1970 in Ireland

Incumbents

• President: Éamon de Valera
• Taoiseach: Jack Lynch
• Tánaiste: Erskine Childers
• Minister for Finance:
• * Charles Haughey
• * George Colley
• Chief Justice: Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh
• Dáil: 19th
• Seanad: 12th

Events

January

• 10 January
• * Huge anti-apartheid demonstrations took place as Ireland played South Africa in rugby union.
• * President Éamon de Valera and his wife Sinéad celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
• 11 January – The Sinn Féin party split into Provisional and Official wings over a disagreement on abstentionism.

February

• February – A rock from the surface of the Moon, brought to Earth by the crew of the Apollo 11 mission, was displayed to the public at the United States embassy in Ballsbridge.

March

• 2 March – Senator Ted Kennedy of the United States began a visit to Ireland by going to see the John F. Kennedy Memorial Park near New Ross in County Wexford, his first visit to the town since 1962.
• 3 March – Ted Kennedy visited Trinity College Dublin for the bicentenary meeting of the university's Historical and Debating Society.
• 29 March – Irish language pirate radio station Saor Raidió Chonamara began broadcasting.

April

• 3 April – Garda Richard Fallon was murdered on duty in Dublin, the first policeman killed in the Republic of Ireland during The Troubles.
• 10 April – The United States Ambassador John Moore visited President De Valera at his home in Áras an Uachtaráin to present him with an Irish flag flown on the Apollo 11 moon landing mission, and a fragment from the lunar surface, as a gift to the people of Ireland from US President Richard Nixon.
• 16 April – Ian Paisley won a by-election to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland.
• 21 April – The Alliance Party was founded in Northern Ireland.
• 22 April – Taoiseach Jack Lynch presented a budget in the absence of the Minister for Finance, Charles Haughey, who was injured in a riding accident.

May

• 1 May – Workers at the Bank of Ireland, the Allied Irish Banks, the Northern Bank, and the Ulster Bank went on a 6½ month strike, in what would be the largest of the Irish bank strikes of 1966 to 1976.
• 4 May – The Minister for Justice, Mícheál ÓMóráin, resigned from the government citing ill-health. The Taoiseach stated in the Dáil on 7 May, "I wish to state that Deputy ÓMoráin's condition is not unassociated with the shock he suffered as a result of the killing of Garda Fallon".
• 6 May – Arms Crisis: The Minister for Finance, Charles Haughey, and the Minister for Agriculture, Neil Blaney, were asked to resign by the Taoiseach. He accused them of an attempted illegal importation of arms for use by the Provisional IRA. Kevin Boland, the Minister for Local Government, resigned in sympathy with them.
• 27 May – Captain James Kelly, Albert Luykx, and John Kelly were arrested and charged with conspiracy to import arms.
• 28 May – Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney appeared in the Bridewell Court in Dublin charged, along with Albert Luykx and Captain James Kelly, with conspiracy to import arms.
• 31 May – The racehorse Arkle was put down at the home of his owner, Anne, Duchess of Westminster.

June

• 4 June – Kevin Boland was expelled from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
• 25 June – Bishops meeting at Maynooth lifted the ban on Catholic people attending Trinity College Dublin.

July

• 2 July – Neil Blaney was cleared of arms conspiracy charges.
• 5 July – After a special cabinet meeting the government demanded a ban on all parades in Northern Ireland and the disarming of civilians.

August

• 2 August – The British Army fired rubber bullets in Belfast for the first time.
• 9 August – The Galway-Aran Islands air service was launched. A return air-fare cost £5.
• 21 August – The Social Democratic and Labour Party was founded in Northern Ireland under the leadership of Gerry Fitt.

September

• 1 September – The New University of Ulster was presented with a Royal Charter by Elizabeth II.

October

• 3 October – United States President Richard Nixon and his wife Pat were greeted by Taoiseach Jack Lynch on their arrival in Ireland. In Dublin, an anti-Vietnam War protest took place.
• 4 October – Pat Nixon visited relatives and her ancestral home in County Mayo. Another protest against her husband took place outside the United States embassy in Dublin.
• 5 October – Richard Nixon visited Timahoe in County Kildare. He dedicated an inscribed stone in the local Quaker cemetery where his maternal ancestors lie buried.
• 14 October – Astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise, recent survivors of the aborted Apollo 13 spaceflight to the moon, landed at Dublin Airport as part of a European tour with wives Marilyn Lovell and Mary Haise. They were received at Áras an Uachtaráin by President Éamon de Valera on his 88th birthday.
• 23 October – Charles Haughey, James Kelly, Albert Luykx, and John Kelly were acquitted in the Arms Conspiracy Trial.
• 26 October – The Taoiseach was questioned on his return from the United States, and said that there will be no change in fundamental Fianna Fáil party policy regarding Northern Ireland.

