1951 in Ireland

← 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1951 in Ireland → 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	1951 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1951 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 1951 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Sean T. O'Kelly (Fianna Fáil)
• Taoiseach: John A. Costello (Fine Gael) (until 13 June), Éamon de Valera (Fianna Fáil) (starting 13 June)

Events

• 2 February - Éamon de Valera visits Newry for the first time since his arrest there in 1924.
• 11 April - Minister for Health Dr. Noel Browne resigns and his Mother and Child Scheme is overturned.
• 19 April - The Attorney General for Northern Ireland, Ed Warnock, referring to the Noel Browne's resignation, says that Ireland is really ruled by Maynooth.
• 24 May - Gardaí exchange shots with two men after they throw a bomb at the British Embassy in Dublin.
• 30 May - Irish general election, 1951: Fianna Fáil win most seats but lack an overall majority.
• 13 June - Members of the 14th Dáil assemble. Éamon de Valera becomes Taoiseach with one of the smallest majorities on record (74-69), forming a Fianna Fáil government with the support of independents.
• 1 July - Taoiseach Éamon de Valera pays his first visit to Derry in 25 years.
• 15 November - The Nobel Prize for Physics is awarded jointly to Professor Ernest Walton of Trinity College Dublin and Sir John Cockcroft.

Arts and literature

• 18 July - The Abbey Theatre in Dublin is burnt to the ground.
• 30 July–22 September - The now-homeless Abbey Theatre company performs a season at the Rupert Guinness Hall in the Guinness Brewery before moving to the Queen's Theatre, Dublin.
• 15 August - Donagh MacDonagh's ballad opera God's Gentry opens at the Belfast Arts Theatre, transferring to the Gate Theatre, Dublin on 26 December.
• 21 October–4 November - First Wexford "Festival of Music and the Arts", predecessor of Wexford Festival Opera.
• First national festival of the folk music of Ireland held in Mullingar.
• Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann established in Mullingar by a group of uilleann pipers to promote the folk music and language of Ireland.
• Samuel Beckett's novel Molloy is published in French.
• Sinéad de Valera's collection for children The Emerald Ring and Other Irish Fairy Stories is published.
• The Dolmen Press is established in Dublin by Liam and Josephine Miller to publish Irish literature.
• Louis le Brocquy paints A Family.
• Daniel O'Neill paints Knockalla Hills, Donegal and Western Landscape.

Sport

Boxing

• 8 June - Jack Doyle defeats America's 'Beer Baron' Two-Ton Tony Gelanto at Tolka Park.

Football

• League of Ireland

Winners: Cork Athletic

• FAI Cup

Winners: Transport 1 - 1, 1 - 0 Shelbourne.

Golf

• Irish Open - no tournament held.

Births

January to March

• 4 January - Paddy Roche, soccer player.
• 25 January - M. J. Nolan, Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow–Kilkenny and Senator.
• 27 January - Brian Downey, drummer.
• 4 February - Patrick Bergin, actor.
• 6 February - Margo, singer.
• 14 February - Alan Shatter, Fine Gael TD for Dublin South.
• 1 March - J. P. McManus, businessman and racehorse owner.
• 16 March - John Egan, Dublin GAA County Chairman (died 2007).
• 25 March - Gerard Murphy, Fine Gael TD representing Cork North–West.

April to June

• 4 April - Alan Hughes, cricketer.
• 24 April - Enda Kenny, current leader of Fine Gael, TD for Mayo.
• 1 May - Michael McDowell, founding member of Progressive Democrats, TD, Cabinet Minister and Attorney-General.
• 21 May - Ray O'Brien, soccer player.
• 23 May - Viscount Slane, later The Marquess Conyngham, pop concert promoter.
• 26 May - Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Fine Gael TD, councillor.
• 6 June - Frank Fahey, Fianna Fáil TD for Galway West.
• 12 June - Nóirín Ní Riain, singer, musician, writer, theologian.
• 27 June - Mary McAleese, eighth President of Ireland.

July to December

• July - Anne Colley, Progressive Democrats politician.
• 30 August - Dana Rosemary Scallon, singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner and MEP.
• 12 September - Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil.
• 5 October - Bob Geldof, singer, songwriter and humanitarian.
• 18 December - Noel Treacy, Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East.
• 30 December - Gay Mitchell, TD representing Dublin South–Central, MEP for Dublin.

Full date unknown

• John Aimers, educator and Chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada.
• Darina Allen, chef and television personality.
• Adrian Hardiman, justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland.
• Geraldine Kennedy, journalist, politician and first female editor of The Irish Times.
• Joe McKenna, Limerick hurler and manager.
• Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, singer.

Deaths

January to June

• 9 January - John Aston, cricketer (born 1882).
• 17 January - Alexander Haslett, independent TD (born 1883).
• 18 January - Amy Carmichael, Christian missionary and writer (born 1867).
• 26 January - Thomas Houghton, Anglican clergyman and editor of the Gospel Magazine (born 1859).
• 18 March - Thomas Foran, trade union official, continuous membership of the Seanad from 1922 to 1948.
• 27 March - James Geoghegan, Fianna Fáil TD, Minister for Justice, Attorney General of Ireland and Justice of the Supreme Court (born 1886).
• 29 March - Ambrose Upton Gledstanes Bury, politician in Alberta, Canada (born 1869).
• 10 April - Nora Barnacle, lover, companion, inspiration and wife of James Joyce (born 1884).
• 12 April - Henry De Vere Stacpoole, ship's doctor and author (born 1863).
• 19 May - Frederick Barton Maurice, soldier, military correspondent, writer and academic, founded the British Legion in 1920 (born 1871).
• 10 June - Justice George Gavan Duffy, barrister, Sinn Féin MP and a signatory of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921 (born 1882).
• 21 June - Eugene O'Mahoney, museum curator and entomologist (born 1899).

July to December

• 24 July - Paddy Moore, soccer player (born 1909).
• 16 August - Gus Kelly, cricketer (born 1877).
• 17 August - Joseph Warwick Bigger, professor, member of the Dublin University panel in the Seanad from 1944 to 1951.
• 25 August - John J. McGrath, Democrat U.S. Representative from California (born 1872).
• 27 November - George Meldon, cricketer (born 1885).

Full date unknown

• Margot Ruddock, actress, poet and singer (born 1907).