1871 in Ireland

Events

• 1 January – Church of Ireland disestablished. St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, becomes the National Cathedral.
• 15 April – Ormeau Park is opened to the public by Belfast City Council.
• 16 June – The Westmeath Act is enacted allowing arrest and detention without trial.
• J. P. Mahaffy appointed to the Chair of Ancient History at Trinity College Dublin at the age of 32.

  Sport

Hare coursing

• Waterloo Cup won by Master McGrath for the third time.

  Births

• 8 January – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
• 14 January – A. M. Sullivan, lawyer.
• 16 January – Valentine McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee, Labour MP in the United Kingdom.
• 19 January – Frederick Barton Maurice, soldier, military correspondent, writer and academic, founded the British Legion in 1920.
• 13 February – Joseph Devlin, Nationalist politician and MP in the British House of Commons and in Northern Ireland.
• 30 March – William Lyle, medical practitioner and Ulster Unionist Party politician.
• 16 April – John Millington Synge, dramatist, poet and writer.
• 18 April – Frederick Field, Royal Navy Admiral of the Fleet and First Sea Lord.
• ? May – Elinor Darwin, née Monsell, engraver and portrait painter.
• 17 July – J. M. Andrews, second Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
• 30 August – James Nathaniel Halbert, entomologist.
• 30 November – Thomas O'Donnell, barrister, judge, Irish Nationalist, MP.
• November – Thomas Moles, Ulster Unionist politician and journalist.
• 26 December – Chicago May, born Mary Anne Duignan, criminal.

  Deaths

• 2 January – Samuel Blackall, soldier, politician and second Governor of Queensland, Australia.
• 3 February – James Sheridan Muspratt, research chemist and teacher.
• 20 February – Paul Kane, painter in Canada.
• 1 March – Anthony Coningham Sterling, British Army officer and historian.
• 4 July – James Duffy, author and publisher.
• 2 October – Sir Thomas Deane, architect.
• 6 October – Edwin Wyndham-Quin, 3rd [Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl], peer.
• 30 November – John T. Mills, lawyer and Supreme Court Justice for the Republic of Texas.
• 8 December – James Murray, physician
• 15 December – John George, politician, judge and in 1859 Solicitor-General for Ireland.