1971 in Ireland
Events
- February 15 - Decimalisation: The Republic of Ireland and United Kingdom both switch to decimal currency.[1]
- March 20 - Maj. James Chichester-Clark resigns as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He is succeeded on March 23 by Brian Faulkner.
- April 3 - The Eurovision Song Contest is held in Dublin. Presented by Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir, it is the first colour broadcast by RTÉ.
- April 11
- May 11 - Seán Lemass, Taoiseach from 1959 to 1966, dies in Dublin aged 71. He was active during the 1916 Easter Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War.
- May 22 - Members of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement return to Dublin on the "Contraceptive Train" from Belfast bringing contraceptives as a protest against the law banning their importation.
- July 8 - Two rioters are shot dead by British troops in Derry.[2]
- July 16 - The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) announces that it is withdrawing from Stormont.
- August 9 - Internment without trial is introduced in Northern Ireland. Over 300 republicans are 'lifted' in pre-dawn raids by British security forces and interned in Long Kesh prison. Some Loyalists are later arrested. Twenty people die in riots that follow, including eleven in the Ballymurphy Massacre.[3]
- August 12 - British troops begin clearing operations in Belfast following the worst rioting in years. Taoiseach Jack Lynch calls for an end to the Stormont administration.
- September 7 - The death toll in The Troubles reaches 100 after three years with the death of 14-year-old Annette McGavigan, who is fatally wounded by a gunshot in crossfire between British soldiers and the IRA.
- September 25 - A rally takes place in Dublin in support of a campaign of civil disobedience in Northern Ireland.
- September 27 - Prime ministers Edward Heath, Jack Lynch and Brian Faulkner meet at Chequers to discuss the Northern Ireland situation.
- October 13 - The British Army begins to destroy roads between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland as a security measure.[4]
- October 23 - Two women are shot dead by soldiers in Belfast as their car fails to stop at a checkpoint.[5]
- October 31 - A IRA bomb explodes at the top of the Post Office Tower in London.[6]
- November 10 - The government defeats a motion of no confidence in Jim Gibbons.
- November 17 - Neil Blaney and Paudge Brennan are expelled from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
- December 4 - The McGurk's Bar bombing, carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force in Belfast, kills 15 people, the highest death toll from a single incident in the city during "the Troubles".[7]
Arts and literature
Sports
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship: Offaly 1-14 Galway 2-8
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship: Tipperary 5-17 Kilkenny 5-14
Births
January to June
July to December
- 16 July - Joe McHugh, Fine Gael TD for Donegal North East, former Senator.
- 2 August - Davy FitzGerald, Clare hurler.
- 4 August - Paul McCarthy, soccer player.
- 6 August - Conor McPherson, playwright and director.
- 10 August - Roy Keane, former Manchester United and Glasgow Celtic footballer and current Sunderland manager.
- 17 August - Anthony Kearns, tenor
- 18 August - Aphex Twin, electronic music artist.
- 31 August - Pádraig Harrington, golfer, won the 2007 Open Championship.
- August - Brian Whelahan, Offaly hurler.
- 6 September - Dolores O'Riordan, singer and songwriter.
- 7 October - Johnny Dooley, Offaly hurler, manager.
- 24 October - Dervla Kirwan, actress.
- 3 November - Dylan Moran, comedian, actor and writer.
- 26 November - James McGarry, Kilkenny hurling goalkeeper.
- November - Brian Lohan, Clare hurler.
- 25 December - Noel Hogan, guitarist and songwriter.
Full date unknown
Deaths
January to June
- 2 January - John O'Farrell, trade union official, served in the Seanad from 1922–36 and 1948–50.
- 24 January - St John Ervine, playwright and novelist (b.1883).
- 28 January - Edward O'Connell, Cork hurler.
- 31 March - Michael Browne, Master General of the Dominicans, Cardinal (b.1887).
- 1 April - Kathleen Lonsdale, X-ray crystallographer (b.1903).
- 4 May - Seamus Elliott, road bicycle racer (b.1934).
- 10 May - Archie Heron, trade union organiser.
- 11 May - Seán Lemass, Fianna Fáil TD and founder member, Cabinet Minister and Taoiseach (b.1899).
- 11 May - Eamon Martin, one of founders of Fianna Éireann, and an Irish Volunteer who fought in the Easter Rising (b.1893).
- 13 June - Máiréad Ní Ghráda, poet and playwright.
- 14 June - Gerard Dillon, artist and painter (b.1916).
July to December
References