January 1
1710 - Charles O'Conor, writer, historian and editor, is born in Kilmactranny, Co. Sligo
1767 - Maria Edgeworth, author of Castle Rackrent and one of the few women literary figures of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, is born
1790 - James Wills, clergyman and writer, is born in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon
1801 - The Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britain goes into effect
1801 - George Benn, historian, is born in Tandragee, Co. Armagh
1862 - Edward Harland's Belfast shipyard assumes the name 'Harland & Wolff'
1871 - Gladstone's Irish Church Act which disestablishes the Church of Ireland takes effect
1880 - Gretta Bowen, artist, is born in Dublin
1889 - Patrick McGill, navvy, novelist and poet, is born in Maas, Co. Donegal
1892 - Ellis Island becomes reception center for new immigrants. The first immigrant through the gates is Annie Moore, 15, of Co. Cork
1941 - On this date and through January 3, German bombs fall on counties Carlow, Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wexford and Wicklow
1990 - Northern Ireland Fair Employment Act becomes law
1998 - Foreign Affairs Minister David Andrews urges all sides to show the "greatest possible restraint" in the wake of a sectarian bar-room gun attack which plunges Northern Ireland into an uncertain New Year
1999 - The world's oldest priest, the Venerable Archdeacon Patrick Lyons, passes away at Limerick Regional hospital, just two months before his 106th birthday
2001 - Retired garda sergeant John Fahy from Kinlough, Co Leitrim catches the first salmon of the season. The accomplished angler is also the first salmon fisherman to insert a blue bar coded tag into the gills and mouth of a freshly caught fish. For the first time, every salmon caught by commercial fishermen or leisure anglers will have to be tagged, as part of a new controls on salmon fishing which are in effect as of this date
2002 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern helps write history by spending euros in his local news-agent.
2004 - Ireland takes over as President of the European Commission
2005 - Cork officially becomes the European Capital of Culture
2005 - Littlepace housing estate in Clonee struck by a small tornado
2005 - Death of Patrick Denis O'Donnell, military historian, writer and former Commandant of the Irish Defence Forces (b.1922)
2005 - Death of showjumper Paul Darragh (b.1953)
2006 - Philip Hogarty (aged 19) becomes the first road death on Irish roads in 2008 after being struck by a Garda patrol car in Tallaght. Philip was chairman of the Irish Chess Union
2005 - Death of Peter Caffrey, actor (b.1949)
2008 - Phase-out of incandescent light bulbs commences
2009 - Death if John Morrow, Presbyterian minister and peace activist
2010 - Death of Denis Keeley, 79, long-term partner of writer Philomena Lynott
2010 - Death of Michael Dwyer, 58, film Correspondent with The Irish Times
2011 - The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect allowing civil partnerships where hetero- and homosexual cohabiting couples have the same rights
2012 - Dr. Rhona Mahony becomes the first woman head of a maternity hospital in Ireland, taking up her post as master of the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin. She replaces Dr Michael Robson, whose term expired on December 31st. She was elected to the position by the hospital’s governors during 2011. From Dublin, the 41-year-old, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist and a specialist in foetal and maternal medicine, is married and has four children.
Photo Credit: Irish Times/Cyril Byrne
January 2
1602 - The Spanish force under Aguila surrenders Kinsale to Mountjoy
1793 - A Catholic Committee petition is presented to the king
1880 - Parnell begins his tour of the United States on this date
1910 - James Joyce and Eileen Joyce leave Dublin for Trieste, Italy
1920 - Recruitment begins for the 'Black and Tans', Britain's unofficial auxiliary army
1962 - Margaret Emmeline Conway Dobbs, Irish historian, language activist, and defender of Roger Casement, dies
1998 - Troops are ordered back on to the streets of Belfast and police patrols are intensified in a bid to foil loyalist attacks on Catholics in Northern Ireland
2000 - Patrick O'Brian, born Richard Patrick Russ, 85-year-old author of maritime novels dies in a Dublin hotel
2000 - A bronze life size statue of Fungi, the Dingle dolphin is unveiled in a special millennium ceremony
2001 - Ireland's third largest greyhound coursing meeting, Corn na Féile, is abandoned after saboteurs steal up to 30 hares.
2007 - Irish Becomes The 23rd Official Language Of the EU. It is accorded the status of a treaty language, which means it is regarded as an authentic text for treaties. As from 1 January, however, all key EU legislation are translated into Irish, with provisions put in place so that Irish can be spoken at council meetings. The move means the creation of 29 new posts in translation, revision and publication.
