- 1981 in Ireland
Events
*
February 14 - Forty-eight young people die in a fire at the Stardust Ballroom inArtane ,Dublin .
*March 1 -Bobby Sands begins a hunger strike at theLong Kesh prison inBelfast .
*March 5 - The petrol strike ends as 800 tanker drivers resume work.
*April 4 - Ireland hosts the Eurovision Song Contest, presented byDoireann Ní Bhriain and aired onRTÉ .
*April 10 -Bobby Sands is electedMember of Parliament (MP) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
*May 2 - AnAer Lingus Boeing 737 en route fromDublin toLondon is hijacked and ordered to fly toTehran . The flight is diverted toParis and the hijacker,Laurence Downey , is arrested.
*May 5 -Bobby Sands dies on the 66th day of his hunger strike in the Maze Prison inBelfast .
*May 12 -Francis Hughes , previously the most wanted man in the North, dies on the 59th day of his hunger strike inBelfast .
*May 21 -Raymond McCreesh andPatsy O'Hara both die on the 61st day of their hunger strike in the Maze Prison.
*June 30 -Fine Gael leader Dr.Garret FitzGerald is electedTaoiseach .
*July 8 - IRA hunger strikerJoseph McDonnell dies. He is the fifth person to die.
*August 1 - Hunger strikerKevin Lynch dies.
*August 2 -Kieran Doherty , TD forCavan -Monaghan , dies on the 73rd day of his hunger strike.
*September 11 - TheIrish Sugar Company announces that it is to close its factory inTuam ,County Galway .
*September 14 - Artist and writerChristy Brown is buried inDublin .
*December 19 - The Arklow-bound, Dublin-registered "Union Star" was lost on its maiden voyage offCornwall . 16 lives were lost, 8 from the "Union Star" and 8 from RNLB "Solomon Browne" who died while attempting rescue.Penlee lifeboat disaster
*December 27 - Supporters of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children march inDublin to demand a referendum for a pro-life amendment to the Constitution.Arts and literature
*
Molly Keane 's novel "Good Behaviour " is published.port
Association Football (Soccer)
*The Republic of Ireland national football team narrowly miss out on a place at the 1982 World Cup finals in
Spain on goal difference.Gaelic Football
*
Kerry GAA beatOffaly GAA by 1-12 to 0-8 to win their fourth successiveAll-Ireland Senior Football Championship . It is only the hird time that a four-in-a-row has been achieved.Golf
*Carroll's Irish Open is won by
Sam Torrance (Scotland ).Hurling
Offally GAA win their firstAll-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship , beatingGalway GAA by 2-12 to 0-15 in the final.Births
January to June
*
1 January -Jonas Armstrong , actor.
*26 January -Glen Fitzpatrick , soccer player.
*31 January - Dan Connor, soccer player.
*13 February -Liam Miller , soccer player.
*24 February -Brian O'Callaghan , soccer player.
*3 March -Ger Spillane , Cork Gaelic footballer.
*22 March -Brendan McGill , soccer player.
*23 March -Colin Cryan , soccer player.
*10 April -Des Byrne , soccer player.
*18 April - John O'Hara, soccer player.
*25 April - Thomas Butler, soccer player.
*14 June -Dominick Joyce , cricketer.July to December
*
1 July -Tadhg Kennelly , formerGaelic football er,Australian rules football player.
*1 August - Stephen Hunt, soccer player.
*12 September - Philip Hughes, soccer player.
*14 September -Glenn Cronin , soccer player.
*24 September -Richie Byrne , soccer player.
*30 September -Cecilia Ahern , author, daughter ofBertie Ahern .
*4 October - Alan Bennett, soccer player.
*6 October -Graham Barrett , soccer player.
*12 October - John Thompson, soccer player.
*17 October - Steven Gray, soccer player.
*24 October - David McGill, soccer player.
*8 November - Niall O'Brien, cricketer.
*15 November -Kevin Grogan , soccer player.
*15 November -Brian Shelley , soccer player.
*17 November -Sean Godley , poet.
*22 November -Jonathan Douglas , soccer player.
*8 December -Aidan Price , soccer player.
*29 December -Paul Heffernan , soccer player.Full date unknown
*
Barry Cahill , Dublin Gaelic footballer.
*Ronan Curran , Cork hurler.
*Derek Hardiman , Galway hurler.
*Brian Hogan , Kilkenny hurler.
*Derek Kavanagh , Cork Gaelic footballer.
*Tom Kenny, Cork hurler.
*Natasha Nic Gairbheith , 2004 Miss Ireland.
*Seán O'Connor , Limerick hurler.
*Dónal O'Grady, Limerick hurler.
*Kevin Tobin , Limerick hurler.
*Orla Tobin , 2003Rose of Tralee winner.Deaths
*
1 January -Sir Anthony Esmonde, 15th Baronet ,Fine Gael TD and MEP (b.1899).
*21 January -Norman Stronge ,Ulster Unionist Party politician and Speaker of theNorthern Ireland House of Commons for 23 years (b.1894).
*8 April -Gretta Bowen , artist.
*17 June -Nora Connolly O'Brien , political activist, daughter ofJames Connolly (b.1893).
*2 July -Billy Gillespie , soccer player (b.1891).
*7 July -Dónal Foley ,Irish Times journalist.
*21 August -Eddie Byrne , actor (b.1911).
*7 September -Christy Brown , author, painter and poet (b.1932).
*December -Fred Kiernan , soccer player (b.1919).Full date unknown
*
James Auchmuty , historian (b.1909).
*Oisín Kelly , sculptor (b.1915).
*Robin Lawler , soccer player (b.1925).
*Tommy Moroney , soccer and rugby player (b.1923).
*Nano Reid , painter (b.1905).
*Jackie Vernon, footballer (b.1918).
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