.
*April 29 - Dublin city commissioners decide to remove Nelson's Pillar on O'Connell Street. However, this decision needs the approval of the Oireachtas.
*May 16 - At La Scala Theatre in Dublin a new political party is formed. Fianna Fáil - the Republican Party is launched by leading republicans including Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass.
*August 20 - The Irish pilgrimage to the battlefields of France and Flanders leaves today. Celtic crosses are to be unveiled in memory of the members of the 16th Irish Division who died during World War I.
*September 5 - 48 people burned to death in Dromcolliher, County Limerick
*November 17 - President W. T. Cosgrave introduces the Public Safety (Emergency Powers) Bill following the killing of two unarmed gardaí.
*November 22 - George Bernard Shaw, having initially refused to accept the prize money for the Nobel Prize for Literature, will now accept the money but return it to the Nobel Trust.
*November 25 - Éamon de Valera addresses the first Fianna Fáil Árd-Fheis in Dublin.
*The 2RN, later RTÉ Radio 1, radio station is set up in Dublin.
*The population of the Irish Free State is 2,972,000
*The population of Northern Ireland is 1,257,000.

Arts and literature

port

Football

*March 21 The Irish Free State national football team plays Italy for the first time.

*League of Ireland::Winners: Shelbourne

*FAI Cup::Winners: Fordsons 3 - 2 Shamrock Rovers

Gaelic Games

*The All-Ireland Champions are Cork (hurling) and Kerry (football)

Births

January to June

*3 February - Jim Higgins, soccer player.
*9 February - Garret FitzGerald, former Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael.
*10 March - Thomas Dunne, Fine Gael TD and MEP (d.1990).
*24 March - Desmond Connell, Cardinal and former Archbishop of Dublin.
*30 March - Ray McAnally, actor (d.1989).
*4 April - Ronnie Masterson, actress.
*23 April - J. P. Donleavy, writer.
*26 April - Philomena Garvey, golfer.
*18 May - Sylvester Barrett, former Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minster and MEP (d.2002).
*2 June - Milo O'Shea, actor.

July to December

*21 July - Patrick Lalor, former Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for Laois-Offaly and Cabinet Minster, Member of the European Parliament.
*1 August - Declan Costello, former Fine Gael TD, Attorney-General and High Court judge.
*30 August - Tom O'Donnell, former Fine Gael TD and MEP.
*3 November - Frank Filgas, cricketer (d.2006).
*10 November - Brian Behan, writer and trade unionist (d.2002).
*23 November - Peter Desmond, soccer player (d.1990).
*18 December - Stanley Bergin, cricketer (d.1969).

Full date unknown

*Dan Kennedy, Kilkenny hurler (d.1976).
*Hugh Leonard, dramatist, writer and journalist.
*Dónall Mac Amhlaigh, writer (d.1989).

Deaths

*21 April - George Carew, 4th Baron Carew (b.1863).
*14 June - Windham Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, peer (b.1841).
*22 June - Norman Garstin, artist (b.1847).
*19 November - Thomas Cusack, Democrat U.S. Representative from Illinois (b.1858).