2008 - After 36 years in business, The Burlington Hotel in Dublin closes, with the loss of 400 jobs
2009 - Death of Tony Gregory, 61, Independent TD sitting in Dáil Éireann
2010 - Death of Eoin Neeson, 83: historian, author, journalist, former director of the Government Information Bureau
January 3
1663 - Thomas Crompton of Arklow, a clergyman, petitions the House of Lords that 'Constantine Neal of Wexford, merchant, refuseth to restore the bell belonging to the steepl (sic) of Arklow, which he saw in his possession'. An order is made for its restoration
1905 - Pádraic Fallon, poet and playwright, is born in Athenry, Co. Galway
1925 - Acclaimed singer, actor, comedian and performer Maureen Potter is born in Dublin
1940 - Emergency anti-IRA legislation is introduced in the Free State
1999 - Economic history is created with the much-heralded arrival of the euro on the international currency markets. Its first day of trading gets off to a smooth start in Australia, at 6.00pm Irish time.
2007 - Michael Yeats, the only son of the poet W. B. Yeats dies at age 86. A former Fianna Fáil Senator, he served both as a Senator and as Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, and was also one of Ireland's first members of the European Parliament.
January 4
1581 - James Ussher, scholar and Archbishop of Armagh and Dublin is born
1792 - The Northern Star, newspaper of the Belfast United Irishmen, first appears on this date
1921 - Martial law is extended to counties Clare, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford from this date
1937 - Mick O'Connell, Kerry Gaelic footballer, is born on Beginish Island, Co. Kerry
1969 - On a march from Belfast to Derry, the civil rights group People's Democracy is attacked at Burntollet Bridge
1975 - Eleanor Krott, Irish language scholar and lexicographer, dies
1998 - The LVF appoints a new commanding officer to take over from murdered godfather Billy Wright and in a chilling warning vows it will do all in its power to wreck the teetering peace process
1998 - The governments of Austria and Finland offer their countries as potential neutral grounds for the next wave of Northern Ireland peace talks
1999 - Venerable Archdeacon Patrick Lyons, who, aged 105 years was the world's oldest priest and who died on New Year's Day, is laid to rest in the grounds of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Ballingarry, Co. Limerick
2000 - Hundreds are evacuated as west and midland farmlands are flooded
Photo Credit: Kevin Clancy/Viewpoint
2000 - Top RTÉ broadcaster Maxi is set to win a host of new listeners in her new role as presenter/producer of Radio One’s Risin’ Time
2002 - According to a new survey, two out of every three people in Northern Ireland aged between 18-25 say they have no meaningful contact with opposing communities while, generally, people feel more segregated than they did before the North's first ceasefire in 1994
2002 - Irishmen under 25 are the worst-hit by rising unemployment, according to the latest European Union figures
2003 - A group of women begin an anti-war protest at a roundabout close to Shannon Airport against US Air Force landings there.
January 5
1787 - John Burke, genealogist and compiler of Burke's Peerage, is born in Elm Hall, Co. Tipperary 1881 - The trial of the Land Leaguers begins
1826 - Separate Irish currency is abolished and replaced by sterling
1871 - 33 Fenian prisoners, including Devoy, Rossa, O'Leary and Luby, are released by the British in a general amnesty
1885 - Hugh O'Brien is sworn in as Boston's first Irish mayor
1922 - Death of Kildareman Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer
1941 - Jennie Wyse Power, Irish patriot and women's rights activist dies
1944 - Louis Stewart, jazz guitarist, is born in Waterford
1976 - The Republican Action Force, a cover name for the IRA, admits to the brutal murder of ten Protestant workmen in what becomes known as the Kingsmill Massacre
2003 - A group of women maintains a vigil at Shannon Airport in protest at US Air Force landings there.
January 6
1562 - Shane O'Neill submits to Queen Elizabeth at Whitehall, but rebels again within months
1654 - Commissioners are appointed to allot the land of Oliver Cromwell's Connacht plantation to transplanted Irish
1794 - Frances Ball who, as Mother Mary Teresa founded the Sisters of Loretto, is born in Dublin
1800 - Author Anna Maria Hall, née Fielding, is born in Dublin
1839 - On this date, the Night Of The Big Wind or Oiche na Gaoithe Moire takes place; the most damaging storm in Irish history, some winds are estimated in excess of 130 m.p.h
1898 - Colonel James Fitzmaurice, Ireland's greatest aviator, is born in Dublin
1931 - Birth of novelist P.J. Kavanagh
1939 - First publication of the newspaper Irish Freedom
1940 - Johnny Giles, footballer and Republic of Ireland manager, is born in Dublin
1941 - Birth of Noel Pearson, theatre impresario and film producer
1998 - Embattled Northern Ireland Secretary of State Mo Mowlam receives the full backing of SDLP leader John Hume in her efforts to maintain the faltering peace process
2000 - Residents in counties in the west and midlands, coping with the effects of the most devastating floods to have hit the region in fifty years, brace themselves for another rainstorm
2000 - Families from all over Ireland join President Mary McAleese and her family in A´ras an Uachtaráin in Dublin to celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. Bay laurels from Bethlehem are planted to mark the 2000th anniversary since the birth of Christ
2003 - According to a study published today, the Irish language is on the brink of extinction unless radical measures are taken to arrest its decline
2003 - Farmers put 1,000 tractors on the country’s roads and head for Dublin at the start of the IFA’s five-day family farm survival campaign.
