1951 in Ireland

← 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1951 in Ireland → 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	1951 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1951 List of years 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.

Sport

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).