1946 in Ireland

Events from the year 1946 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Seán T. O'Kelly
• Taoiseach: Éamon de Valera (FF)
• Tánaiste: Seán Lemass (FF)
• Minister for Finance: Frank Aiken (FF)
• Chief Justice:
• Timothy Sullivan (until 1 June 1946)
• Conor Maguire (from 1 June 1946)
• Dáil: 12th
• Seanad: 5th

Events

• 3 January – William Joyce, alias Lord Haw Haw, is hanged in Wandsworth Prison for treason.
• 7 January – the Minister for Education, Thomas Derrig, announces that because refugee children who arrived in Ireland during the war do not have a sufficient knowledge of the Irish language they cannot obtain the Leaving Certificate.
• 21 January – work starts on a comprehensive Irish-English dictionary.

• 4 February – it is announced that George Bernard Shaw is to be awarded the freedom of Dublin.
• 17 June – Aer Lingus inaugurates a Dublin-Paris air service.
• 6 July – a new republican political party, Clann na Poblachta, is formed in Dublin.
• 25 July – Éamon de Valera's motion to apply for membership of the United Nations is accepted in the Dáil.
• 6 August – on the first anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, Captain Bob Lewis, the co-pilot of the Enola Gay, the aircraft which dropped the bomb, arrives at Shannon Airport, completing his first flight as a civil aviation pilot.
• 12 August – a plane bringing 23 French Girl Guides to Dublin crashes on Djouce in the Wicklow Mountains with no fatalities.
• 29 August – George Bernard Shaw is honoured by being made a freeman of Dublin.
• 2 September – the Emergency Powers Act 1939 expires. The Defence Forces (Requisitions of Emergency) Order, 1940, is also revoked by Order (signed 28 August) with effect from this date.
• September – the Marine Service is formally disbanded and replaced by the Naval Service as a permanent component of the Irish Defence Forces.
• 6 October – seventy primary school teachers protest about low pay on the pitch at Croke Park at half-time during the Kerry–Roscommon All-Ireland Football Final.
• 22 November – Walt Disney arrives in Dublin. He has a meeting with the Irish Folklore Commission to further his investigation of leprechauns for a forthcoming film.
• 18 December – the government announces the release of 24 internees, including Brendan Behan.
• 28 December — TWA flight 6963 crashed during landing at Shannon Airport on the island of Inismacnaughton in Clare. Nine of the twenty-three passengers and crew were killed.

Arts and literature

• 5 August – Frank Carney's religious melodrama The Righteous are Bold opens at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, where it runs for an unprecedented 14 weeks.
• Denis Devlin publishes his Lough Derg and Other Poems in New York.
• Patrick Kavanagh publishes his poem "On Raglan Road" (under the title "Dark Haired Miriam Ran Away") in The Irish Press (3 October).
• Mervyn Wall publishes his first novel, The Unfortunate Fursey.
• Jack Butler Yeats paints Men of Destiny and The Whistle of a Jacket.

Sport

Football

League of Ireland

Winners: Cork United

FAI Cup

Winners: Drumcondra 2–1 Shamrock Rovers.

Golf

• Irish Open is won by Fred Daly (Northern Ireland).

Births

• 2 February – Tony Byrne, soccer player (died 2016).
• 2 April – Ruairi Quinn, leader of the Labour Party and Cabinet Minister, TD for Dublin South-East.
• 9 April – Charlie O'Connor, Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South-West.
• 15 April – Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam (1995– ).
• 17 April – Henry Kelly, journalist, writer and television presenter.
• 25 April – Peter Sutherland, barrister, businessman and politician (died 2018).
• May – Mary Upton, Labour Party TD for Dublin South-Central.
• 18 June – Ray Treacy, soccer player and manager.

• 12 July – Seán Keane, fiddle player with The Chieftains (died 2023).
• 18 July – John Naughton, journalist, author and academic
• 6 August – Brendan Ryan, Independent then Labour Party Senator.
• 10 August – Jimmy Conway, soccer player (died 2020).
• 24 August – BP Fallon, author and photographer.
• 12 September – Pat Moylan, Fianna Fáil politician, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann (2007– ).
• 29 September – Michael Keating, Fine Gael TD and Minister, Deputy Leader of the Progressive Democrats and Lord Mayor of Dublin.
• 2 October – Terry Conroy, soccer player.
• 19 October – Jim Mitchell, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister (died 2002).
• 21 November – Jim Fahy, journalist and broadcaster (died 2022).
• 29 November – Eamonn Campbell, folk guitarist/singer with The Dubliners (died 2017).
• 1 December – Gilbert O'Sullivan, pop singer/songwriter.
• 20 December – Tom McGurk, poet, journalist and broadcaster.
• 27 December – Joe Kinnear, soccer player and manager (died 2024).
• 31 December – Martin Mansergh, historian and Fianna Fáil TD for Tipperary South (died 2025).
• ;Full date unknown

*Tom Foley, racehorse trainer (died 2021).

*Séamus Horgan, Limerick hurler.

*Charlie McCarthy, Cork hurler.

*Con Roche, Cork hurler.

Deaths

• 16 January – Bill O'Callaghan, Cork hurler (b. c1869).
• 19 January – Pádraic Ó Máille, Sinn Féin MP and TD, Fianna Fáil Senator (born 1878).
• 21 January – James Crowley, Sinn Féin TD, member 1st Dáil and Cumann na nGaedheal TD.
• 2 February – Jack White, soldier, trade unionist, co-founder of the Irish Citizen Army (born 1879).
• 27 February – James Cecil Parke, international rugby player, tennis player, golfer and Olympic medallist (born 1881).
• 9 March – John J. Glennon, Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis and cardinal (born 1862).
• 20 March – Frederic Trench, 3rd Baron Ashtown, peer (born 1868).
• 20 April – Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, feminist, suffragette and writer (born 1877).
• 5 April – Martin Moffat, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (born 1882).
• 22 August – John Philip Bagwell, general manager Great Northern Railway, Seanad member (born 1874).
• 23 August – Samuel Cunningham, politician and Irish Privy Councillor (born 1862).
• 28 August – Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan, British Army commander in World War I, later Chief of the Imperial General Staff and Field Marshal (born 1865).
• 20 October – William Bernard Barry, politician in the United States (born 1902).
• 13 November – Patrick McLane, Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania (born 1875).
• 16 December – Blayney Hamilton, cricketer (born 1872).
• 30 December – Mick Ahern, Cork hurler (born 1905).

References