This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "1961 in Ireland" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

← 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1961 in Ireland → 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	1961 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1961 List of years in Ireland

Events in the year1961 in Ireland.

• President:Éamon de Valera
• Taoiseach:Seán Lemass (FF)
• Tánaiste:Seán MacEntee (FF)
• Minister for Finance:James Ryan (FF)
• Chief Justice:
  • Conor Maguire (until 11 June 1961)
  • Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (from 16 June 1961)
• Dáil:
  • 16th (until 8 September 1961)
  • 17th (from 11 October 1961)
• Seanad:
  • 9th (until 1 September 1961)
  • 10th (from 14 December 1961)

• 6 January – Lieutenant-GeneralSeán Mac Eoin leftDublin for theCongo to take up his new post as General Commanding Officer of theUnited Nations.
• 20 January –John F. Kennedy became President of the United States, the first of Irish-Catholic descent.
• 27 January – Laid-up tankerTrigonosemus broke free from its moorings during a gale inLough Swilly.

• 9 April – The national census showed thatCounty Cork's population had reached an all-time low, with just 330,000 (in the late 1950s it was 336,000).

• 10 June – PresidentÉamon de Valera and his wifeSinéad greetedPrince Rainier andPrincess Grace of Monaco at the presidential residence,Áras an Uachtaráin. It was the first official visit to Ireland by a head of state after it became an independent republic.^[1]
• 15 June – Prince Rainier and Princess Grace took tea in theKelly homestead, nearNewport, County Mayo from which the princess's grandfather, John Henry Kelly, left for America almost 100 years before.^[2]

• 16 September – AtlanticHurricane Debbie made landfall atDooega onAchill Island, then tracked acrossCounty Mayo, the only known tropical cyclone to make landfall in Ireland.^{[citation needed]} Winds gusted up to 114 mph (183 km/h) off the island ofArranmore.

• 4 October –1961 Irish general election: TheFianna Fáil party underSeán Lemass retained most seats and formed a minority government when members of the17th Dáil assembled on 11 October.
• 16 October –Cork Airport opened.
• 25 October – St. John's Church inSligo was reconstituted as the Cathedral Church for theChurch of Ireland dioceses of Elphin and Ardagh, under the name of the Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin and St. John the Baptist.^[3]

• November – Minister for JusticeCharles Haughey established military courts which handed down long prison sentences to convictedIrish Republican Army men.
• 10 November – TheGuinness shipLady Gwendolen rammed and sank theFreshfield, anchored in fog on theRiver Mersey in Liverpool.

• 20 December – The lastlegal execution in Ireland, ofRobert McGladdery for murder, occurred inBelfast, Northern Ireland.
• 31 December – Ireland's first television channel,Telefís Éireann, commenced broadcasting as President de Valera inaugurated the new service. The station's first broadcast was a new year countdown with celebrations at theGresham Hotel in Dublin, relayed from the transmitter onKippure mountain.

• The lastIrish Sea sail-using cargo vessel (and the last sail ship to trade on the River Mersey in Liverpool), theArklow auxiliaryschoonerDe Wadden, ceased trading commercially.^[4][5]
• German writerEnno Stephan's bookGeheimauftrag Irland: Deutsche Agenten im Irischen Untergrundkampf 1939-1945 gave the first full account of Nazi spies in Ireland during"The Emergency" (the World War II period in Ireland).

• Dominic Behan's autobiographyTell Dublin I Miss Her and autobiographical novelTeems of Times were published.
• John Montague's poetryPoisoned Lands was published.
• Tom Murphy's playA Whistle in the Dark premiered at theTheatre Royal Stratford East inLondon.

• St Patrick's Athletic won theFAI Cup.
• Drumcondra F.C. won theLeague of Ireland.
• Linfield F.C. won theIrish League and theIrish Cup double.

• 5 January –Rachel Hardiman, Irish cricketer
• 6 January –Fergal Keane, writer and broadcast journalist.
• 19 January –Eoghan Corry, journalist and author.
• 25 January –Liam Currams,Offaly hurler and Gaelic footballer.
• 28 February –Barry McGuigan, worldfeatherweight champion boxer.
• 8 March –Kevin Hennessy,Cork hurler.
• 20 March –Michael O'Leary, chief executive of the low-cost airlineRyanair.
• 27 March –Mark Cohen, cricketer.
• 28 March –Orla Brady, actress.
• 17 May –
  • Enya, singer.
  • Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, fiddle player and singer.
• 21 May –John Cregan,Fianna Fáil partyTeachta Dála (TD) forLimerick West.
• 1 June –Michael Nugent, writer and dramatist.
• 2 June –Liam Cunningham, actor.
• 3 July –Mark Keane,cognitive scientist and author.
• 7 August –Roddy Collins, association football player and manager.
• 8 August –The Edge, guitarist with the bandU2.
• 27 August –John Hodgins,Cork hurler.
• 30 August –Ger Cunningham, Cork hurler.
• 25 September –Ronnie Whelan, association football player.
• 13 October –Michael Walsh,Kilkenny hurler.
• 25 October –Willie Walsh, chief executive officer ofAer Lingus andBritish Airways.
• 27 October –Margaret Mazzantini, writer.
• 31 October –Larry Mullen, rock drummer with the bandU2.
• 8 November –Seán Haughey, Fianna Fáil TD forDublin North-East, son ofCharles Haughey andMaureen Haughey.
• 11 December –Dave King, vocalist and songwriter.
• 12 December –Daniel O'Donnell, singer.
• Full date unknown
  • Michelle Rocca, socialite.
  • Kevin Sharkey, songwriter and painter.
  • John Spillane, singer songwriter.

• 14 January –Barry Fitzgerald, Academy Award-winning actor (born 1888).
• 18 January –Joseph Connolly, Fianna Fáil politician (born 1885).
• 4 February –Edward Pakenham, 6th Earl of Longford, politician, dramatist and poet (born 1902).
• 7 May –Carmel Snow, journalist and editor of the American edition ofHarper's Bazaar from 1934 to 1958 (born 1887).
• 12 August –Ion Hamilton Benn, 1st Baronet, businessman and British politician (born 1863).
• 25 September –James Crichton, soldier, recipient of theVictoria Cross for gallantry in 1918 atCrèvecœur, France (born 1879).
• 6 October –Achey Kelly, cricketer (born 1903).
• 16 November –T. C. Hammond, Anglican clergyman, Principal ofMoore Theological College inSydney (born 1877).
• 8 December –Séumas Robinson, member ofIrish Volunteers andIrish Republican Army (born 1888).
• 24 December –Con Clifford, retiredKerryGaelic footballer and businessman (born 1887).
• Full date unknown –Patrick MacDonogh, poet (born 1902).

• 1961 in Irish television

• 1961 in Ireland
• 1960s in Ireland
• Years of the 20th century in Ireland
• 1961 in Europe
• 1961 by country

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from February 2021
• All articles needing additional references
• Use Hiberno-English from August 2022
• All Wikipedia articles written in Hiberno-English
• Use dmy dates from August 2022
• Articles containing Irish-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2025
• Articles containing German-language text