1880 in Ireland
Events from the year 1880 in Ireland.
Events
- 2 February – Charles Stewart Parnell addresses the United States Congress.
- 31 March-27 April – United Kingdom general election in Ireland produces a majority for the nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party in Irish seats.
- 27 April – charter founding the Royal University of Ireland, allowing the Catholic University of Ireland to re-form as University College Dublin.
- 17 May – Parnell elected chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
- May – Irish National Land League of the United States founded.
- September–November - "Boycotting" of Captain Charles Boycott.
- 18 October – Ballycastle Railway opened between Ballymoney and Ballycastle.
- December – trial of Parnell and others for conspiracy begins.
- English philanthropists are active in connection with the west of Ireland: Quaker James Hack Tute distributes aid and publishes Irish Distress and its Remedies; heiress Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, offers to advance £250,000 to the authorities for the supply of seed potatoes, forcing the government to take action itself.
- St Stephen's Green, Dublin, opened as a public park.
Arts and literature
- 9 February – the Theatre Royal, Dublin, burns to the ground.
Sport
Soccer
- 18 November – Irish Football Association is founded at the Queen's Hotel, Belfast.
- Irish Cup knock-out competition instituted on an all-Ireland basis.
Births
- 3 January – Francis Browne, Jesuit priest and photographer.
- 6 January – John McKenna, traditional flute player
- 12 January – Frank Fahy, Sinn Féin MP and later TD, member of 1st Dáil, Ceann Comhairle, Fianna Fáil TD.
- 23 January – Herbert Dixon, 1st Baron Glentoran, Unionist politician.
- 9 February – Thomas Kettle, writer, barrister, Nationalist politician and economist.
- 20 February – J. J. Walsh, Sinn Féin MP, member of 1st Dáil, a founder-member of Cumann na nGaedheal and Cabinet Minister.
- 29 March – Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, British politician and businessman, born at Iveagh House, Dublin.
- 30 March – Seán O'Casey, dramatist and memoirist.
- 26 April – Joseph Lynch, cricketer.
- 6 June – W. T. Cosgrave, first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State.
- 13 June – John Dignan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Clonfert.
- 2 July – Mary Elizabeth Byrne, literary scholar.
- 19 August – Augusta Crichton-Stuart, Marchioness of Bute.
- 24 August – William Kenny, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1914 near Ypres, Belgium.
- 23 September – Áine Ceannt, born Frances Brennan, revolutionary activist and humanitarian.
- 4 October – Sim Walton, Kilkenny hurler.
- 23 October – Una O'Connor, actress.
- 3 November – Edward Barrett, athlete, wrestler and hurler, Olympic medallist.
Deaths
- 6 February – Myles [William Patrick O'Reilly], Catholic soldier and writer.
- 26 February – Charles William Russell, Roman Catholic clergyman and scholar.
- 2 March – John Benjamin Macneill, railway engineer.
- 16 April – Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy, barrister and writer.
- 7 June – John Brougham, actor and dramatist.
- 12 September – Frederic Trench, 2nd Baron Ashtown, peer.
- 18 October – Ann Jellicoe, educationalist.
- 20 December – Joshua Spencer Thompson, Liberal-Conservative politician in Canada.