1781 in Ireland

Events

• 8 August – construction of The Custom House, Dublin, to the design of James Gandon, begins.

  Arts and literature

• First annual Granard harp festival.

  Births

• 6 February – John Keane, 1st Baron Keane, British Army Lieutenant-General.
• 25 December? – Sydney Owenson, novelist.
• William Benjamin Sarsfield Taylor, painter.

  Deaths

• 26 September – Andrew Lewis, pioneer and surveyor, soldier from Virginia.