1957 in Ireland

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Decades: 1930s • 1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s Centuries: 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st See also: 1957 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1957 List of years in Ireland

Events

• January 1 - Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon are killed in an IRA attack on an RUC barracks in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh. The two men become part of Republican folklore.
• January 24 - Sir Alfred Chester Beatty becomes the first honorary Irish citizen.
• March 3 - Éamon de Valera tells a crowd in Cork that a 'United Ireland' can be achieved with time and the support of the people.
• March 7 - Fianna Fáil returns to power winning 78 seats in the Sixteenth Dáil.
• March 11 - Prize Bonds are introduced, Bank of Ireland operates the scheme on behalf of the Minister for Finance.
• May–September - Fethard-on-Sea boycott: A Roman Catholic priest and his parishioners boycott Protestant-owned local businesses.^[1]
• July 4 - Dáil debates the Fethard-on-Sea Ne Temere boycott.
• July 22 - The Gough Monument in the Phoenix Park is wrecked by an explosion. The explosion is so violent it is heard all over Dublin.
• August 7 - A 20-foot high war memorial in Limerick is blown up. It was erected to commemorate Limerick men who died in World War I.
• September 30 - Last day of operation of 97 miles (155 km) of railway in Northern Ireland (Great Northern Railway (Ireland) branches and the entire Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway) following government instructions. County Fermanagh loses all its lines. The GNR closes a further 84 miles (134 km) of connecting lines in the Republic on October 12.
• October 2 - The Minister for Health, Seán MacEntee, launches the Voluntary Health Insurance Board.
• October 7 - President Seán T. O'Kelly's country residence, Roundwood House, County Wicklow, is destroyed by fire.
• October 10 - The Windscale fire begins with a fire in a graphite core of a reactor at the Windscale Nuclear Power station and reprocessing centre in Cumbria, Northern England, now known as Sellafield. Years later there are claims that the radiation caused cancers and birth defects in Co. Louth
• November 1 - The Soviet satellite Sputnik is visible over Dublin for the second time in a month.
• undated - Cyril Lord opens a new factory for the production of tufted carpets at Donaghadee, County Down.^[2]

Arts and literature

• May 12 - The Pike Theatre in Dublin stages the Tennessee Williams play The Rose Tattoo. After a short run the theatre is invaded by Gardai and director Alan Simpson arrested for producing "a lewd entertainment" for a mime of dropping a condom onto the floor.^[3]
• The Damer Theatre in Dublin stages the Brendan Behan one-act Irish language play An Giall, the original version of The Hostage.
• Publication of Tomás de Bhaldraithe's English-Irish Dictionary.

Sport

Football

• 19 May - Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 England (at Dalymount Park), after England grab a last minute equaliser to silence the 50,000 strong home support.

Golf

• 27 June - Philomena Garvey wins British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship at Gleneagles.

Births

January to June

• 17 January - Colm Burke, former Fine Gael Lord Mayor of Cork, MEP.
• 7 February - Regina Joyce, long-distance runner.
• 15 February - Dave Langan, soccer player.
• 15 February - David Stanton, Fine Gael TD for Cork East.
• 19 April - Arkle, winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup on three consecutive occasions (died 1970).
• 13 March - Patricia McKenna, Irish Green Party politician.
• 7 March - Seán Crowe, Sinn Féin politician and former TD for Dublin South–West.
• 21 March - Pat Breen, Fine Gael TD for Clare.
• 20 May - Dermot Gallagher, soccer referee.
• 17 June - Phil Chevron, singer, songwriter and guitarist.

July to December

• 17 July - Terry Eviston, soccer player.
• 2 August - Ashley Grimes, soccer player and coach.
• 26 September - Finbar Wright, singer.
• 6 November - Siobhán McCarthy, actress.
• 24 November - John Minihan, former soldier, Progressive Democrats Seanad Éireann member.
• 17 December - Robbie Gaffney, soccer player.
• 25 December - Shane MacGowan, singer and songwriter.

Undated

• Kieran Brennan, former Kilkenny hurler.
• Tom Cashman, Cork hurler.
• Desmond Dinan, academic and author.
• Angela Downey, former Kilkenny camogie player.
• John Henderson, former Kilkenny hurler.
• Jon Kenny, comedian.
• Eoin Liston, former Kerry Gaelic footballer.
• Dermot Mac Curtain, Cork hurler.
• Glenn Meade, author.
• Charlie Nelligan, former Kerry Gaelic footballer.
• Dick O'Hara, former Kilkenny hurler.
• Jack O'Shea, former Kerry Gaelic footballer.
• Richie Power, former Kilkenny hurler.
• Tommy Quaid, Limerick hurler (died 1998).
• Richie Reid, former Kilkenny hurler.

Deaths

• 1 January - Fergal O'Hanlon, Irish Republican Army member killed with Seán South attacking the Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Brookeborough (born 1936).
• 1 January - Seán South, IRA leader fatally wounded during an attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Brookeborough (born 1929).
• 11 January - Anthony Mulvey, editor and Nationalist Party MP (born 1882).
• 16 February - John Sealy Townsend, mathematical physicist (died 1868).
• 25 March - Ernie O'Malley, prominent officer in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and on anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War and a writer (born 1897).
• 28 March - Jack B. Yeats, artist (born 1871).
• 29 March - John J. O'Kelly, politician, author and publisher, president of the Gaelic League and Sinn Féin (born 1873).
• 11 April - Freeman Wills Crofts, novelist (born 1879).
• 23 May - William Meldon, cricketer (born 1879).
• 1 August - Cathal O'Byrne, singer, poet and writer (born 1867).
• 22 September - Oliver St. John Gogarty, physician, poet and writer (born 1878).
• 25 October - Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany, writer and dramatist (born 1878).
• 9 November - Peter O'Connor, athlete (born 1872).
• 16 November - Seán Moylan, member Irish Volunteers, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister and Seanad Éireann member (born 1888).
• 6 December - Michael James O'Rourke, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1917 at Hill 70 near Lens, France (born 1878).

Undated

• Thomas Sadleir, genealogist (born 1882).
• George Townshend, writer, former clergyman and Bahá'í (born 1876).

References