1919 in Ireland

Events

• 21 January – Dáil Éireann meets for the very first time in the Round Room of the Mansion House, Dublin. It comprises Sinn Féin members elected in the 1918 general election who, in accordance with their manifesto, have not taken their seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom but chosen to declare an independent Irish Republic. In the first shots of the Irish War of Independence, two Royal Irish Constabulary members are killed by Volunteers of the Third Tipperary Brigade in the Soloheadbeg Ambush in Tipperary.
• 27 January – general strike call over working hours led by engineering workers in Glasgow and Belfast; in Belfast the strike collapses after a month.
• 3 February – Éamon de Valera, the leader of Sinn Féin, John Milroy and John McGarry escaped from Lincoln Prison in England in a break arranged by Sinn Féin members including Michael Collins and Harry Boland.
• 1 April – fifty-two members of Sinn Féin attend the second meeting of Dáil Éireann. Seán T. O'Kelly is elected Ceann Comhairle and Éamon de Valera is elected President of Dáil Éireann.
• 2 April – Constance Markievicz is appointed Minister for Labour, becoming the first Irish female Cabinet Minister and the first in Western Europe.
• 15-19 April – "Limerick Soviet": a general strike called by the Limerick Trades and Labour Council, as a protest against the declaration of a "Special Military Area" under the Defence of the Realm Act covering of most of the city of Limerick and its surroundings.
• 18 April – 1,000 delegates from all over Ireland attend the Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis in Dublin. Éamon de Valera is elected President of the organisation.
• 19 April – Sinn Féin proposes an Executive Council of the Irish National Alliance to challenge the right of any foreign parliament to make laws for Ireland.
• 13 May – two Royal Irish Constabulary members are killed and Irish Republican Army volunteers, Dan Breen and Seán Treacy are wounded while rescuing Seán Hogan from a guarded train carriage at Knocklong County Limerick.
• 17 May – the first Republican law court is set up, at Ballinrobe, County Mayo.
• 14 June – Captain Alcock and Lieutenant Brown arrive in Clifden, County Galway following their 1,900 mile transatlantic flight.
• 18 June – Dáil establishes the National Arbitration Courts.
• 30 July – first assassination of a Royal Irish Constabulary officer carried out by The Squad, newly formed under the orders of Michael Collins, when Detective Sergeant Pat "the Dog" Smyth of G division is shot near Drumcondra, Dublin.
• 12 August – St Colman's Cathedral, Cobh, is consecrated.
• 8 September – "The sack of Fermoy": drunken British forces rampage through Fermoy following an inquest on the previous death of a British soldier which fails to find for murder.
• 12 September – Dáil Éireann is declared illegal by the British authorities. There are raids on Sinn Féin centres and Ernest Blythe is arrested.
• 4 November – the British Cabinet's Irish Committee settles on a policy of creating two Home Rule parliaments – one in Dublin and one in Belfast – with a Council of Ireland to provide a framework for possible unity.
• 19 December – volunteers from Dublin and Tipperary under the leadership of Paddy Daly undertook an ambush on Lord French's motorcade of three cars at Ashtown Road in Dublin. Lord French was the British Viceroy, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Supreme Commander of the British Army in Ireland. While three of French's party, two RIC and a driver, were wounded French got through unharmed. Volunteer Martin Savage was killed and Dan Breen wounded.
• Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, previously Chief Rabbi of Belfast, is appointed to serve in Dublin.

  Arts and literature

• October – W. B. Yeats travels to the United States and begins a lecture tour lasting until May 1920. In this year also Yeats publishes a major revision of The Wild Swans at Coole, Two Plays for Dancers and "A Prayer for My Daughter".
• Harry Clarke's illustrations to an edition of Tales of Mystery & Imagination are published.
• Francis Ledwidge's Complete Poems are published posthumously, edited by Lord Dunsany.
• C. S. Lewis, writing as Clive Hamilton, publishes Spirits in Bondage: a cycle of lyrics, his first published work, in London.
• Seumas O'Kelly's novella The Golden Barque and The Weaver's Grave are published posthumously.
• 'An Seabhac' 's semi-autobiographical comic story Jimín Mháire Thaidhg is published.

  Sport

Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA)

• ;All Ireland Senior Hurling Final
• :Cork 6–4 d Dublin 2–4
• ;All Ireland Senior Football Final
• :Kildare 2–5 d Galway 0–1

  Football

• ;Irish League
• :Winners: Belfast Celtic
• ;Irish Cup
• :Winners: Linfield 2–1 Glentoran
• ;International
• :25 October Ireland 1–1 England

  Births

• 26 January – Tom Aherne, soccer player
• 30 January – Robert Lowry, Baron Lowry, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
• 23 February – Johnny Carey, soccer player and manager
• 18 March – G. E. M. Anscombe, analytic philosopher
• 3 April – Myles McKeon, Roman Catholic Bishop of Bunbury, Australia
• 3 April – Eoghan Ó Tuairisc, poet and writer
• 9 April – Gordon Lambert, art collector, member of the Seanad
• 1 May – Dan O'Herlihy, actor
• 5 May – Séamus Ennis, Uilleann piper, singer and folk-song collector
• 9 May – Joseph Bermingham, Irish Labour Party TD
• 9 May – Anne Yeats, painter and stage designer
• 8 June – Constantine Fitzgibbon, historian and novelist
• 10 June – Kevin O'Flanagan, physician, rugby and soccer player and Olympic official
• 7 July – Fred Kiernan, soccer player
• 15 July – Iris Murdoch, novelist and philosopher
• 21 July – Roderick Gill, cricketer
• 1 August – Dave Creedon, Cork hurler
• 15 August – Benedict Kiely, writer, broadcaster and journalist
• 15 September – Michael ffrench-O'Carroll, Independent TD and Senator
• 2 October – Sean 'ac Donncha, traditional singer
• 25 October – Jimmy Rudd, soccer player
• 27 October – James Joseph Magennis, British Royal Navy submariner awarded Victoria Cross for taking part in Operation Struggle in 1945
• 1 November – Gerard Slevin, Chief Herald of Ireland
• 5 November – Seamus Twomey, twice chief of staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
• 15 November – Tony Reddin, Tipperary hurler
• 11 December – Digby McLaren, geologist and palaeontologist in Canada
• ;Full date unknown
• :*Vivian Mercier, literary critic
• :*J. J. O'Reilly, Cavan Gaelic footballer

  Deaths

• 9 January – John Danaher, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1881 near Pretoria, South Africa.
• 13 February – William Temple, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1863 at Rangiriri, New Zealand.
• 21 February – John O'Connor Power, Irish Nationalist politician and MP.
• 6 March – Pierce McCan, member of 1st Dáil representing Tipperary East.
• 20 March – William Hone, cricketer.
• 30 April – John Pentland Mahaffy, classicist.
• 8 June – Coslett Herbert Waddell, priest and botanist.
• 25 June – William Martin Murphy, Nationalist MP, newspaper proprietor, leader of employer's syndicate in the Dublin Lockout of 1913.
• 25 July – Samuel McCaughey, pastoralist, politician and philanthropist in Australia.
• 5 September – Joseph Ivess, member of the New Zealand House of Representatives.
• 31 December – Con Lehane, socialist active in the Irish Socialist Republican Party, the Social Democratic Federation, and the Socialist Party of Great Britain.
• ;Full date unknown
• :*Patrick Egan, treasurer of the Irish Land League, fled to the United States, United States Minister to Chile.