1945 in Ireland

← 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1945 in Ireland → 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	1945 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1945 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 1945 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President – Douglas Hyde until 24 June; succeeded the following day by Seán T. O'Kelly (Fianna Fáil)
• Taoiseach – Éamon de Valera (Fianna Fáil)

Events

• 1 January – Most public transport came under the control of Córas Iompair Éireann.
• 12 January – The people of Ireland donated £100,000 to the starving people of Italy.
• 13 April – Dáil Éireann sat for 20 minutes to express sympathy and pay tribute to US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died yesterday. The House was then adjourned.
• 27 April – The Fine Gael party nominated Seán Mac Eoin as their presidential election candidate in opposition to the Minister for Finance Seán T. O'Kelly.
• 2 May
  • In one of the most controversial episodes of his premiership, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera called to the German Ambassador to express his sympathy following the death of Adolf Hitler.
  • In the last Irish shipping loss due to World War II, motor fishing trawler Naom Garvan caught a naval mine in her trawl off Helvick Head, Dungarvan; all three crew were lost.
• 7 May – Reports of a German surrender brought students of Trinity College Dublin onto the roof of the university singing the English and French national anthems. A riot ensued following the burning of the Irish tricolour.
• 11 May – Government censorship of the media was lifted.^[1]
• 16 May – Éamon de Valera replied in a radio broadcast to Winston Churchill's criticism of Irish neutrality.
• 18 May – Éamon de Valera announced £12 million food and clothing aid programmed for Europe.
• 25 June – Seán T. O'Kelly was inaugurated as the second President of Ireland.
• 24 July – John F. Kennedy visited Dublin as a journalist and met the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera. He filed a story for the New York Journal-American on 29 July entitled, "Eamon de Valera Seeks to Unite All Ireland: Eire Premier Answers Dillon on Constitutional Rights".^[2][3]
• 21 August – Two nationalist MPs took the Oath of Allegiance and entered the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster.
• 16 September – Count John McCormack, the famous tenor, died in Dublin aged 61.
• 15 October – Professor Eoin MacNeill died in Dublin aged 77. He was a founder-member of the Gaelic League and the Irish Volunteers.
• 3 December – Oranges went on sale in Ireland for the first time since the end of World War II.
• 14 December – The Nuremberg Trials heard the story of German plans to create a revolution in Ireland during the War.
• 25 December – In his presidential address President Seán T. O'Kelly asked the youth of Ireland to make a particular effort to restore the Irish language.

Arts and literature

• J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Green Tea and Other Ghost Stories was published posthumously in the United States.
• E. J. Moeran's Cello Concerto incorporated fragments of Irish music.

Sport

Football

• League of Ireland

Winners: Cork United

• FAI Cup

Winners: Shamrock Rovers 1–0 Bohemians.

Golf

• The Irish Open was not played due to The Emergency.

Births

Brenda Fricker was born on 17 February

January to March

• 8 January – Kevin Conneff, bodhrán player and singer with The Chieftains.
• 12 January – Tony Maher, Cork hurler.
• 2 February – Billy Morgan, Cork Gaelic footballer and manager.
• 5 February – Michael Courtney, titular archbishop of Eanach Dúin and Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi (assassinated 2003).
• 12 February – Jimmy Keaveney, Dublin Gaelic footballer.
• 17 February – Brenda Fricker, actress.
• 17 March – Paddy Mulligan, soccer player.
• March – Bernard Durkan, Fine Gael TD for Kildare North.

April to June

Christy Moore was born on 7 May

• 2 April – Batt O'Keeffe, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North–West and Minister of State.
• 8 April – Diarmuid Martin, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland.
• 18 April – Margaret Hassan, aid worker in Iraq, kidnapped and murdered by Iraqi insurgents (died 2004).
• 20 April – Alan Dukes, former leader of Fine Gael and TD, Director General of the Institute of European Affairs.
• 26 April – Séamus Kirk, Fianna Fáil TD for Louth.
• 27 April – Dinny McGinley, Fine Gael TD for Donegal South–West.
• 4 May – Jim Higgins, former Fine Gael TD, Senator and Member of the European Parliament.
• 7 May – Christy Moore, folk singer.
• 1 June – Niamh Bhreathnach, Labour Party politician, formerly TD and Minister for Education.
• 1 June – Jarlath McDonagh, former Fine Gael politician.
• 6 June – Denis Coughlan, Cork Gaelic footballer and hurler.
• 20 June – Denis Brennan, Bishop of Ferns (2006– ).
• 30 June – Sean Scully, painter.
• June – Nora Owen, former Fine Gael TD and Minister for Justice.

July to December

• 1 July – Jack Wall, Labour Party TD for Kildare South.
• 11 July – Patrick Joseph McGrath, second Roman Catholic Bishop of San Jose in California.
• July – John Dardis, former Progressive Democrats Senator.
• 3 August – Eamon Dunphy, former footballer, commentator and broadcaster.
• 12 September – Maria Aitken, actress, writer and director.
• 13 September – Niall FitzGerald, businessman.
• 15 September – Donie Cassidy, Fianna Fáil TD representing Longford–Westmeath, businessman.
• 20 September – Eamonn Walsh, former Labour Party TD, local councillor.
• September – Gerald McCarthy, Cork hurling manager and former player.
• 19 November – Christie Hennessy, folk singer songwriter (died 2007).
• 8 December – John Banville, novelist.
• 17 December – John Neill, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Bishop of Glendalough, Primate of Ireland, and Metropolitan.
• 24 December – Noel Davern, Fianna Fáil TD representing Tipperary South, Cabinet Minister, Member of the European Parliament.

Full date unknown

• Richie Bennis, Limerick hurling manager.
• Éamonn Cregan, former Limerick Gaelic footballer and hurler, manager.
• Susan Denham, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland.
• Alexis FitzGerald, Jnr, former Fine Gael TD and Senator.
• Justin McCarthy, former Cork hurler, Waterford hurling manager.
• Eddie O'Brien, former Cork hurler.
• Bernard O'Donoghue, poet and academic.
• Philip Pettit, philosopher and political theorist.
• Kieran Purcell, former Kilkenny hurler.
• Pad Joe Whelahan, Offaly hurler, manager.

Deaths

Eoin MacNeill, died 15 October

• 30 January – Patrick Belton, Fianna Fáil and Cumann na nGaedheal TD, President of the anti-communist Irish Christian Front (born in 1885).
• 4 April – Henry Guinness, served as an Independent member of the Seanad from 1922.
• 24 July – Kitty Kiernan, fiancée of the assassinated Michael Collins (born 1892).
• 3 October – Dermod O'Brien, painter (born in 1865).
• 13 October – Joseph MacRory, Cardinal, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland (born in 1861).
• 15 October – Eoin MacNeill, scholar, nationalist and revolutionary (born in 1867).
• 24 October – Frederick Field, Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet and First Sea Lord (born in 1871).
• 6 December – Edmund Dwyer-Gray, politician and 29th Premier of Tasmania in 1939 (born in 1870).
• 20 December – John M. Lyle, architect in Canada (born in 1872).

References