1940 in Ireland


Events from the year 1940 in Ireland.

Incumbents

  • President: Douglas Hyde
  • Taoiseach: Éamon de Valera
  • Tánaiste: Seán T. O'Kelly
  • Minister for Finance: Seán T. O'Kelly
  • Chief Justice: Timothy Sullivan
  • Dáil: 10th
  • Seanad: 3rd

    Events

  • January – The Irish Naval Service acquired the first of its six motor torpedo boats, the M1.
  • 3 January – Tomás Óg Mac Curtain shot and mortally wounded Detective Garda Síochána John Roche in Cork city centre. He had been disarmed by Garda Pat Malone in 1935. He was spared the death penalty in view of his father's history.
  • 17 January – The Enid of neutral Norway sailing from Steinkjer to Dublin, 10 miles north of Shetland, went to assist SS Polzella which had been torpedoed by German submarine U-25 which then shelled and sank Enid.
  • 7 February – The Munster was mined and sunk in the Irish Sea while entering Liverpool.
  • 9 February – The case State v. Lennon in the Supreme Court of Ireland, confirmed that internment without trial under the Offences against the State Act 1939 was unconstitutional. The government had to enact the to reinstate the provisions.
  • 3 March
  • * Flooding of Poulaphouca Reservoir was begun by damming the River Liffey at Poulaphouca as part of the Electricity Supply Board project to build Ireland's second hydroelectricity generating station, together with an improved water supply for Dublin.
  • * The British Cato sailing from Dublin to Bristol, struck a mine 2½ miles west of Nash Point: 13 died, 2 survived.
  • 9 March – The trawler Leukos was sunk by gunfire from German submarine, northwest of Tory Island – 11 died.
  • 10 March – The City of Bremen rescued 33 crew of the Amor in the North Sea.
  • 29 March – Fire destroyed the roof and upper rooms of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth.
  • 20–24 April – Plan Kathleen, an Irish Republican Army plan for a Nazi German invasion of Northern Ireland, was presented to the Abwehr.
  • April – Two men died on hunger strike for political status in Mountjoy Jail, Dublin.
  • 4 May – Operation Mainau: German agent Hermann Görtz parachuted into Ireland to make contact with the IRA.
  • 24 May – The first secret meeting to formulate 'Plan W' – joint action in the event of a Nazi invasion of Ireland – was held between Irish officials and the British military in London.
  • 27 May
  • * The Churchill war ministry in London agreed to seek co-operation from Taoiseach Éamon de Valera and the creation of an All-Ireland Council during "the present emergency".
  • * The Uruguay of neutral Argentina, sailing from Rosario to Limerick with 6,000 tons of maize, sank with scuttling charges by German submarine 160 miles from Cape Villano: 15 died, 13 survived.
  • 10 June – The Violando N Goulandris of neutral Greece sailing from Santa Fe, Argentina to Waterford with a cargo of wheat was torpedoed by German submarine off Cape Finisterre: 6 died, 22 survived.
  • 12 June – German submarine landed a German spy, Karl Simon, in Dingle. He was promptly arrested and interned for the duration of the war.
  • 19 June – The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies was established.
  • 23 June – Minister Frank Aiken encouraged everyone to store food and water and to prepare a shelter in case of a direct hit.
  • 2 July – The British-owned, carrying civilian internees and prisoners of war of Italian and German origin from Liverpool to Canada, was torpedoed and sunk by off northwest Ireland with the loss of around 865 lives.
  • 4 July – Taoiseach Éamon de Valera announced that the policy of neutrality adopted the previous September would not be reversed.
  • 7 July – Operation Lobster I: Three German agents were infiltrated into Ireland.
  • 11 July – The Moyalla rescued twenty survivors from the British Athellaird off Cape Clear Island.
  • 15 July
  • * The City of Limerick was bombed by aircraft and sank in the Bay of Biscay, 700 miles west of Ushant – two died.
  • * Republican Frank Ryan was released by the authorities of Francoist Spain from Burgos prison into the hands of the German Abwehr.
  • 20 July – The City of Waterford was shelled by submarine in North Atlantic, but escaped.
