1951 in Ireland

Events from the year 1951 in Ireland.

Incumbents

 * President: Seán T. O'Kelly
 * Taoiseach:
 * John A. Costello (FG) (until 13 June 1951)
 * Éamon de Valera (FF) (from 13 June 1951)
 * Tánaiste:
 * William Norton (Lab) (until 13 June 1951)
 * Seán Lemass (FF) (from 13 June 1951)
 * Minister for Finance:
 * Patrick McGilligan (FG) (until 13 June 1951)
 * Seán MacEntee (FF) (from 13 June 1951)
 * Chief Justice: Conor Maguire
 * Dáil:
 * 13th (until 7 May 1951)
 * 14th (from 13 June 1951)
 * Seanad:
 * 6th (until 25 July 1951)
 * 7th (from 14 August 1951)

Events

 * 2 February – Éamon de Valera visited Newry for the first time since his arrest there in 1924.
 * 11 April – Minister for Health Noel Browne resigned and his Mother and Child Scheme was overturned.
 * 19 April – The Attorney General for Northern Ireland, Ed Warnock, referring to Noel Browne's resignation, said that Ireland is really ruled by Maynooth (i.e. by the Catholic Church).
 * 24 May – Gardaí (police) exchanged shots with two men after they threw a bomb at the British Embassy in Dublin.
 * 30 May – 1951 Irish general election: Fianna Fáil won most seats but lacked an overall majority.
 * 13 June – Members of the 14th Dáil assembled. Éamon de Valera became Taoiseach with one of the smallest majorities on record (74–69), forming a Fianna Fáil government with the support of independents.
 * 1 July – Taoiseach Éamon de Valera paid his first visit to Derry in 25 years.
 * 15 November – The Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded jointly to Professor Ernest Walton of Trinity College Dublin and Sir John Cockcroft.

Arts and literature

 * 18 July – The Abbey Theatre in Dublin was burnt to the ground.
 * 30 July–22 September – The now-homeless Abbey Theatre company performed a season at the Rupert Guinness Hall in the Guinness Brewery before moving to the Queen's Theatre, Dublin.
 * 15 August – Donagh MacDonagh's ballad opera God's Gentry opened at the Belfast Arts Theatre, transferring to the Gate Theatre, Dublin on 26 December.
 * 21 October–4 November – The first Wexford "Festival of Music and the Arts", predecessor of Wexford Festival Opera.
 * The first national festival of the folk music of Ireland was held in Mullingar.
 * Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann was established in Mullingar by a group of uilleann pipers to promote the folk music and language of Ireland.
 * Samuel Beckett's novel Molloy was published in French.
 * Sinéad de Valera's collection for children The Emerald Ring and Other Irish Fairy Stories was published.
 * The Dolmen Press was established in Dublin by Liam and Josephine Miller to publish Irish literature.
 * Louis le Brocquy painted A Family.
 * Daniel O'Neill painted Knockalla Hills, Donegal and Western Landscape.

Association football

 * League of Ireland
 * Winners: Cork Athletic


 * FAI Cup
 * Winners: Transport 1–1, 1–0 Shelbourne.

Boxing

 * 8 June – Jack Doyle defeated America's 'Beer Baron' Two-Ton Tony Gelanto at Tolka Park.

GAA
Mayo successfully defended All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final by defeating Meath 2-8 to 0-9.

Golf

 * Irish Open – no tournament held.

Births

 * 4 January – Paddy Roche, soccer player.
 * 25 January – M. J. Nolan, Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow–Kilkenny and Senator.
 * 27 January – Brian Downey, drummer.
 * 4 February – Patrick Bergin, actor.
 * 6 February – Margo, singer.
 * 14 February – Alan Shatter, Fine Gael TD for Dublin South.
 * 1 March – J. P. McManus, businessman and racehorse owner.
 * 16 March – John Egan, Dublin GAA County Chairman (died 2007).
 * 25 March – Gerard Murphy, Fine Gael TD representing Cork North-West.
 * 4 April – Alan Hughes, cricketer.
 * 24 April – Enda Kenny, leader of Fine Gael, TD for Mayo.
 * 1 May – Michael McDowell, founding member of Progressive Democrats, TD, Cabinet Minister and Attorney-General.
 * 10 May – Ger Canning, Gaelic Athletic Association hurling and football commentator.
 * 21 May
 * Adrian Hardiman, justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland (died 2016).
 * Ray O'Brien, soccer player.
 * 23 May – Viscount Slane, later The Marquess Conyngham, pop concert promoter.
 * 26 May – Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Fine Gael TD, councillor.
 * 6 June – Frank Fahey, Fianna Fáil TD for Galway West.
 * 10 June – Joe McKenna, Limerick hurler and manager.
 * 12 June – Nóirín Ní Riain, singer, musician, writer and theologian.
 * 27 June – Mary McAleese, eighth President of Ireland.
 * July – Anne Colley, Progressive Democrats politician.
 * August – Peter Mathews, TD representing Dublin South and economic commentator (died 2017).
 * 30 August – Dana Rosemary Scallon, singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner and Member of the European Parliament.
 * 1 September – Geraldine Kennedy, journalist, politician and first female editor of The Irish Times.
 * 12 September – Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil.
 * 5 October – Bob Geldof, singer, songwriter and humanitarian.
 * 18 December – Noel Treacy, Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East.
 * 30 December – Gay Mitchell, TD representing Dublin South-Central, Member of the European Parliament for Dublin.
 * Full date unknown
 * John Aimers, educator and Chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada
 * Yvonne Farrell, architect.

Deaths

 * 9 January – John Aston, cricketer (born 1882).
 * 17 January – Alexander Haslett, independent TD (born 1883).
 * 18 January – Amy Carmichael, Christian missionary and writer (born 1867).
 * 26 January – Thomas Houghton, Anglican clergyman and editor of the Gospel Magazine (born 1859).
 * 18 March – Thomas Foran, trade union official, member of the Seanad from 1922 to 1948.
 * 27 March – James Geoghegan, Fianna Fáil TD, Minister for Justice, Attorney General of Ireland and Justice of the Supreme Court (born 1886).
 * 29 March – Ambrose Upton Gledstanes Bury, politician in Alberta, Canada (born 1869).
 * 10 April – Nora Barnacle, wife of author James Joyce (born 1884).
 * 12 April – Henry De Vere Stacpoole, ship's doctor and author (born 1863).
 * 19 May – Frederick Barton Maurice, soldier, military correspondent, writer and academic, founded the British Legion in 1920 (born 1871).
 * 10 June – Justice George Gavan Duffy, barrister, Sinn Féin Member of Parliament and a signatory of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921 (born 1882).
 * 21 June – Eugene O'Mahoney, museum curator and entomologist (born 1899).
 * 24 July – Paddy Moore, soccer player (born 1909).
 * 16 August – Gus Kelly, cricketer (born 1877).
 * 17 August – Joseph Warwick Bigger, professor, member of the Dublin University constituency in the Seanad from 1944 to 1951.
 * 25 August – John J. McGrath, Democratic U.S. Representative from California (born 1872).
 * 27 November – George Meldon, cricketer (born 1885).
 * Full date unknown
 * Margot Ruddock, actress, poet and singer (born 1907).