1941 in Ireland

Events from the year 1941 in Ireland.

Incumbents

2 January – Three Carlow women were killed in a night of German bombing in parts of Leinster.
3 January – Further German bombing of Dublin.
13 January – The novelist and poet James Joyce died in Zürich.
24 January – Part of the old State Chambers in Dublin Castle were destroyed by fire.

20 February – The emergency Scientific Research Bureau was set up to seek alternatives to raw materials in short supply.
21 February – The first flight by a British Royal Air Force flying boat took place through the "Donegal Corridor", Irish airspace between its base in Northern Ireland and the Atlantic Ocean, a concession secretly agreed by Éamon de Valera.

6 March – 3,800 animals were slaughtered after the 50th case of foot-and-mouth disease was announced.
20 March – Bread rationing was introduced.
21 March – The Glencullen and Glencree were machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe in the Bristol Channel.
22 March: 16:00 hours – The collier St. Fintan was attacked by two Luftwaffe bombers off the coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales and sank with all hands – nine dead.
26 March – The Edenvale was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe in the Bristol Channel.
27 March – The Lady Belle was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe in the Irish Sea.

2 April – The Edenvale was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe in the Bristol Channel.
15 April – Belfast Blitz: A thousand people were killed in bombing raids on Belfast. Seventy-one firemen with 13 fire tenders from Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin and Dún Laoghaire crossed the Irish border to assist their Belfast colleagues.
18 April – An RAF Handley Page Hampden aircraft got lost in bad weather and crashed on Black Hill above the village of Lacken, County Wicklow killing its entire crew of four.

5 May – Belfast suffered its third bombing raid during World War II. The Dublin government authorised its emergency services to assist.
7 May – Wages Standstill Order.
12 May – The Menapia was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe off the Welsh coast: Two were wounded.
14 May – Five further outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease were reported.
17 May – The Glenageary was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe in the Irish Sea.
19 May – The City of Waterford was bombed and machine-gunned by the Luftwaffe off the Welsh coast: one person was wounded.
26 May – A special sitting of Dáil Éireann unanimously condemned the introduction of conscription in Northern Ireland.
27 May – Speaking in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ruled out the introduction of conscription in Northern Ireland.
30 May – The Kyleclare was bombed off the Waterford coast.
31 May – Bombing of Dublin in World War II: Thirty-four people were killed when the Luftwaffe bombed part of Dublin.
Summer – 16,000 men and boys were employed on county council turf-cutting schemes.

22 August – The S.S. Clonlara was torpedoed and sunk by in the North Atlantic while in Convoy OG 71 : 13 survivors and 11 dead.

16 September – Sixteen soldiers were killed and 20 were injured – 10 of them terribly – in the Glen of Imaal military training area in County Wicklow when an anti-tank mine exploded while they were receiving instruction in its use. It was the worst loss of life in the Irish Army during peacetime.

12 October – Charles Stewart Parnell, "the uncrowned King of Ireland," was honoured in a huge pageant in Dublin.

November – Brendan Behan was released from Borstal in England and deported to Ireland.

Myles na gCopaleen's parodic novel An Béal Bocht was published.
Donagh MacDonagh's Veterans, and other poems was published.
Louis MacNeice's poetry Plant and Phantom and study The Poetry of W. B. Yeats were published.
Kate O'Brien's novel The Land of Spices was published; it was prohibited in Ireland by the Censorship of Publications Board.
English poet John Betjeman became the British press attaché in Dublin, living in Clondalkin.
Opening of the new Dublin Airport passenger terminal, designed by Desmond FitzGerald, the first significant International Style building in Ireland.

3 January – Derrick O'Connor, actor.
10 March – Pat Donnellan, Galway Gaelic footballer.
31 March – Jim O'Keeffe, Fine Gael party Teachta Dála for Cork South-West.
18 April – Michael D. Higgins, Labour Party TD, Cabinet Minister, and ninth President of Ireland.
22 May – Caitlín Maude, poet, actress and traditional singer.
24 June – Gerard Clifford, Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Armagh.
24 July – Tony Dunne, association football player.
27 August – Paddy Barry, Cork hurler.
15 September – Tommy Carberry, National Hunt jockey and trainer.
18 September – Michael Hartnett, poet.
2 October – Donal Moynihan, Fianna Fáil party TD.
5 October – Phil Larkin, Kilkenny hurler.
13 October – Mick Doyle, rugby player and coach.
20 October – Mike Murphy, television and radio broadcaster.
11 November – Eddie Keher, Kilkenny hurler.
23 November – Derek Mahon, poet.
1 December – Fiachra Trench, musician and composer.
2 December – William Lee, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore.
10 December – Fionnula Flanagan, actress.
;Full date unknown
:* Jonathan Bardon, historian and author.
:* James Coleman, installation and video artist.
:* Cyril Dunne, Galway Gaelic footballer.
:* Paddy Flanagan, cyclist.
:* Eamon Grennan, poet.
:* Sean Matgamna, Trotskyist theorist.

6 January – F. R. Higgins, poet and theatre director.
10 January – John Lavery, artist.
13 January – James Joyce, novelist and poet.
15 February – Andrew Jameson, public servant, businessman and Seanad member.
19 February – Hamilton Harty, conductor and composer.
13 March – Finlay Jackson, cricketer and rugby player.
1 April – Jennie Wyse Power, member of the Seanad from 1922 to 1936.
19 May – Lola Ridge, anarchist poet and editor.
4 July – William John English, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1901 at Vlakfontein, South Africa.
19 August – John T. Browne, Mayor of Houston, Texas.
9 September – William Gerard Barry, painter.
11 September – John MacLoughlin, elected for nine years to Seanad from 1922 as an independent.
11 October – Mildred Anne Butler, painter.
26 November – James Jackman, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1941 at Tobruk, Libya; killed in action the next day.
;Full date unknown
:* Sidney Royse Lysaght, writer.