1978 in Ireland

← 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1978 in Ireland → 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	1978 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1978 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 1978 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Patrick Hillery
• Taoiseach: Jack Lynch (FF)

Events

• 18 January - The European Court of Human Rights finds Britain guilty of inhuman and degrading treatment of republican internees in Northern Ireland.
• 19 January - The Fianna Fáil government dismisses the Garda Commissioner Edmund Garvey. No explanation is given.
• 21 January - Johnny Giles resigns as manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team.
• 23 March - The state funeral of former President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh takes place in Sneem, County Kerry.
• 31 March - 6,000 people march through Dublin to Wood Quay to protest against the building of civic offices on the Viking site.
• 1 June - David Cook of the Alliance Party becomes the first non-unionist Lord Mayor of Belfast.
• 19 August - Over 5,000 people take part in a rally against a nuclear power station at Carnsore Point, County Wexford.
• 1 September - Dublin Institute of Technology is created on an ad hoc basis by the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee.
• 2 November - Ireland's second national television channel, RTÉ 2, opens with a live broadcast from the Cork Opera House.
• November - Cork Regional Hospital officially opens in Cork.

Arts and literature

• Iris Murdoch is awarded the Booker Prize for her novel The Sea, The Sea.
• Peter Sheridan is awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.^[1]
• Seán Ó Ríordáin's posthumous poetry collection Tar éis mo Bháis is published.^[2]

Sport

Athletics

• 25 March - John Treacy wins the world cross-country championship in Glasgow.

Golf

• Carroll's Irish Open is won by Ken Brown (Scotland).

Horse racing

• Shergar wins the Epsom Derby (by a record ten lengths) and Irish Derby.

Births

January to June

• 11 January - Adrian O'Connor, backstroke swimmer
• 12 January - David Worrell, soccer player.
• 19 January - Simon Webb, soccer player.
• 28 January - Dave Mulcahy, soccer player.
• 30 January - John Doyle, Kildare Gaelic footballer.
• 21 February - Damien English, Fine Gael TD for Meath West.
• 23 February - Jason Byrne, soccer player.
• 7 March - John Miskella, Cork Gaelic footballer.
• 9 March - Derek O'Connor, soccer player.
• 2 April - John Hoyne, Kilkenny hurler.
• 4 April - Alan Mahon, soccer player.
• 5 April - Stephen Murphy, soccer player.
• 19 April - Geordan Murphy, International rugby player.
• 23 April - Nicholas Murphy, Cork Gaelic footballer.
• 29 April - David O'Loughlin, cyclist.
• 4 May - Stanerra, racehorse.
• 5 May - Paul Byrne, broadcast journalist.
• 10 June - Karl Scully, tenor.
• 21 June - Wayne Sherlock, Cork hurler.
• 25 June - Kieran Kelly, jump jockey killed in a racing accident (died 2003).

July to September

• 4 July - Derek Lyng, Kilkenny hurler.
• 18 July
  • Shane Horgan, International rugby player.
  • Annie Mac(Manus), DJ and media presenter.
• 27 July - Brian Barry-Murphy, soccer player.
• July - Diarmuid O'Sullivan, Cork hurler.
• 7 August - Alan Mahon, soccer player.
• 8 August - Alan Maybury, soccer player.
• 21 August - Alan Lee, soccer player.
• 28 August - Barry Ryan, soccer player.
• 29 August - Darren O'Keeffe, soccer player.
• 27 September - John Paul Phelan, Fine Gael Senator.

October to December

• 1 October - Barry Conlon, soccer player.
• 2 October - Eddie Brennan, Kilkenny hurler.
• 5 October - Shane Ryan, Gaelic footballer.
• 9 October - Nicky Byrne, entertainer, member Westlife.
• 17 October - Jerry Flannery, international rugby player.
• 25 October - Chris Keane, rugby player.
• 31 October - Ella McSweeney, radio and television producer
• 9 November - Martin Comerford, Kilkenny hurler.
• 15 December - Edele and Keavy Lynch, members of B*Witched.
• 22 December - Eugene Cloonan, Galway hurler.

Full date unknown

• Caoimhe Butterly, human rights activist.
• Julie Feeney, singer songwriter.
• Mike FitzGerald, Limerick hurler.
• Richie Mullally, Kilkenny hurler.
• Mike O'Brien, Limerick hurler.

Deaths

• 23 January Cormac Breslin, Fianna Fáil TD and Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann (born 1902).
• 4 March - Emmet Dalton, revolutionary.
• 6 March - Micheál MacLiammóir, actor and dramatist (born 1899).
• 21 March - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, Attorney-General, Chief Justice of Ireland and fifth President of Ireland (died 1911).
• 7 July - Mary Swanzy, painter.
• 28 August - Robert Shaw, British-born actor and novelist (born 1927).
• 12 September - Wilfred Hutton, cricketer (born 1901).
• October - Moss (Maurice) Twomey, chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (born 1897).
• 5 November - Denis O'Dea, actor (born 1905).
• 13 December - Jack Doyle, boxer, actor and singer (born 1913).

Full date unknown

• Gabriel Hayes, sculptor, designer of Irish coins (born 1909).
• Peter Kerley, radiologist (born 1900).

References

1. "Judges shortlist 16 authors". The Irish Times. 4 September 1999. Article dates award as 1977 but other sources confirm Desmond Hogan as 1977 winner.
2. Boylan, Henry (1998). A Dictionary of Irish Biography (3rd ed.). Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. p. 350. ISBN 0-7171-2945-4.