1993 in Ireland

Events from the year 1993 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Mary Robinson
• Taoiseach: Albert Reynolds (FF)
• Tánaiste:
• John Wilson (FF) (until 12 January 1993)
• Dick Spring (Lab) (from 12 January 1993)
• Minister for Finance: Bertie Ahern (FF)
• Chief Justice: Thomas Finlay
• Dáil: 27th
• Seanad: 20th (from 17 February 1993)

Events

• 8–17 January – The Braer Storm blew in the North Atlantic.
• 12 January – Albert Reynolds was elected Taoiseach in Dáil Éireann. A Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition government came to power.
• 10 March – The Gaelic Athletic Association received planning permission for the redevelopment of the Croke Park stadium.
• 25 March – Castlerock killings: four Catholics were shot dead by the Ulster Defence Association as they arrived for work in Castlerock, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
• 20 May - Waterford gets a new shopping centre called "City Square".
• 27 May – The first meeting of an Irish head of state with a British monarch took place when President Mary Robinson makes a private visit to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
• 1 June – Mother Teresa met President Mary Robinson at Áras an Uachtaráin.
• 24 June – Dáil Éireann passed the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, decriminalising consensual homosexual acts.
• 15 July – The Beef Tribunal ended after 226 days.
• September – The sale of land beside a Dublin convent and the consequent exhumation of at least 133 former residents of a Magdalene asylum from unmarked graves brought the existence of these institutions to wide public attention.
• 16 September – A new green coloured £10 note was issued depicting the writer James Joyce.
• 23 October – Shankill Road bombing – Ten people were killed when a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded at a fish shop on the Shankill Road in Belfast.
• 30 October – Greysteel massacre – The Ulster Defence Association shot 21 people in the Rising Sun Bar in Greysteel, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, during a Hallowe'en party. They chose the pub as it was in a Catholic area.
• 12 November – The issue of a new, smaller 10 pence coin meant there was no longer a coin equivalent in size to a florin after 22 years.
• December – Brú na Bóinne became the first UNESCO World Heritage Site designated in Ireland.
• 15 December – Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and British Prime Minister John Major issued a joint Downing Street Declaration on the future of Northern Ireland.
• 25 December – Elizabeth II spoke of her hopes for peace in Northern Ireland in her Christmas Day speech to the U.K.
• 29 December – The IRA announced it would fight on against the British presence in Northern Ireland.

Arts and literature

• 15 May – Niamh Kavanagh won the Eurovision Song Contest (staged at the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet, County Cork) for Ireland with In Your Eyes, the second of three consecutive Irish wins.
• 6 August – The television film The Snapper was released.
• 26–7 August – The band U2 played two concerts at the RDS Showgrounds.
• 11 November – The final Jacob's Broadcasting Awards ceremony took place in Dublin.
• 16 December – The world première of the film In the Name of the Father was held at the Savoy Cinema in Dublin.
• Roddy Doyle was awarded the Booker Prize for his novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
• John Banville's novel Ghosts was published.
• The Irish Film Board was re-established as a funding body under the chairmanship of Lelia Doolan.

Sport

Association football

Domestic football

• Shelbourne defeated Dundalk 1–0 at Lansdowne Road to win the FAI Cup.

International football

• Alan McLoughlin scored as Ireland drew 1–1 with Northern Ireland to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA.
• Ireland also went 6th in the world to reach their highest FIFA ranking to date.

Athletics

• Runner Marcus O'Sullivan won the world indoor 1,500-metre championship for the third time, in Toronto.

Gaelic football

• Derry beat Cork 1–14 to 2–8 to win the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship for the first time.

Golf

• The Irish Open was won by Nick Faldo (England).

Hurling

• Kilkenny beat Galway 2–17 to 1–15 to win their second consecutive All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

Mountaineering

• Pat Falvey and Dawson Stelfox became the first Irish people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Births

• 6 January – Al Porter, entertainer
• 21 February – Shane Dowling, hurler (Na Piarsaigh, Limerick).
• 20 April – Dan Morrissey, hurler (Ahane, Limerick)
• 25 April – Josh van der Flier, Rugby player
• 6 June – Aisling Franciosi, screen actress
• 27 June – Rejjie Snow, born Alex Anyaegbunam, hip hop musician
• 7 July – Ciarán Kilkenny, Gaelic footballer
• 5 August – Patrick McBrearty, Donegal Gaelic football superstar
• 13 September – Niall Horan, member of boy band One Direction

Deaths

• 5 February – Seán Flanagan, Gaelic footballer, captain of winning Mayo All Ireland football teams in 1950s, Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister and MEP (born 1922).
• 11 February – Brian Inglis, journalist, historian and television presenter (born 1916).
• 15 February – Peter Kavanagh, soccer player (born 1910).
• 23 March – Denis Parsons Burkitt, surgeon (born 1911).
• April – Denis Hegarty, public servant.
• 5 May – Dermot Boyle, Marshal of the Royal Air Force (born 1904).
• 29 June – Patrick Lindsay, Fine Gael TD and lawyer (born 1914).
• 28 July – Stanley Woods, motor cycle racer, with 29 Grand Prix wins and 10 Isle of Man TT wins (born 1903).
• 14 September – Sheelagh Murnaghan, only Ulster Liberal Party Member of Parliament at Stormont (born 1924).
• 7 October – Cyril Cusack, actor (born 1910).
• 1 November – Maeve Brennan, short story writer and journalist (born 1917).
• 15 November – Jimmy McAlinden, soccer player and manager (born 1917).
• 28 November – Joe Kelly, motor racing driver (born 1913).
• 29 December – Marie Kean, actress (born 1918).
• 31 December – Michael Cleary, priest and media personality, throat cancer (born 1933)

See also

• 1993 in Irish television

References