1939 in Ireland

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Decades: 1910s • 1920s • 1930s • 1940s • 1950s Centuries: 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st See also: 1939 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1939 List of years in Ireland

Events

• January 11 - The INTO Congress in Galway calls on the government to abolish the ban on married women teachers.
• February 12 - The Department of External Affairs announces that it recognises the government of General Francisco Franco.
• February - In his Lenten pastoral, Bishop Daniel Mageean refers to "A Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People".
• March 12 - Taoiseach Éamon de Valera attends the coronation of Pope Pius XII in Rome.
• March 13 - Flann O'Brien's novel At Swim-Two-Birds is published (in London).
• March 16 - Éamon de Valera is greeted by Benito Mussolini in Rome and a luncheon is held in honour of the Taoiseach.
• March 22 - Ireland's neutrality is discussed during a Dáil debate on defence estimates. The government considers the implications for the export market to Britain if a neutral stand is taken.
• March 30 - The Treason Bill passes its fifth and final stage in Dáil Éireann.
• April 9 - The Gaelic Athletic Association votes to keep the name of President Douglas Hyde off its list of patrons. The situation arose when the President attended an international soccer game.
• April 17 - The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Lord Craigavon, dismisses the Dublin government's position of neutrality as cowardly.
• April 19 - In a speech to Seanad Éireann Taoiseach Éamon de Valera refers to the dropping of all references to the King and Great Britain from new Irish passports.
• May 4 - The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland announces that conscription will not be extended to Northern Ireland.
• May 18 - The Earl of Iveagh presents the Irish Government with his Dublin townhouse.
• June 2 - The Treason Act 1939 becomes law: a sentence of death may be passed on anyone convicted of "levying war against the State."
• September 1 - A state of emergency[1] is declared by the government.
• September 2 - Taoiseach Éamon de Valera tells the Dáil that Ireland will remain neutral in the European War.
• September 3 - The Emergency Powers Act 1939 comes into force as Britain and France declare war on Germany.
• September 4 - SS Athenia torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean. Knut Nelson (Norway) lands 450 survivors in Galway.
• September 9 - Billed as "The Last Race in Europe" until after World War II, the Irish Motor Racing Club holds its Phoenix Park Race; this includes motorcycle and automobile races.^[1]
• September 11 - The Irish-flagged tanker Inverliffey is shelled and sunk by U-38. The U-boat tows the lifeboats away from the blazing oil.
• September 13 - The Minister for Supplies, Seán Lemass, introduces petrol rationing.
• October 30 - More than two dozen air-raid sirens, acquired by the Corporation, are tested across Dublin City.
• December 23 - A million rounds of ammunition are stolen from the national arsenal at the Phoenix Park by pro-Nazi elements of the IRA.

Arts and literature

• March 13 - Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds is published in London.
• May 4 - James Joyce's Finnegans Wake is published complete in London.
• July - W. B. Yeats' Last Poems and Two Plays are published posthumously in London.^[2]
• Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal: a poem is published in London.^[2]

Sport

Football

• League of Ireland

Winners: Shamrock Rovers

• FAI Cup

Winners: Shelbourne 1 - 1, 1 - 0 Sligo Rovers. English footballer, Dixie Dean plays in the final for Rovers.

Golf

• Irish Open is won by Arthur Lees (England).

Births

January to June

• 25 January - Dermot Clifford, Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly.
• 2 February - Desmond O'Malley, Fianna Fáil TD and founder of the Progressive Democrats.
• 24 March - Joe McCartin, MEP, Senator.
• 25 March - Tom Fitzgerald, Fianna Fáil Senator.
• 1 April - Joe Jacob, Fianna Fáil TD and Minister of State.
• 13 April - Seamus Heaney, poet.
• 3 May - Ken Hope, cricketer.
• 9 May - Pádraig Flynn, Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister and European Commissioner.
• 19 May - John Sheahan, violinist, folk musician and composer, with The Dubliners.
• 29 May - Mary Banotti, Fine Gael politician.

July to December

• 11 July - Mick Brown, football scout.
• 16 August - Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.
• 21 August - Ray McLoughlin, international rugby player.
• 5 September - Mark Killilea, Jnr, Fianna Fáil TD and MEP.
• 10 September - Edward Plunkett, 20th Baron of Dunsany, artist.
• 12 September - Patrick Harrington, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodwar, Kenya.
• 20 September - Mike O'Donnell, film and television composer.
• 11 October - Austin Currie, founder-member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Fine Gael TD.
• 16 October - Joe Dolan, singer (died 2007).
• 27 October - Thady Wyndham-Quin, 7th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, peer.
• October - Frank Columb, writer.
• 2 November - John Buckley, Bishop of Cork and Ross (1997 - ).
• November - Ollie Conmy, international soccer player.
• 16 December - Barney McKenna, musician.

Full date unknown

• Ted Carroll, Kilkenny hurler.
• Paddy FitzGerald, Cork hurler.
• Alice Hanratty, painter and printmaker.
• Paddy Moran, Kilkenny hurler.
• Denis Murphy, Cork hurler.

Deaths

• 28 January - William Butler Yeats, poet and dramatist (born 1865).
• 9 May - Mary Williams, previously Mary, Lady Heath, aviator, athlete and writer (born 1896).
• 9 June - Owen Moore, actor (born 1886).
• 28 June - James Dowdall, Independent member of the 1922 Seanad.
• 19 July - John Cassidy, sculptor and painter (born 1860).
• 20 August - Edward Bulfin, British general during World War I (born 1862).
• 8 September - Maurice George Moore, Independent member of the 1922 Seanad.
• 15 September - William MacCarthy-Morrogh, cricketer (born 1870).
• 20 September - Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin, astronomer (born 1865).
• 10 November - Charlotte Despard, suffragist, novelist and Sinn Féin activist (born 1844).
• 14 December - Samuel Lombard Brown, Independent member of 1922 Seanad.

References