1944 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:
• * 11th
• * 12th
• Seanad:
• * 4th
• * 5th

  Events

January

• 26 January – W. T. Cosgrave officially resigned as leader of the Fine Gael party.

  March

• 10 March – The United States alleged that Ireland's neutrality was operating in favour of the Axis powers during World WarII.
• 13 March – Winston Churchill banned travel and communication between Britain and Ireland, north and south.
• 22 March – The Cymric was lost between Ardrossan and Lisbon: 11 dead.
• 30 March – The first Dunnes Stores opened.

  June

• 1 June – General election: The ruling Fianna Fáil party under Éamon de Valera gained a majority of 14 seats over all other parties. The 12th Dáil assembled on 9June.
• 3 June – Maureen Flavin recorded weather conditions at Blacksod Lighthouse, County Mayo indicating an approaching storm, which led to the 24-hour postponement of the Allied D-Day landings from 5June to 6June. The United States House of Representatives honoured Sweeney in 2021 with a medal and proclamation for her vital role in World War II.
• 7 June – The Minister for Supplies, Seán Lemass, announced further rationing of electricity.

  July

• 21 July – The Irish Fir reported a 'near miss' torpedo attack in the North Atlantic.

  August

• 22 August – Men from counties Tyrone and Fermanagh formed an Anti-Partition League in Dublin.

  November

• 29 November – The Chief Genealogical Officer issued County Dublin with a coat of arms, the first county to receive such a distinction.

  Undated

• Dr. John Dignan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Clonfert, published Social Security: Outlines of a Scheme of National Health Insurance.
• Dr. James Deeny was appointed chief medical officer.

  Arts and literature

• January – The White Stag group staged an exhibition of Subjective Art in Dublin.
• 28 August – Joseph Tomelty's play The End House premièred at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
• John M. Feehan founded the Cork-based publishing house Mercier Press.
• John Lynch's De praesulibus Hiberniae was first published, in Dublin.
• Frank O'Connor's short story collection Crab Apple Jelly was published.

  Sport

Association football

Gaelic football

Golf

• The Irish Open was not played due to The Emergency.

  Births

• 2 January – Martin Drennan, bishop of the Diocese of Galway and Kilmacduagh.
• 5 January
• * Ivan Cooper, co-founder of the Social Democratic and Labour Party .
• * Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, businessman and senator.
• * Louis Stewart, jazz guitarist
• 7 January – Joe McGowan, historian, folklorist and author.
• 8 February – Brian Farrell, bishop in the Roman Curia.
• 22 February – Richard Higgins, Roman Catholic Titular Bishop of the Casae Calanae and an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.
• 10 April – Leo O'Reilly, Bishop of Kilmore.
• 8 May – Paddy O'Hanlon, barrister and SDLP politician.
• 21 May
• * Gerry Murphy, association football coach.
• * Mary Robinson, first female President of Ireland, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• 24 May
• * Ruth Dudley Edwards, historian.
• * Raymond Field, Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Dublin.
• 25 May – Tom Munnelly, folk-song collector.
• 27 May – Hugh Lambert, journalist and editor.
• 30 May – Liam Naughten, Fine Gael party politician, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1995 until his death in 1996.
• 1 June
• * Paul Coghlan, Fine Gael Senator.
• * Seymour Crawford, Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Cavan–Monaghan.
• 5 June – Colm Wilkinson, singer and actor.
• 6 June – Paul Connaughton Snr, Fine Gael TD for Galway East.
• 29 June – Seán Doherty, Fianna Fáil party TD and cabinet minister.
• 3 July – Tim O'Malley, Progressive Democrats party TD.
• 17 July – Vincent Browne, journalist, broadcaster.
• 31 July – David Norris, member of the Seanad representing Dublin University, founder of Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform.
• 3 August – Pearse Lyons, biochemist and businessman.
• 7 August – Brendan McWilliams, meteorologist and science writer.
• 9 August – Seán Barrett, Fine Gael TD, cabinet minister and Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann.
• 17 August – Peter Kelly, Fianna Fáil TD for Longford–Roscommon, later Longford–Westmeath.
• 1 September
• * Pat Upton, Labour Party TD.
• * Eamonn Walsh, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin.
• 9 September – Bernard Allen, Fine Gael TD for Cork North-Central.
• 24 September – Eavan Boland, poet.
• 1 October – Emmet Stagg, Labour Party TD for Kildare North.
• 16 October – Paul Durcan, poet.
• 19 October – Liam Lawlor, Fianna Fáil politician, resigned following a finding that he had failed to co-operate with a planning irregularities investigation.
• 30 November – John Boland, senior Fine Gael politician.
• 22 December – Patrick Nee, mobster and author in the United States.
• 23 December – Christina Noble, children's rights campaigner
• 28 December – Noel Ahern, Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin North-West and Minister of State at the Department of Finance with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works.
• ;Full date unknown

  Deaths

• 16 February – Mainie Jellett, abstract painter.
• 19 February – J. J. "Ginger" O'Connell, officer in the Irish Volunteers and Irish Defence Forces.
• 15 March – Thomas Byrne, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1898 at the Battle of Omdurman, Sudan.
• 25 April – Tony Mullane, Major League Baseball player.
• 12 May – Edel Quinn, lay missionary.
• 10 June – Frank Ryan, member of the Irish Republican Army, editor of An Phoblacht, leftist activist and leader of Irish volunteers on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.
• August – Noble Huston, Presbyterian minister and dog breeder.
• 19 September – David Lord, Royal Air Force pilot, posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry at Arnhem.
• 6 November – Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, British politician and businessman, assassinated in Cairo by the Zionist group Lehi .
• 28 November – William Moore, Unionist member of parliament and Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland 1925–1937.
• 30 November – Eoin O'Duffy, leader in the Irish Republican Army, Garda Commissioner, first leader of Fine Gael and the Blueshirts, leader of the volunteer Francoist Irish Brigade and sports administrator.
• 1 December – Charlie Kerins, Chief of Staff of the IRA, convicted of murder of Garda Síochána officer and hanged.