1931 in Ireland

Events from the year 1931 in Ireland.

Incumbents

9 January – Ulster Canal abandoned.
12 February – sixteen members of the Ennis Dalcassian Gaelic Athletic Association club are expelled for attending the Ennis-Nenagh rugby match.
17 March – first St. Patrick's Day parade held in the Irish Free State, reviewed by Desmond FitzGerald, Minister of Defense.
3 April – persistent rainfall causes the banks of the River Lee to burst. Half the houses in Cork are flooded.
7 May – the Irish Youth Hostel Service, An Óige, is established.
17 May – Muintir na Tíre, the rural organisation, is founded by Canon John Hayes.
9 July – Dublin-born racing driver Kaye Don breaks the world water speed record at Lake Garda, Italy.
13 August – law books return to the rebuilt Four Courts where High Court business resumes after its destruction during the Civil War.
5 September – the first issue of The Irish Press, the newspaper of Fianna Fáil, goes on sale for 1d.
27 September – Saor Éire's first National Congress takes place in the Iona Hall in Dublin.
4 December – the derelict aerodrome at Collinstown in north County Dublin is considered as the site for a new civil airport.

13 October – Orson Welles makes his first professional stage debut, age 16, at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, with a leading rôle in an adaptation of Jew Süss.
25 October – Ireland's first all-concrete Art Deco church, the Church of Christ the King, is opened at Turners Cross, Cork, designed by Chicago architect Barry Byrne with sculptor John Storrs.
'Æ' publishes Vale, and Other Poems.
Samuel Beckett's Proust is published.
Cecil Day-Lewis's poetry From Feathers To Iron is published.
Lord Dunsany's The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens is published.
Kate O'Brien's first novel, Without My Cloak, is published.
Frank O'Connor's first short story collection, Guests of the Nation, is published.
Francis Stuart's first novel, Women and God, is published.

1 January – Jimmy Smyth, Clare hurler.
7 February – Cyril Haran, priest and Gaelic football manager .
2 March – Paddy Cooney, solicitor, Fine Gael TD, Cabinet Minister and MEP.
9 March – Jackie Healy-Rae, Fianna Fáil. TD for Kerry South.
9 April – Patrick Walsh, Bishop of Down and Connor .
30 May – John O'Brien, Catholic priest and musician.
5 June – Laurence Forristal, Bishop of Ossory .
8 July – Thomas Flynn, Bishop of Achonry .
26 July – Paddy Harte, Fine Gael TD and Minister of State.
29 July – Tom Mitchell, IRA activist and politician.
1 August – Seán Ó Riada, composer and musician.
11 August – Thomas Meaney, Fianna Fáil TD and Minister of State .
8 September – Desmond Guinness, architectural conservationist.
20 September – Malachy McCourt, actor, writer and politician
13 October – Jimmy O'Neill, soccer player.
27 October – Seán Calleary, Fianna Fáil TD and Minister of State.
28 November – Dervla Murphy, travel writer.
10 December
*Gustavus Hamilton-Russell, 10th Viscount Boyne, Irish peer, soldier and banker.
*Tom MacIntyre, poet and playwright.
28 December – Mervyn Taylor, Labour Party TD and cabinet minister.
;Full date unknown
:*Mick Cashman, Cork hurler.
:*Seán Kinsella, chef and restaurateur.

6 January – Harry Clarke, stained glass artist and book illustrator.
19 January – Mary Elizabeth Byrne, literary scholar.
7 March – Hamilton Lyster Reed, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1899 at the Battle of Colenso, South Africa.
26 March – Timothy Michael Healy, Nationalist politician, journalist, author, barrister and first Governor-General of the Irish Free State.
22 March – James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy, lawyer, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, first Chairman of Seanad Éireann.
2 April – Katharine Tynan, novelist and poet.
13 April – William Dowler Morris, mayor of Ottawa.
22 April – Patrick Kenny, Independent member of the Seanad for 12 years from 1922. Leas Ceann Comhairle 1928.
25 June – Con Lucid, Major League Baseball player.
17 August – Pretty Polly, racehorse.
27 August – Frank Harris, author, editor, journalist and publisher.
29 September – William Orpen, painter.
18 October – Reginald Clare Hart, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1879 in the Bazar Valley, Afghanistan.
23 October – Peter de Loughry, member of 1922 Seanad, TD representing Carlow–Kilkenny from 1927 to 1931.
28 October – Paddy Glynn, Attorney General of Australia and Minister for External Affairs.
27 December – Alfred Perceval Graves, writer.