1926 in Ireland

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««« 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921	1926 in Ireland	»»» 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931
Decades: 1900s • 1910s • 1920s • 1930s • 1940s Centuries: 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st See also: 1926 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1926 List of years in Ireland

Events

• January 1 - Douglas Hyde officially opens the Irish Free State broadcasting service, 2RN (later RTÉ Radio 1), 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.
• March 11 - Éamon de Valera resigns as President of Sinn Féin at its Árd-Fheis when one of his proposals is 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 from 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 25 - Éamon de Valera addresses the first Fianna Fáil Árd-Fheis in Dublin.
• Irish Sugar Manufacturing Company Limited established in Carlow as a private enterprise to process sugar beet.
• The population of the Irish Free State is 2,972,000
• The population of Northern Ireland is 1,257,000.

Arts and literature

• February 8 - Seán O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars (set in 1915–16) opens at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. On February 11, the performance is marred by ugly scenes in the audience: one man strikes an actress.
• 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 Foundation.
• M. J. Farrell's first novel, The Knight of Cheerful Countenance, is published.
• W. B. Yeats' Autobiographies is published as volume 6 of his Collected Edition by Macmillan in London.^[1]

Sport

Football

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

Result: Italy 3-0 Ireland

• 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, Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael (died 2011).
• 10 March - Thomas Dunne, Fine Gael TD and MEP (died 1990).
• 24 March - Desmond Connell, Cardinal and former Archbishop of Dublin.
• 30 March - Ray McAnally, actor (died 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 Minister and MEP (died 2002).
• 2 June - Milo O'Shea, actor.

July to December

• 21 July - Patrick Lalor, former Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for Laois–Offaly and Cabinet Minister, 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 (died 2006).
• 9 November - Hugh Leonard, dramatist, writer and journalist (died 2009).
• 10 November - Brian Behan, writer and trade unionist (died 2002).
• 23 November - Peter Desmond, soccer player (died 1990).
• 10 December - Dónall Mac Amhlaigh, writer (died 1989).
• 18 December - Stanley Bergin, cricketer (died 1969).

Full date unknown

• Dan Kennedy, Kilkenny hurler (died 1976).

Deaths

• 18 April - Dolway Walkington, Irish national rugby union captain (born 1867).
• 21 April - George Carew, 4th Baron Carew (born 1863).
• 14 June - Windham Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, peer (born 1841).
• 22 June - Norman Garstin, artist (born 1847).
• 19 November - Thomas Cusack, Democrat U.S. Representative from Illinois (born 1858).

References