1978 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Patrick Hillery
• Taoiseach: Jack Lynch
• Tánaiste: George Colley
• Minister for Finance: George Colley
• Chief Justice: Tom O'Higgins
• Dáil: 21st
• Seanad: 14th

  Events

• 18 January – the European Court of Human Rights finds Britain guilty of inhuman and degrading treatment of republican internees in Northern Ireland.
• 19 January – the Fianna Fáil government dismisses the Garda Commissioner Edmund Garvey. No explanation is given.
• 21 January – Johnny Giles resigns as manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team.
• 23 March – the state funeral of former President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh takes place in Sneem, County Kerry.
• 31 March – 6,000 people march through Dublin to Wood Quay to protest against the building of civic offices on the Viking site.
• 27 May – Britanny Ferries inaugurate a regular Cork–Roscoff service.
• 1 June – David Cook of the Alliance Party becomes the first non-Unionist Lord Mayor of Belfast.
• 10 August – new £10 note with Jonathan Swift in purple.
• 19 August – over 5,000 people take part in a rally against a nuclear power station at Carnsore Point, County Wexford.
• 1 September – Dublin Institute of Technology is created on an ad hoc basis by the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee.
• 2 November – Ireland's second national television channel, RTÉ 2, opens with a live broadcast from the Cork Opera House.
• November – Cork Regional Hospital officially opens in Cork.

  Arts and literature

• Iris Murdoch is awarded the Booker Prize for her novel The Sea, The Sea.
• Peter Sheridan is awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.
• Seán Ó Ríordáin's posthumous poetry collection Tar éis mo Bháis is published.
• First broadcast of craft TV series Hands.

  Sport

Athletics

• 25 March – John Treacy wins the world cross-country championship in Glasgow.

  Golf

• Carroll's Irish Open is won by Ken Brown.

  Horse racing

• Shergar wins The Derby and Irish Derby.

  Births

• 11 January – Adrian O'Connor, backstroke swimmer.
• 12 January – David Worrell, soccer player.
• 19 January – Simon Webb, soccer player.
• 28 January – Dave Mulcahy, soccer player.
• 30 January – John Doyle, Kildare Gaelic footballer.
• 21 February – Damien English, Fine Gael TD for Meath West.
• 23 February – Jason Byrne, soccer player.
• 7 March – John Miskella, Cork Gaelic footballer.
• 9 March – Derek O'Connor, soccer player.
• 16 March – Jemma Redmond, biochemist, pioneer of 3D bioprinting.
• 2 April – John Hoyne, Kilkenny hurler.
• 4 April – Alan Mahon, soccer player.
• 5 April – Stephen Murphy, soccer player.
• 19 April – Geordan Murphy, International rugby player.
• 23 April – Nicholas Murphy, Cork Gaelic footballer.
• 24 April – Jimmy Coogan, Kilkenny hurler.
• 29 April – David O'Loughlin, cyclist.
• 4 May – Stanerra, racehorse.
• 5 May – Paul Byrne, broadcast journalist.
• 10 June – Karl Scully, tenor.
• 21 June – Wayne Sherlock, Cork hurler.
• 25 June – Kieran Kelly, jump jockey.
• 4 July – Derek Lyng, Kilkenny hurler.
• 18 July
• *Shane Horgan, International rugby player.
• *Annie Mac, DJ and broadcast presenter.
• 27 July – Brian Barry-Murphy, soccer player.
• July – Diarmuid O'Sullivan, Cork hurler.
• 7 August – Alan Mahon, soccer player.
• 8 August – Alan Maybury, soccer player.
• 21 August – Alan Lee, soccer player.
• 28 August – Barry Ryan, soccer player.
• 29 August – Darren O'Keeffe, soccer player.
• 27 September – John Paul Phelan, Fine Gael Senator.
• 1 October – Barry Conlon, soccer player.
• 2 October – Eddie Brennan, Kilkenny hurler.
• 5 October – Shane Ryan, Gaelic footballer.
• 9 October – Nicky Byrne, entertainer, singer with Westlife & TV host.
• 17 October – Jerry Flannery, international rugby player.
• 25 October – Chris Keane, rugby player.
• 31 October – Ella McSweeney, radio and television producer
• 9 November – Martin Comerford, Kilkenny hurler.
• 15 December – Edele and Keavy Lynch, members of B*Witched.
• 22 December – Eugene Cloonan, Galway hurler.

Deaths

• 23 January – Cormac Breslin, Fianna Fáil TD and Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann.
• 4 March – Emmet Dalton, Republican activist, soldier and film producer.
• 6 March – Micheál MacLiammóir, actor and dramatist.
• 21 March – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, Attorney-general, Chief Justice of Ireland and fifth President of Ireland.
• 7 July – Mary Swanzy, painter.
• 28 August – Robert Shaw, actor and novelist.
• 12 September – Wilfred Hutton, cricketer.
• October – Moss Twomey, chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army.
• 5 November – Denis O'Dea, actor.
• 13 December – Jack Doyle, boxer, actor and singer.
• Full date unknown – Gabriel Hayes, sculptor, designer of Irish coins.