1946 in Ireland

Events from the year 1946 in Ireland.

Incumbents

Events

3 January – William Joyce, alias Lord Haw Haw, is hanged in Wandsworth Prison for treason.
7 January – the Minister for Education, Thomas Derrig, announces that because refugee children who arrived in Ireland during the war do not have a sufficient knowledge of the Irish language they cannot obtain the Leaving Certificate.
21 January – work starts on a comprehensive Irish-English dictionary.
4 February – it is announced that George Bernard Shaw is to be awarded the freedom of Dublin.
17 June – Aer Lingus inaugurates a Dublin-Paris air service.
6 July – a new republican political party, Clann na Poblachta, is formed in Dublin.
25 July – Éamon de Valera's motion to apply for membership of the United Nations is accepted in the Dáil.
6 August – on the first anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, Captain Bob Lewis, the co-pilot of the Enola Gay, the aircraft which dropped the bomb, arrives at Shannon Airport, completing his first flight as a civil aviation pilot.
12 August – a plane bringing 23 French Girl Guides to Dublin crashes on Djouce in the Wicklow Mountains with no fatalities.
29 August – George Bernard Shaw is honoured by being made a freeman of Dublin.
2 September – the Emergency Powers Act 1939 expires. The Defence Forces Order, 1940, is also revoked by with effect from this date.
September – the Marine Service is formally disbanded and replaced by the Naval Service as a permanent component of the Irish Defence Forces.
6 October – seventy primary school teachers protest about low pay on the pitch at Croke Park at half-time during the Kerry–Roscommon All-Ireland Football Final.
22 November – Walt Disney arrives in Dublin. He has a meeting with the Irish Folklore Commission to further his investigation of leprechauns for a forthcoming film.
18 December – the government announces the release of 24 internees, including Brendan Behan.
28 December — TWA flight 6963 crashed during landing at Shannon Airport on the island of Inismacnaughton in Clare. Nine of the twenty-three passengers and crew were killed.

Arts and literature

5 August – Frank Carney's religious melodrama The Righteous are Bold opens at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, where it runs for an unprecedented 14 weeks.
Denis Devlin publishes his Lough Derg and Other Poems in New York.
Patrick Kavanagh publishes his poem "On Raglan Road" in The Irish Press.
Mervyn Wall publishes his first novel, The Unfortunate Fursey.
Jack Butler Yeats paints Men of Destiny and The Whistle of a Jacket.

Sport

Football

;League of Ireland
;FAI Cup

Golf

Irish Open is won by Fred Daly.

Births

2 February – Tony Byrne, soccer player.
2 April – Ruairi Quinn, leader of the Labour Party and Cabinet Minister, TD for Dublin South-East.
9 April – Charlie O'Connor, Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South-West.
15 April – Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam.
17 April – Henry Kelly, journalist, writer and television presenter.
25 April – Peter Sutherland, barrister, businessman and politician.
May – Mary Upton, Labour Party TD for Dublin South-Central.
18 June – Ray Treacy, soccer player and manager.
12 July – Seán Keane, fiddle player with The Chieftains.
18 July – John Naughton, journalist, author and academic
6 August – Brendan Ryan, Independent then Labour Party Senator.
10 August – Jimmy Conway, soccer player.
24 August – BP Fallon, author and photographer.
12 September – Pat Moylan, Fianna Fáil politician, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann.
29 September – Michael Keating, Fine Gael TD and Minister, Deputy Leader of the Progressive Democrats and Lord Mayor of Dublin.
2 October – Terry Conroy, soccer player.
19 October – Jim Mitchell, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister.
21 November – Jim Fahy, journalist and broadcaster.
29 November – Eamonn Campbell, folk guitarist/singer with The Dubliners.
1 December – Gilbert O'Sullivan, pop singer/songwriter.
20 December – Tom McGurk, poet, journalist and broadcaster.
27 December – Joe Kinnear, soccer player and manager.
31 December – Martin Mansergh, historian and Fianna Fáil TD for Tipperary South.
;Full date unknown

Deaths

16 January – Bill O'Callaghan, Cork hurler.
19 January – Pádraic Ó Máille, Sinn Féin MP and TD, Fianna Fáil Senator.
21 January – James Crowley, Sinn Féin TD, member 1st Dáil and Cumann na nGaedheal TD.
2 February – Jack White, soldier, trade unionist, co-founder of the Irish Citizen Army.
27 February – James Cecil Parke, international rugby player, tennis player, golfer and Olympic medallist.
9 March – John J. Glennon, Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis and cardinal.
20 March – Frederic Trench, 3rd Baron Ashtown, peer.
20 April – Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, feminist, suffragette and writer.
5 April – Martin Moffat, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross.
22 August – John Philip Bagwell, general manager Great Northern Railway, Seanad member.
23 August – Samuel Cunningham, politician and Irish Privy Councillor.
28 August – Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan, British Army commander in World War I, later Chief of the Imperial General Staff and Field Marshal.
20 October – William Bernard Barry, politician in the United States.
13 November – Patrick McLane, Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
16 December – Blayney Hamilton, cricketer.
30 December – Mick Ahern, Cork hurler.