1996 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Mary Robinson
• Taoiseach: John Bruton
• Tánaiste: Dick Spring
• Minister for Finance: Ruairi Quinn
• Chief Justice: Liam Hamilton
• Dáil: 27th
• Seanad: 20th

  Events

• 24 January – the international body proposed six principles of democracy and non-violence as conditions for entry to all-party talks in Northern Ireland.
• 5 February – the Football Association of Ireland appointed Mick McCarthy as manager of the Irish football team.
• 9 February – a large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb exploded in the London Docklands area, near Canary Wharf, injuring around forty, and marking the end of a 17-month IRA ceasefire.
• 11 March – the Hepatitis Tribunal opened in Dublin.
• 7 June – Detective Garda Jerry McCabe was shot dead by the IRA in Adare, County Limerick.
• 17 June – the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was signed into law, repealing the absolute constitutional prohibition of divorce under the terms of the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 1995.
• 26 June – crime reporter Veronica Guerin was shot dead in her car in Dublin.
• 11 September – new £100 note with a Red & Brown front and a Green & Yellow back with Charles Stewart Parnell, replacing the 68 year old £100 note.
• 25 September – the last Magdalene asylum closed, in Waterford.
• 29 November – it was revealed that Dunnes Stores paid £208,000 for an extension to Minister Michael Lowry's house.
• 13 December – on the opening day of a Dublin summit, EU leaders achieved a breakthrough in the argument over preparations for a single European currency.
• 23 December – French film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier was murdered outside her holiday home in Schull, County Cork.
• Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud was the first in Dublin to be awarded two Michelin stars.

  Arts and literature

• 1 February – Martin McDonagh's black comedy The Beauty Queen of Leenane was premiered by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway.
• 11 February – the television drama series Ballykissangel first aired. It was made by BBC Northern Ireland and set in a rural Irish community.
• 18 May – Ireland won the Eurovision Song Contest for the seventh time with The Voice, sung by Eimear Quinn and composed by Brendan Graham.
• 7 August – Marie Jones' play Stones in His Pockets was premiered in Belfast.
• 26 September – Enda Walsh's play Disco Pigs was premiered by the Corcadorca Theatre Company at the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork.
• 31 October – Ireland's first Irish language television station, Teilifís na Gaeilge, was launched. On 3 November the soap opera Ros na Rún was first aired on the channel.
• 6 November – the film Michael Collins was shown in Cork and Dublin.
• The following novels were published:
• * Evening Class by Maeve Binchy.
• * Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane.
• * Headbanger by Hugo Hamilton.
• * Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married by Marian Keyes.
• * The Story of the Night by Colm Tóibín.

  Sport

Gaelic football

• Meath GAA beat Mayo in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, after a replay, to win their first title since 1988.

  Golf

• Murphy's Irish Open was won by Colin Montgomerie.

  Hurling

• Wexford GAA beat Limerick GAA in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final. It was their first senior All-Ireland since 1968.

  Olympics

• Swimmer Michelle Smith won three gold medals and one bronze in the Atlanta Olympics.

  Soccer

• St Patrick's Athletic won the League of Ireland
• Shelbourne won the FAI Cup

  Boxing

• 9 March – Steve Collins, "The Celtic Warrior", successfully defended his WBO super middleweight title against Neville Brown at the Green Glens Arena, Millstreet, County Cork.

  Births

• 3 January – Cian Lynch, hurler
• 24 January – Seán Finn, hurler
• 29 May – Tom Morrissey, hurler
• 28 October – Una Raymond-Hoey, cricketer
• 16 November – Brendan Murray, Irish singer
• 31 December – Barry Nash, hurler.

Deaths

January to June

• 8 January – Joyce McCartan, community activist.
• 12 February – James Camlin Beckett, historian.
• 18 February – Cathal Ó Sándair, writer.
• 9 March – Ollie Walsh, Kilkenny hurler.
• 5 April – Gerard L'Estange, member of the Seanad, Fine Gael TD.
• 22 April – Molly Keane, novelist and playwright.
• 24 April – Tomás de Bhaldraithe, Irish language scholar and lexicographer.
• 9 June – Patrick Flynn, Liberal Party of Canada MP.
• 10 June – Peter Raftery, diplomat.
• 26 June – Veronica Guerin, journalist, murdered by drug dealers.

  July to December

• 9 July – Christopher Casson, actor.
• 16 July – Joe Dunn, Roman Catholic priest and broadcaster.
• 6 August – Havelock Nelson, composer and pianist.
• 18 August – Charles Mitchel, actor and television newsreader, read the first Telefís Éireann news bulletin in 1961.
• 25 August – Erskine Barton Childers, diplomat writer and broadcaster, son of President Childers.
• August – Kathleen Mills, camogie player.
• 11 November – Liam Naughten, Fine Gael politician, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1995 until his death..
• 24 November – Michael O'Hehir, sports commentator and journalist.

  Full date unknown

• Seán 'ac Dhonncha, traditional singer.