  • 30 July – The Kyleclare rescued 52 survivors from the British Clan Menzies off the County Mayo coast.
  • 1 August – The collier Kerry Head was bombed off Kinsale; she survived this attack.
  • 8 August
  • * Operation Dove: Republicans Seán Russell and Frank Ryan embarked from Nazi Germany on German submarine U-65 for infiltration into Ireland, but Russell fell ill and died on the passage, and the operation was abandoned.
  • * Operation Green, a proposed German invasion of the south of Ireland, was presented to Nazi German High Command as a diversion for Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain planned at this time.
  • 10 August – The British armed merchantman was torpedoed off Malin Head by.
  • 15 August – The Meath was mined and sunk off the South Stack, Holy Island, Anglesey; the crew was rescued by a local fishing trawler but 700 cattle were lost.
  • 16 August – The Loch Ryan was bombed off Land's End, but survived.
  • 24 August – The City of Waterford was bombed in Irish Sea but survived.
  • 26 August – Five German bombs were dropped on County Wexford in a daylight raid. One hit the Shelbourne Co-operative Creamery in Campile, killing three women.
  • 27 August – The Lanahrone rescued 18 survivors from the British Goathland off the County Kerry coast.
  • 4 September
  • * The Luimneach was sunk by gunfire from German submarine in the Bay of Biscay.
  • * The Edenvale was machine-gunned by German plane off Waterford coast.
  • 27 September – The Manchester Brigade was torpedoed off the Aran Islands.
  • 3 October – The German news agency announced that the German government was willing to pay compensation for dropping bombs on Dublin.
  • 22 October – The Kerry Head was bombed again: all twelve hands were lost, in full view of watchers on Cape Clear Island.
  • 26-28 October –, serving as a troopship under the British flag, was bombed, torpedoed and sunk off the Donegal coast with the loss of 45 lives. At 42,348 GRT she was the war's largest merchant ship loss.
  • 7 November – Éamon de Valera, speaking in response to Winston Churchill's statement, said that there could be no question of handing over Irish ports for use by British forces while Britain retained control of Northern Ireland.
  • 11 November – The Ardmore struck a mine off the Saltee Islands – 24 died.
  • 22 November – The "Murder of Marlhill' took place in Knockgraffon near New Inn, County Tipperary.
  • 24 November – James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, died suddenly. He had been the longest continually serving Prime Minister in Europe.
  • 19 December – Lightship tender Isolda was sunk by German bombers within sight of Carnsore Point: six were killed, seven wounded.
  • 20 December – This evening, two German bombs fell on Sandycove in Dublin, injuring three, and a third bomb fell near Carrickmacross in County Monaghan.
  • 21 December – The Innisfallen hit a mine off the Wirral Peninsula near New Brighton, Merseyside while leaving Liverpool and sank; four died.
  • 27 December – John McQuaid was consecrated as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, an office he held for more than thirty years.

    Arts and literature

  • 10 June – Christine Longford's historical play Lord Edward was premiered at the Gate Theatre, Dublin.
  • 5 August – George Shiels' play The Rugged Path was premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
  • 4 October – Brian O'Nolan's first "Cruiskeen Lawn" humorous column was published in The Irish Times; from the second column he used the pseudonym 'Myles na gCopaleen'. The original columns were composed in Irish. He continued writing the column until his death in 1966.
  • October – The Bell, a liberal monthly magazine of literature and social comment, was established in Dublin by Peadar O'Donnell under the editorship of Seán Ó Faoláin.
  • Seán Ó Faoláin published his travelogue An Irish Journey and novel Come Back to Erin.
  • Cecil Day-Lewis published Poems in Wartime and his translation of The Georgics of Virgil.
  • Louis MacNeice's poetry collection The Last Ditch was published by Cuala Press in Dublin.
  • Ewart Milne's poetry collection Letter from Ireland was published in Dublin.

    Sport

Association football

;League of Ireland
;FAI Cup

Golf