1959 in Ireland

← 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1959 in Ireland → 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	1959 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1959 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 1959 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President:
  • Seán T. O'Kelly (until 24 June 1959)
  • Éamon de Valera (from 25 June 1959)
• Taoiseach:
  • Éamon de Valera (FF) (until 23 June 1959)
  • Seán Lemass (FF) (from 23 June 1959)

Events

• 7 January – Dáil Éireann debates a motion that Éamon de Valera's position as controlling director of the Irish Press could be regarded as incompatible with his duties as Taoiseach.
• 23 January – the government is considering introduction of a pay-as-you-earn system of income tax.
• 10 February – unions vote to end the 15-year split in the Irish trade union movement. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions results from the merger of the TUC and the CIU.
• 8 April – Fine Gael's James Dillon wants to abolish compulsory Irish as he feels it is counter-productive.
• 25 June – Éamon de Valera is inaugurated at Dublin Castle as the third President of Ireland.
• 9 July – the first twelve female recruits are selected to join An Garda Síochána.
• 29 July – the new Department of Transport and Power is established. Erskine H. Childers is the first Minister and Thekla Beere is departmental Secretary, the first woman to achieve this grade in the Irish Civil Service.[1]
• 22 September – at its inaugural conference the Irish Congress of Trade Unions attacks the government of Northern Ireland for not recognising the new organisation.
• 4 October – three men collapse and die at Croke Park during the All-Ireland Hurling Final Replay.
• 21 October – James Dillon is elected leader of the Fine Gael Party. He replaces Richard Mulcahy as leader and John A. Costello as parliamentary leader.
• 4 December – twelve new female members of An Garda Síochána, known as bhanghardaí, pass out of the training depot in the Phoenix Park.
• Figures released on 4 February 1960 show that 118 million telephone calls were made in 1959.

Arts and literature

• 2 February – John B. Keane's play Sive is premiered at Walsh's Ballroom, Listowel, by an amateur group.[2]
• 12 February – the first edition of the Irish Music Charts Top 10 is printed in the Dublin Evening Herald. Elvis Presley's "One Night" becomes the first song to top the charts. It will not be until 1962 when the official charts are founded by RTÉ.
• 3 March – the film Home Is the Hero, based on the play by and starring Walter Macken, is released in Dublin.
• 24 June – Walt Disney's film Darby O'Gill and the Little People, based on H. T. Kavanagh's short stories, has its world premiere in Dublin.
• 15 September – Donagh MacDonagh's play Lady Spider, a retelling of the Deirdre myth, is premiered at the Gas Company Theatre, Dún Laoghaire.
• 28 September – Dominic Behan's play Posterity Be Damned is premiered at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin.
• 30 September – the film of Mise Éire, made by George Morrison with music by Seán Ó Riada for Gael Linn, is premiered to conclude the Cork Film Festival, the first feature-length Irish language film.
• December – British-Irish actor Peter O'Toole marries Welsh actress Siân Phillips in Dublin.

Sports

Hurling

• Waterford GAA won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

Football

• St Patrick's Athletic won the FAI Cup
• Shamrock Rovers won the League of Ireland

Births

• 6 January – Davy Spillane, folk rock musician, uillean piper.
• 6 February – Dermot Bolger, novelist, playwright and poet.
• 20 February – Patrick Walker, soccer player and manager.
• 22 February – Matthew Dwyer, cricketer.
• 21 May
  • Fergus Johnston, composer.
  • Brian Lenihan, Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin West and Minister for Finance (died 2011).
• 2 June – Gerry Hannan, broadcaster and writer.
• 13 June – Mairead McGuinness, journalist, Member of the European Parliament.
• 13 June – Mary Wallace, Fianna Fáil TD for Meath East and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food.
• 4 August – John Gormley, leader of the Green Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and TD for Dublin South-East.
• 9 August – Hugh R. Brady, President and Chief Officer of University College Dublin.
• 28 August – Lorcan Cranitch, actor.
• 28 September – Michael Scott, genre fiction author.
• 1 October – Billy Timmins, Fine Gael TD.
• 8 October – Gavin Friday, singer, songwriter, composer and painter.
• 20 October – Niamh Cusack, actress.
• 7 November – John Anderson, soccer player.
• 28 November – Stephen Roche, road racing cyclist, in 1987 won Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the World Cycling Championship.
• 4 December – Paul McGrath, Irish international soccer player.
• Full date unknown – Lorcan O'Herlihy, architect and artist in the United States.

Deaths

• 9 January – A. M. Sullivan, lawyer (born 1871).
• January – Patrick O'Connell, soccer player and manager (born 1887).
• 4 February – Una O'Connor, actress (born 1880).
• 7 March – T. C. Murray, dramatist (born 1873).
• 13 March – Robert Forde, Antarctic explorer (born 1875).
• 16 March – Dick Doyle, Kilkenny hurler (born 1884).
• 21 April – Sep Lambert, cricketer (born 1876).
• 15 May – Liam de Róiste, company director, member 1st Dáil (Pro Treaty), representing Cork City.
• 16 May – Elisha Scott, footballer (born 1894).
• 13 June – Seán Lester, diplomat and last Secretary General of the League of Nations (born 1888).
• 25 June – Mick Kenny, Galway hurler (born 1893).
• 21 August – Denis Devlin, poet and diplomat (born 1908 in Scotland).

References

1. O'Toole, Fintan (2012-07-06). "First Among Unequals". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
2. "Playography Ireland". Dublin: Irish Theatre Institute. Retrieved 2015-04-08.