1953 in Ireland

← 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1953 in Ireland → 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	1953 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1953 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 1953 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Sean T. O'Kelly
• Taoiseach: Éamon de Valera (FF)

Events

• 18 January - Sinn Féin decides to contest all 12 constituencies in the next Westminster elections in Northern Ireland.
• 15 March - Up to 10,000 civil servants march down O'Connell Street in Dublin demanding a just wage.
• 16 March - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. asks the American Congress to support a United Ireland.
• 27 April - Maud Gonne MacBride dies at her home in Dublin aged 88.
• 1 May - The BBC brings into service the first television transmitter in Ireland, at Glencairn (Belfast).^[1]
• 3 June - 500 unemployed men march at Kildare Street demanding employment not dole.
• 6 July - 1,000 unemployed people sit on O'Connell Bridge for 15 minutes in protest.
• 2 August - Murlough Bay in the Antrim Glens is chosen as the future grave of Roger Casement. Taoiseach Éamon de Valera calls for the return of his remains.
• 29 August - Kilmainham Gaol is to be preserved as a national monument.
• 30 August - New synagogue dedicated at Terenure in Dublin (designed by Wilfrid Cantwell).^[2]
• 1 September - Great Northern Railway sold to governments of the Republic and Northern Ireland and managed by a joint board.
• 21 September - The Irish Ploughing Team leaves Dublin for the World Ploughing Championships in Canada.
• 20 October - Opening of Busáras in Dublin^[1] (designed by Michael Scott), CIÉ's country bus station and the first significant international style building in Ireland.
• 28 October - Three of Dáil Éireann's Independent TDs become members of Fianna Fáil.
• 30 October - Standish Vereker, 7th Viscount Gort, purchases Bunratty Castle to restore it.
• 17 November - Great Blasket Island is depopulated.
• 18 December - The Censorship Board bans almost 100 publications on the grounds that they are indecent or obscene.

Arts and literature

• 5 January - Samuel Beckett's play Waiting For Godot has its first public stage première in French as En attendant Godot in Paris.^[1] His novel The Unnamable is also published in French this year.
• 5–26 April - First An Tóstal festivals of national culture^[1] (devised by Seán Lemass) held.
• 8 August - Chester Beatty Library in Dublin opens to the public.^[1]
• Writer Brian O'Nolan is obliged to retire from his senior post in the Civil Service.^[3]

Sport

Football

• League of Ireland

Winners: Shelbourne

• FAI Cup

Winners: Cork Athletic 2 - 2, 2 - 1 Evergreen United.

Golf

• Irish Open is won by Eric Brown (Scotland).

Births

January to June

• 6 January - Noel Dempsey, Fianna Fáil TD for Meath West and Minister for Transport.
• 4 February - James Stirling, Irish physicist and academic
• 12 February - Des Smyth, golfer.
• 24 February - Eoin Ryan, Fianna Fáil MEP for Dublin and former TD.
• 5 March - Brian Kerr, soccer manager, former Republic of Ireland national side manager.
• 6 March - James Bannon, former Senator, Fine Gael TD for Longford–Westmeath.
• 11 March - Derek Daly, motor racing driver.
• 11 March - Mary Harney, former Tánaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats.
• 15 March - Richard Bruton, Deputy Leader of Fine Gael, TD for Dublin North–Central.
• 31 March - Breeda Moynihan-Cronin, former Labour Party (Ireland) TD.
• 28 April - Paul Darragh, showjumper (died 2005).
• 16 May - Pierce Brosnan, actor.
• 30 May - Colm Meaney, actor.
• 31 May - Jerry Kiernan, long-distance runner
• 7 June - Kathleen Lynch, Labour Party TD for Cork North–Central.
• 12 June - John Moloney, Fianna Fáil TD for Laois–Offaly.
• 18 June - Neil O'Donoghue, American football placekicker.

July to December

• 7 July - Jim Glennon, former Fianna Fáil politician and TD.
• 29 July - Frank McGuinness, playwright, translator and poet.
• 19 August - Tom Parlon, President of the IFA (1997–2001), Progressive Democrat TD representing Laois–Offaly.
• 1 September - Catherine Murphy, former Independent TD.
• 18 September - Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, bank official, Sinn Féin TD representing Cavan–Monaghan.
• 20 September - Joe Waters, former soccer player.
• 23 September - Paudge Connolly, former independent TD.
• 26 September - Dolores Keane, singer and musician.
• 11 November - Jimmy Holmes, soccer player.
• 26 November - Marian Harkin, Member of the European Parliament representing North-West, Independent Teachta Dála representing Sligo–Leitrim.
• 3 December - Nickey Brennan, former Kilkenny hurler, President of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Full date unknown

• Patrick Deeley, poet.
• Dessie Ellis, Sinn Féin councillor in Dublin City Council, former IRA prisoner, first person extradited to the United Kingdom under the 1987 Extradition Act.
• Mary Flaherty, Fine Gael TD and junior minister.
• Hugo Hamilton, writer.
• Rita Kelly, poet.
• Ger Loughnane, Clare hurler, manager of Galway hurling team.
• Tom McCormack, Kilkenny hurler.
• Sheila O'Donnell, architect.

Deaths

• 11 February - Valentine McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee, Labour MP in the United Kingdom (born 1871).
• 22 February - John Caffrey, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 near La Brique, France (born 1891).
• 13 April - Alice Milligan, nationalist poet and author (born 1865).
• 15 April - John Dignan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Clonfert (born 1880).
• 17 April - Tom Sharkey, boxer (born 1873).
• 3 June - Philip Graves, journalist and writer (born 1876).
• 14 July - Frank Fahy, Sinn Féin MP and later Fianna Fáil TD, member of 1st Dáil, Ceann Comhairle (born 1880).
• 23 July - Maude Delap, marine biologist (born 1866).
• 12 September - James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, Unionist politician and first Governor of Northern Ireland (born 1869).
• 17 October - Jack Rochford, Kilkenny hurler (born 1882).
• 30 October - John Counihan, farmer and salesmaster, Independent member of 1922 Seanad (born 1879).
• 1 November - Thomas F. O'Higgins, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister (born 1890).
• 25 December - Patsy Donovan, Major League Baseball player and manager (born 1865).

Full date unknown

• T. F. O'Rahilly, linguist and Irish language scholar (born 1883).

References

1. Moody, T. W.; et al., eds. (1989). A New History of Ireland. 8: A Chronology of Irish History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821744-2.
2. "A Short history of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation". Irish Jewish Community. Retrieved 2013-01-05.
3. O'Toole, Fintan (2011-01-01). "The Fantastic Flann O'Brien". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2011-10-02. A combination of his gradually deepening alcoholism and his habit of making derogatory remarks about senior politicians in his newspaper columns led to his forced retirement from the civil service in 1953. (He departed, recalled a colleague, “in a final fanfare of f***s”.)