December

• 15 December – Aer Lingus took delivery of its first Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, the largest aircraft it ever operated. The plane was stored temporarily in Everett in Washington State, USA until it arrived for service in Ireland the following March.

Unknown dates

• The first Regional Technical Colleges opened, at Carlow, Athlone, Dundalk, Sligo, and Waterford.
• A Magnesite processing plant opened in Ballinacourty in County Waterford.

Arts and literature

• 1 March – The national song contest was held.
• 21 March – "All Kinds of Everything" sung by Dana won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland for the first time.
• 1–3 May – The first Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne was held in Dublin.
• 9 November – David Lean's film, Ryan's Daughter, was released. It was filmed largely in Ireland.
• John Banville's short story collection Long Lankin was published.
• Leland Bardwell's first poetry collection The Mad Cyclist was published.
• Christy Brown's autobiographical Down All the Days was published.
• J. G. Farrell's novel Troubles, set during the Irish War of Independence, was published.
• Brian Moore's novel Fergus was published.
• Máirtín Ó Cadhain's first short story collection An tSraith dhá Tógáil was published.
• The Royal Hibernian Academy moved to new premises in Ely Place, Dublin.
• The crossover band Clannad was formed in Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal.
• The Celtic rock band Horslips was formed in Dublin.

Sport

Horse racing

• The horse Nijinsky won the Irish Derby

Football

[Gaelic Athletic Association]

Births

• 1 January – Rónán Ó Snodaigh, singer and bodhrán player with Kíla.
• 16 January – Ciarán Carey, Limerick hurler.
• 2 March – Edward Moore, cricketer.
• 24 March – Sharon Corr, violinist with The Corrs.
• 27 March – Eleanor Maguire, neuropsychologist.
• 21 April – Glen Hansard, actor and vocalist-guitarist with The Frames.
• 10 May – Mick Fitzgerald, National Hunt jockey].
• 27 May – Glenn Quinn, actor.
• 29 May – Mary Kingston, television presenter.
• 3 June – Stephen Geoghegan, association football player.
• 6 July – Tony O'Dowd, association football player.
• 13 July – Sharon Horgan, actress and screenwriter.
• 17 July – Siobhán Hoey, triple jumper.
• 24 July – Julia Bradbury, television presenter.
• 31 July – Johnny Pilkington, Offaly hurler.
• 27 August – Jeff Kenna, association football player.
• 18 September – Vinny Arkins, association football player.
• 21 September – Samantha Power, journalist, academic and United States government official.
• 13 October – Rónán Mullen, journalist and senator.
• 11 November – D. J. Carey, Kilkenny hurler.
• 12 November – Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh, television presenter.
• 3 December – Brendan Kehoe, software developer and author.
• 17 December – Craig Doyle, television presenter.

Deaths

• 5 January – Cyril Fagan, astrologer.
• 6 January – Peter J. Ward, Sinn Féin party Teachta Dála, member First Dáil.
• 6 January – David P. Tyndall, businessman.
• 28 January – Gerard Sweetman, former Fine Gael party TD and Cabinet minister.
• 8 February – Cahir Healy, Nationalist Party member of parliament .
• 11 March – Patrick Lenihan, Fianna Fáil TD.
• 21 April – Enid Starkie, literary critic and biographer.
• 27 April – Arthur Shields, actor.
• 11 July – Bobby Kirk, ice hockey player.
• 12 August – Joseph Blowick second leader of Clann na Talmhan party, TD and Cabinet minister.
• 14 August – Tommy Henderson, Ulster independent Unionist politician.
• 20 September – Leo Rowsome, teacher, player and maker of uilleann pipes.
• 25 September – James Ryan, Fianna Fáil TD, member of First Dáil and Cabinet minister.
• 29 September – Mark Killilea Snr, Fianna Fáil TD, senator.
• 15 October – Liam Ó Buachalla, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann 1951-1954 and 1957-1969.
• 18 October – Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Irish language writer.
• 24 December – Tom Farquharson, association football player.