1918 in Ireland

Events

• 18 January – Count Plunkett, Seán T. O'Kelly and others protested at the forcible feeding of Sinn Féin prisoners in Mountjoy Prison.
• 5 February – was torpedoed off the Irish coast; it was the first ship carrying United States troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.
• 1 March – Imperial German Navy U-boat SM U-19 sank off Rathlin Island.
• 2 March – In Skibbereen, County Cork, Ernest Blythe was arrested for non-compliance with a military rule directing him to reside in Ulster.
• 6 March – In the British House of Commons, tributes were paid to John Redmond, Irish Nationalist leader, who died in London.
• 18 April – The Military Service Bill, which included conscription in Ireland, became law. A conference of nationalist parties, Sinn Féin, and labour movements met in Dublin to organise an all-Ireland opposition to conscription.
• 20 April – The Irish Parliamentary Party held a meeting in Dublin to oppose conscription.
• 23 April – There was a general strike in opposition to conscription.
• May – The RAF Aldergrove air force station opened near Antrim.
• 5 May – 15,000 people attend an anti-conscription meeting in County Roscommon. John Dillon, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party and Éamon de Valera of Sinn Féin share the platform in a united cause.
• 9 May – Field Marshal Sir John French, Viscount French of Ypres and of High Lake in the County of Roscommon, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Supreme Commander of the British Army in Ireland.
• 20 May – A special anti-conscription convention was held in Dublin. It condemned the arrest and deportation of Sinn Féin members consequent to the "German Plot".
• 20 June – Arthur Griffith of Sinn Féin won a by-election in East Cavan. It was Sinn Féin's first victory of the year after three successive by-election defeats.
• 3 July – The Lord Lieutenant issued a proclamation banning Sinn Féin, the Irish Volunteers, the Gaelic League and Cumann na mBan.
• 17 July – was torpedoed and sunk off the east coast of Ireland by Imperial German Navy U-boat ; 218 of the 223 people on board were rescued.
• 20 July – Troopship was torpedoed and sunk off the north coast of Ireland by Imperial German Navy U-boat SM UB-124 while under tow after surviving torpedo damage the previous day; she was unladen and most of the crew were evacuated.
• 10 October – The Irish mail boat was sunk in the Irish Sea by Imperial German Navy U-boat with the loss of over 500 lives.
• 11 November – At 5am, an armistice dictated by the Allies was signed by the Germans. Six hours later World War I officially ended. Well over 206,000 Irishmen had served and over 35,000 were killed during the war; there was no Irish parish without a loss.
• 22 December – Ireland voiced a united invitation to President Woodrow Wilson of the United States to visit.
• 28 December – 1918 general election: Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in the election, winning 73 of the 105 seats in Ireland. The Irish Parliamentary Party was nearly wiped out. In accordance with their 1918 manifesto, Sinn Féin members did not take their seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom but formed instead the First Dáil. Countess Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway Prison in London, became the first woman elected to the Palace of Westminster, but she did not take her seat. On 30 December, the Irish Independent newspaper criticised her strongly.

Arts and literature

• March – the Telemachus episode of James Joyce's novel Ulysses was published in the American journal The Little Review.
• 25 May – James Joyce's Exiles: a play in three acts was published in London.
• August – Anglo-Welsh composer Philip Heseltine concluded a year's stay in Ireland with the writing of a number of songs which would be published under the pseudonym Peter Warlock.
• Francis Ledwidge's poems Last Songs were published posthumously, edited by Lord Dunsany.
• Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne 's poems Battle-cries were published in Cork.
• "Brinsley MacNamara" published his novel The Valley of the Squinting Windows.

Sport

Association football

• ;Irish League
• :Winners: Linfield
• ;Irish Cup
• :Winners: Belfast Celtic 0–0, 0–0, 2–0 Linfield

Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA)

• ;All Ireland Senior Hurling Final
• :Limerick 9–5 d Wexford 1–3
• ;All Ireland Senior Football Final
• :Wexford 0–5 d Tipperary 0–4

Births

• January – John Coffey, Tipperary hurler.
• 18 January – Jim Langton, Kilkenny hurler.
• 23 January – Charlie Kerins, Chief of Staff of the IRA, convicted of murder of Garda Síochána officer;.
• 26 January – Louis Jacobson, cricketer.
• 7 February – Markey Robinson, painter.
• 14 February
• * Thomas J. Fitzpatrick, Ceann Comhairle and Fine Gael party teachta dála and cabinet minister.
• * Valentin Iremonger, poet and diplomat.
• 3 March – Peter O'Sullevan, horseracing commentator.
• 5 March – Denis J. O'Sullivan, Fine Gael TD.
• 17 March – Frederick Blaney, cricketer.
• 12 March – Pádraig Faulkner, Fianna Fáil party TD for Louth and cabinet minister.
• 16 April – Spike Milligan, comedian, poet and writer.
• 22 May – Alan Clodd, book collector, dealer and publisher.
• 5 June – Gladys Maccabe, painter.
• 23 June – James Young, comedian.
• 27 June – Marie Kean, actress.
• 7 August – Florrie Burke, association football player.
• 9 August – Luke Belton, Fine Gael TD.
• 29 August – John Herivel, historian of science and cryptanalyst.
• 12 September – Valerie Goulding, senator and campaigner for the disabled.
• 17 September – Chaim Herzog, Belfast-born sixth President of Israel .
• 22 September – A. J. Potter, composer.
• 26 September – Jackie Vernon, footballer.
• 29 September – Douglas Gageby, journalist and Irish Times newspaper editor.
• 13 October – Jack MacGowran, actor.
• October – Hugh McLaughlin, publisher and inventor.
• 19 November – Brendan Corish, Labour Party leader, TD, cabinet minister and tánaiste.
• 24 December – Willie Clancy, uileann piper.
• Full date unknown – Terry Leahy, Kilkenny hurler.

Deaths

• 6 January – Dora Sigerson Shorter, poet and sculptor.
• 23 January – Robert Gregory, cricketer and artist.
• 1 February – William Melville, police officer and first chief of the British Secret Service.
• 27 March – Martin Sheridan, Olympic gold medallist for the United States.
• 28 March – Arthur Bateman, cricketer.
• 8 April – David Nelson, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1914 at Néry, France.
• 18 April – Samuel Young, 96-year-old member of parliament for East Cavan
• 7 May – James Somers, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 at Gallipoli, Turkey.
• 10 June – William Parsons, 5th Earl of Rosse, soldier.
• 19 July – William McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim, peer.
• 26 July – Edward Mannock, First World War flying ace and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross.
• 31 July – George McElroy, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force pilot during World War I, killed in action.
• 18 September – Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1918 on the Drocourt-Queant Line, France.
• 25 September – John Ireland, third bishop and first Archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
• 1 October – Martin Joseph Sheehan, soldier and Royal Air Service Observer in World War I, killed in action.
• 14 October – Louis Lipsett, British Army and Canadian Expeditionary Force senior officer during the First World War, killed in action.
• 14 November – Seumas O'Kelly, journalist and author