1954 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Seán T. O'Kelly
• Taoiseach:
• * Éamon de Valera
• * John A. Costello

  Events

• 1 January – 1954 is the first Marian year. There are many events and devotions to Our Lady and shrines and statues are erected in public places.
• 11 January – the Irish Council of the European Movement is formed in Dublin.
• 19 January – the government announces that the new Cork Airport will be built at Ballygarvan, four miles south of the city.
• 19 February – Captain Henry Harrison, the last surviving member of the party led by Charles Stewart Parnell, dies aged 87.
• 20 April – murderer Michael Manning, aged 25, is executed in Mountjoy Prison. He is the last person to be judicially executed in the state.
• 5 May – at its headquarters in Kingsbridge, CIÉ signs a £4.75 million contract to replace its steam locomotives with diesels.
• 16 May – 30,000 march through Dublin in a huge Marian year procession, the city's greatest display of Catholic faith since the International Eucharistic Congress of 1932.
• 18 May – 1954 Irish general election: Fianna Fáil lose four seats. The second inter-party government under John A. Costello comes to power when the members of the 15th Dáil assemble on 2 June.
• 12 June – an Irish Republican Army unit carries out a successful arms raid on Gough Barracks in Armagh signalling the renewal of IRA activity following a long hiatus.
• 28 June – Alfie Byrne is elected Lord Mayor of Dublin for the tenth time.
• 5 July – Dublin Corporation decides that Nelson's Pillar on O'Connell Street will not be removed.
• 5 September – 27 people die when KLM Flight 633 crashes two minutes after leaving Shannon Airport.
• 8 September – Marian College opened for the first time.
• Undated
• * Entrepreneur Joe "Spud" Murphy sets up Tayto to manufacture crisps.
• * The Evening Press newspaper is launched in Dublin.

  Arts and literature

• 16 June – the first public celebration of "Bloomsday" takes place in Dublin. Writers Flann O'Brien, Patrick Kavanagh and Anthony Cronin travel in a horse-drawn coach stopping at numerous pubs to retrace the steps of the characters from James Joyce's novel Ulysses.
• 16 October – a marble plaque is unveiled at Westland Row, Dublin, to mark the centenary of the birth of Oscar Wilde.
• 19 November – Brendan Behan's first play, The Quare Fellow, premières at the Pike Theatre, Dublin, to great reviews.
• First Cork International Choral and Folk Dance Festival.
• English-born painter Derek Hill settles at St Columb's Rectory, near Churchill, County Donegal.
• Publication of Christy Brown's autobiography My Left Foot.
• Publication of Iris Murdoch's first novel, Under the Net.

  Sport

Football

Births

• 3 January – Fintan Cullen, art historian and writer.
• 10 January – Bairbre de Brún, Sinn Féin MEP and first Sinn Féin politician to represent Northern Ireland in the European Parliament.
• 22 January – Ger Fennelly, Kilkenny hurler.
• 26 January – Sean O'Callaghan, Provisional Irish Republican Army member and Garda Síochána informer.
• 8 March – Dermot Keely, soccer player and manager.
• 12 March – Francis Martin O'Donnell, United Nations official.
• 6 April – Billy Fitzpatrick, Kilkenny hurler.
• 11 April – Michael Lyster, RTÉ sports broadcaster.
• 15 April – Michael Willis, only official IRA member to escape from Crumlin Road prison.
• 25 April – Róisín Shortall, Labour Party TD for Dublin North-West.
• 29 April – Gavan O'Herlihy, actor.
• 30 April – Gerry Daly, soccer player.
• 5 May – Ger Henderson, Kilkenny hurler.
• 13 May – Johnny Logan, born Seán Patrick Michael Sherrard, singer and songwriter.
• 25 May – Daragh O'Malley, actor.
• 6 June – Tim O'Reilly, computer software promoter.
• 6 July – Tim Kennelly, Gaelic footballer with Kerry.
• 11 July – Liam Thomas Quinn, priest and teacher.
• 23 July – Arthur Morgan, Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoner, Sinn Féin TD for Louth.
• 27 July – Pat Delaney, Offaly hurler.
• 28 July – Mikey Sheehy, Gaelic footballer.
• 3 August – George Birmingham, Fine Gael politician.
• 5 August – Paddy Glackin, fiddle player.
• 12 August – Brian Cody, Kilkenny hurler, manager.
• 22 August – Jimmy Barry-Murphy, hurler and Gaelic footballer.
• 8 September – Áine Brady, Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North.
• 3 October – Mick Holden, Gaelic footballer and hurler.
• 8 October – Tony Ward, international rugby player and sports journalist.
• 16 October
• *Bertie Óg Murphy, Cork hurler and manager.
• *Noel Slevin, journalist.
• 2 November – Martin Cullen, Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála representing Waterford and Cabinet Minister.
• 11 December – Noel Lane, Galway hurler and manager.
• 17 December – Síle de Valera, Fianna Fáil TD representing Clare, Minister and MEP.
• ;Full date unknown

  Deaths

• 2 February – Áine Ceannt, revolutionary activist and humanitarian.
• 20 April – Michael Manning, carter, convicted of murder and hanged, last person executed in the Republic of Ireland.
• 1 May – James Macmahon, civil servant and businessman, Under-Secretary for Ireland from 1918 to 1922.
• 2 May – Elinor Darwin, engraver and portrait painter.
• 20 May – Roger Sweetman, barrister-at-law, member of 1st Dáil representing North Wexford.
• 8 July – George Gardiner, boxer.
• 11 September – R. M. Smyllie, editor of The Irish Times.
• 16 September – James G. Douglas, member of the 1922 Seanad.
• 21 October – T. V. Honan, merchant, Fianna Fáil member of the Seanad.