1953 in Ireland

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Decades: 1930s • 1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s Centuries: 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st See also: 1953 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1953 List of years in Ireland

Events

• 18 January - Sinn Féin decides to contest all 12 constituencies in the next Westminster elections in Northern Ireland.
• 15 March - Up to 10,000 civil servants march down O'Connell Street in Dublin demanding a just wage.
• 16 March - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. asks the American Congress to support a United Ireland.
• 27 April - Maud Gonne MacBride dies at her home in Dublin aged 88.
• 1 May - The BBC brings into service the first television transmitter in Ireland, at Glencairn (Belfast).^[1]
• 3 June - 500 unemployed men march at Kildare Street demanding employment not dole.
• 6 July - 1,000 unemployed people sit on O'Connell Bridge for 15 minutes in protest.
• 2 August - Murlough Bay in the Antrim Glens is chosen as the future grave of Roger Casement. Taoiseach Éamon de Valera calls for the return of his remains.
• 29 August - Kilmainham Gaol is to be preserved as a national monument.
• 30 August - New synagogue dedicated at Terenure in Dublin (designed by Wilfrid Cantwell).^[2]
• 1 September - Great Northern Railway sold to governments of the Republic and Northern Ireland and managed by a joint board.
• 21 September - The Irish Ploughing Team leaves Dublin for the World Ploughing Championships in Canada.
• 20 October - Opening of Busáras in Dublin^[1] (designed by Michael Scott), CIÉ's country bus station and the first significant international style building in Ireland.
• 28 October - Three of Dáil Éireann's Independent TDs become members of Fianna Fáil.
• 30 October - Standish Vereker, 7th Viscount Gort, purchases Bunratty Castle to restore it.
• 18 December - The Censorship Board bans almost 100 publications on the grounds that they are indecent or obscene.

Arts and literature

• 5 January - Samuel Beckett's play Waiting For Godot has its first public stage première in French as En attendant Godot in Paris.^[1] His novel The Unnamable is also published in French this year.
• 5–26 April - First An Tóstal festivals of national culture^[1] (devised by Seán Lemass) held.
• 8 August - Chester Beatty Library in Dublin opens to the public.^[1]

Sport

Football

• League of Ireland

Winners: Shelbourne

• FAI Cup

Winners: Cork Athletic 2 - 2, 2 - 1 Evergreen United.

Golf

• Irish Open is won by Eric Brown (Scotland).

Births

January to June

• 6 January - Noel Dempsey, Fianna Fáil TD for Meath West and Minister for Transport.
• 12 February - Des Smyth, golfer.
• 24 February - Eoin Ryan, Fianna Fáil MEP for Dublin and former TD.
• 5 March - Brian Kerr, soccer manager, former Republic of Ireland national side manager.
• 6 March - James Bannon, former Senator, Fine Gael TD for Longford–Westmeath.
• 11 March - Derek Daly, motor racing driver.
• 11 March - Mary Harney, former Tánaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats.
• 15 March - Richard Bruton, Deputy Leader of Fine Gael, TD for Dublin North–Central.
• 31 March - Breeda Moynihan-Cronin, former Labour Party (Ireland) TD.
• 28 April - Paul Darragh, showjumper (died 2005).
• 16 May - Pierce Brosnan, actor.
• 30 May - Colm Meaney, actor.
• 31 May - Jerry Kiernan, long-distance runner
• 7 June - Kathleen Lynch, Labour Party TD for Cork North–Central.
• 12 June - John Moloney, Fianna Fáil TD for Laois–Offaly.
• 18 June - Neil O'Donoghue, American football placekicker.

July to December

• 7 July - Jim Glennon, former Fianna Fáil politician and TD.
• 29 July - Frank McGuinness, playwright, translator and poet.
• 19 August - Tom Parlon, President of the IFA (1997–2001), Progressive Democrat TD representing Laois–Offaly.
• 1 September - Catherine Murphy, former Independent TD.
• 18 September - Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, bank official, Sinn Féin TD representing Cavan–Monaghan.
• 20 September - Joe Waters, former soccer player.
• 23 September - Paudge Connolly, former independent TD.
• 26 September - Dolores Keane, singer and musician.
• 11 November - Jimmy Holmes, soccer player.
• 26 November - Marian Harkin, Member of the European Parliament representing North-West, Independent Teachta Dála representing Sligo–Leitrim.
• 3 December - Nickey Brennan, former Kilkenny hurler, President of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Full date unknown

• Dessie Ellis, Sinn Féin councillor in Dublin City Council, former IRA prisoner, first person extradited to the United Kingdom under the 1987 Extradition Act.
• Mary Flaherty, former Fine Gael TD and junior minister.
• Hugo Hamilton, writer.
• Ger Loughnane, former Clare hurler, manager of Galway hurling team.
• Tom McCormack, former Kilkenny hurler.

Deaths

• 11 February - Valentine McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee, Labour MP in the United Kingdom (born 1871).
• 22 February - John Caffrey, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 near La Brique, France (died 1891).
• 17 April - Tom Sharkey, boxer (born 1873).
• 3 June - Philip Graves, journalist and writer (born 1876).
• 14 July - Frank Fahy, Sinn Féin MP and later TD, member of 1st Dáil, Ceann Comhairle, Fianna Fáil TD (born 1880).
• 12 September - James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, Unionist politician and first Governor of Northern Ireland (born 1869).
• 17 October - Jack Rochford, Kilkenny hurler (born 1882).
• 30 October - John Counihan, farmer and salesmaster, Independent member of 1922 Seanad.
• 1 November - Thomas F. O'Higgins, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister.
• 25 December - Patsy Donovan, Major League Baseball player and manager (born 1865).

Full date unknown

• T. F. O'Rahilly, linguist and Irish language scholar (born 1883).

References