1957 in Ireland

Events

*January 1 - Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon are killed in an IRA attack on an RUC barracks in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh. The two men become part of republican folklore.
*January 24 - Sir Alfred Chester Beatty becomes the first honorary Irish citizen.
*March 3 - Éamon de Valera tells a crowd in Cork that a United Ireland can be achieved with time and the support of the people.
*March 7 - Fianna Fáil returns to power winning 78 seats in the Sixteenth Dáil.
*March 11 - Prize Bonds are introduced, Bank of Ireland operates the scheme on behalf of the Minister for Finance.
*March 28 - Artist Jack B. Yeats dies in Dublin.
*July 4 - Dáil debates the Fethard-on-Sea "Ne Temere" boycott
*July 22 - The Gough Monument in the Phoenix Park is wrecked by an explosion. The explosion is so violent it is heard all over Dublin.
*August 7 - A 20-foot high war memorial in Limerick is blown up. It was erected to commemorate Limerick men who died in World War I.
*October 2 - The Minister for Health, Seán MacEntee, launches the Voluntary Health Insurance Board.
*October 7 - President Seán T. O'Kelly's country residence, Roundwood House, County Wicklow, is destroyed by fire.
*October 10 - The Windscale fire begins with a fire in a graphite core of a reactor at the Windscale Nuclear Power station and reprocessing centre in Cumbria, Northern England, now known as Sellafield. Years later there are claims that the radiation caused cancers and birth defects in Co. Louth
*November 1 - The Soviet satellite Sputnik is visible over Dublin for the second time in a month.

Arts and literature

port

Football

*19 May - Republic of Ireland 1 - 1 England (at Dalymount Park), after England grab a last minute equaliser to silence the 50,000 strong home support.

Golf

*27 June - Philomena Garvey wins British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship at Gleneagles.

Births

January to June

*17 January - Colm Burke, former Fine Gael Lord Mayor of Cork, MEP.
*15 February - Dave Langan, soccer player.
*15 February - David Stanton, Fine Gael TD for Cork East.
*19 April - Arkle, winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup on three consecutive occasions (d.1970).
*13 March - Patricia McKenna, Irish Green Party politician.
*March - Pat Breen, Fine Gael TD for Clare.
*20 May - Dermot Gallagher, soccer referee.
*17 June - Phil Chevron, singer, songwriter and guitarist.

July to December

*17 July - Terry Eviston, soccer player.
*2 August - Ashley Grimes, soccer player and coach.
*26 September - Finbar Wright, singer.
*6 November - Siobhán McCarthy, actress.
*November - John Minihan, former soldier, Progressive Democrats Seanad Éireann member.
*17 December - Robbie Gaffney, soccer player.
*25 December - Shane MacGowan, singer and songwriter.

Full date unknown

*Kieran Brennan, former Kilkenny hurler.
*Tom Cashman, Cork hurler.
*Seán Crowe, Sinn Féin politician and former TD for Dublin South West.
*Desmond Dinan, academic and author.
*Angela Downey, former Kilkenny camogie player.
*John Henderson, former Kilkenny hurler.
*Jon Kenny, comedian.
*Eoin Liston, former Kerry Gaelic footballer.
*Dermot Mac Curtain, Cork hurler.
*Shane McEntee, Fine Gael TD for Meath East.
*Glenn Meade, author.
*Charlie Nelligan, former Kerry Gaelic footballer.
*Dick O'Hara, former Kilkenny hurler.
*Jack O'Shea, former Kerry Gaelic footballer.
*Richie Power, former Kilkenny hurler.
*Tommy Quaid, Limerick hurler (d.1998).
*Richie Reid, former Kilkenny hurler.

Deaths

*1 January - Fergal O'Hanlon, Irish Republican Army member killed with Seán South attacking the Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Brookeborough (b.1936).
*1 January - Seán South, IRA leader fatally wounded during an attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Brookeborough (b.1929).
*11 January - Anthony Mulvey, editor and Nationalist Party MP (b.1882).
*16 February - John Sealy Townsend, mathematical physicist (d.1868).
*25 March - Ernie O'Malley, prominent officer in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and on anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War and a writer (b.1897).
*11 April - Freeman Wills Crofts, novelist (b.1879).
*23 May - William Meldon, cricketer (b.1879).
*1 August - Cathal O'Byrne, singer, poet and writer (b.1867).
*22 September - Oliver St. John Gogarty, physician, poet and writer (b.1878).
*25 October - Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany, writer and dramatist (b.1878).
*16 November - Seán Moylan, member Irish Volunteers, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet Minister and Seanad Éireann member (b.1888).
*6 December - Michael James O'Rourke, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1917 at Hill 70 near Lens, France (b.1878).

Full date unknown

*John J. O'Kelly, politician, author and publisher, president of the Gaelic League and Sinn Féin (b.1873).
*Thomas Sadleir, genealogist (b.1882).
*George Townshend, writer, former clergyman and Bahá'í (b.1876).