1905 in Ireland

Events

• 9 January – The Lillebonne, the largest vessel ever constructed in Dublin, was successfully launched in the North Wall Yard.
• 16 February – Explosions caused by petrol fumes after refuelling on board the newly commissioned submarine killed six of the eleven crew at the Royal Navy's base in Haulbowline.
• 6 March – The obligation of the Post Office towards letters addressed in Irish was raised in the British House of Commons. The debate arose because the General Post Office in Dublin returned parcels addressed in Irish by the Gaelic League.
• 29 May – Statistics in 1904 showed that nearly 37,000 people emigrated. Since 1851, almost four million people have left the island.
• 7 July – The Drunkenness Bill was debated in the British House of Commons. Irish Members of Parliament criticised the bill on the grounds that it was offensive.
• 28 November – The Sinn Féin party was founded.
• Church House was built in Belfast, home to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

Arts and literature

• February – J. M. Synge's historical play The Well of the Saints was first performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, by the Irish National Theatre Society.
• 23 May – George Bernard Shaw's play Man and Superman was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London.
• Padraic Colum's The Land was performed at the Abbey Theatre.
• George A. Birmingham's roman à clef ''The Seething Pot was published.
• Lord Dunsany's short story sequence The Gods of Pegāna was published.
• Filson Young's novel The Sands of Pleasure was published.
• The traditional hymn Be Thou My Vision was first translated from Old Irish into English by Mary Elizabeth Byrne, in the journal Ériu''.

Sport

Association football

• ; International
• * 25 February – England 1–1 Ireland
• * 18 March – Scotland 4–0 Ireland
• * 8 April – Ireland 2–2 Wales
• ; Irish League
• * Winners: Glentoran F.C.
• ; Irish Cup
• * Winners: Distillery F.C. 3–0 Shelbourne F.C.
• Windsor Park football ground in Belfast opened with a match between Linfield F.C. and Glentoran F.C.

Gaelic Games

• The All-Ireland Champions were Kilkenny and Kildare

Births

• 2 January – Padraic Fallon, poet.
• 23 April – William Conolly-Carew, 6th Baron Carew.
• 26 April – Denis O'Dea, actor.
• 29 April – George Beamish, rugby player and Royal Air Force air marshal
• 22 May – Mick Ahern, Cork hurler.
• 8 June – Brian Coffey, poet and publisher.
• 24 June – Michael Scott, architect.
• 3 September – Jimmy Dunne, association football player.
• 9 September – Jimmy McCambridge, association football player.
• 15 September – Pat O'Callaghan, athlete and Olympic gold medallist.
• 23 October – Aidan Roark, Irish 10-goal polo player
• 11 December – Erskine Hamilton Childers, Fianna Fáil TD, Cabinet minister and fourth President of Ireland.
• ; Full date unknown
• * P. A. Ó Síocháin, journalist, author and lawyer.
• * Jackie Wright, comedian.

Deaths

• 12 January – James Mason, chess player and writer.
• 9 February – Valentine Browne, 4th Earl of Kenmare, peer.
• 14 March – George Fisher, Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand.
• 6 April – Henry Benedict Medlicott, geologist.
• 24 April – Kivas Tully, architect.
• 31 May – Michael N. Nolan, U.S. Representative from New York, mayor of Albany.
• 27 June – Harold Mahony, tennis player .
• 15 July – Kevin Izod O'Doherty, transported to Australia in 1849, physician and politician.
• 13 September – Patrick Collins, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts and Mayor of Boston.
• 19 September – Dr. Thomas John Barnardo, philanthropist.
• 31 October – Bryan O'Loghlen, politician in Australia, 13th Premier of Victoria.