2003 - The campaign against the construction of a motorway near the ruins of Carrickmines Castle in South Dublin is stepped up as protesters re-erect a blockade to prevent large diggers moving onto the site.
In the liturgical calendar, today is Epiphany and the Feast of the Holy Family.
January 7
1878 - General John O'Neill, Fenian leader, dies
1899 - Elizabeth Bowen, novelist and short story writer, is born
1922 - Dáil Éireann votes 64 to 57 to accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty, creating the Irish Free State
2000 - Experts underline the important heritage value of a 19th Century relic that stands on the site of a disused copper mine. A conservation appeal is to be launched to safeguard a unique engine house at a mountain mine in the Beara peninsula. A rare surviving symbol of Cornish type mining technology, the structure is the primary surviving embodiment of a once thriving coppermining industry in Allihies, Co. Cork
2001 - Irish soil is sprinkled over the casket of Sister Theresa Egan as more than 2,000 mourners attend her funeral in St Lucia. The nun was brutally murdered while attending Mass last week
2003 - Gardaí adopt a zero tolerance-type approach to speeding after it emerges almost half of motorists in Dublin are still breaking the law in built-up areas.
January 8
1547 - Henry VIII suppresses the Chapter of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin; it will not be restored until 15 June 1555
1779 - Birth in Newry of actress Julia Glover
1860 - The Church of St Andrew in Suffolk Street, Dublin, is destroyed by fire
1871 - James Craig, Ist Viscount Craigavon, Unionist politician and PM of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1940, is born in Belfast
1873 - Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain is founded
1876 - Lucien Bul, inventor of the electrocardiograph, is born in Dublin
1916 - Evacuation of Gallipoli Peninsula in the Dardanelles is completed; there are100,000 casualties, mostly Australian, New Zealanders and Irish, in the eight-month campaign
1926 - Birth of international showjumper and equestrian Iris Kellett
1945 - Peggy Vonnaro grandaughter of Maggie Milligan and Jame Patrick Donlin is born.
1979 - An oil tanker explodes at Whiddy Island oil terminal on Bantry Bay, Cork, killing at least 50 people
1998 - The first licensed drug to treat mild to moderately severe Alzheimer's disease is launched in Ireland
1999 - French, Irish, English and Dutch relatives gather at the hilltop granite memorial sculpture in Bantry's Abbey Cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony in memory of those who perished when the oil tanker Betelgeuse blew up at the Whiddy Island oil terminal
1999 - The British Government comes under pressure to stop the early release of prisoners in Northern Ireland after an upsurge in paramilitary shootings and beatings
2000 - Thousands of acres are still flooded, roads blocked and farmyards remain under water after the River Shannon bursts its banks
2001 - All schools are to receive a CD ROM of one of the masterpieces of Western art — the Book of Kells. On behalf of the schools, the Minister for Education and Science, Dr Michael Woods, accepts the CD ROMs from Trinity College Library in Dublin and leading internet company, X Communications
2002 - Thousands of commuters experience delays after fallen cables knock out DART services at some of Dublin's busiest stations
2002 - Former Soviet leader Gorbachev sinks a pint of Guinness with Dublin Lord Mayor Michael Mulcahy in the famous Doheny and Nesbitt pub in Baggot Street.
2007 - Northern ireland’s Progressive Unionist Party leader David Ervine dies at age 53 after suffering a heart attack and later a stroke and a brain haemorrhage. A former UVF prisoner and a key figure in brokering the loyalist paramilitary ceasefire of 1994, a party statement is quoted as saying: "Unionism has lost the most progressive voice of this generation. Politics has lost a statesman. Our peace process has lost its most optimistic advocate and Ulster has lost a devoted son.”
2008 - First Irish expedition arrives at South Pole. Team leader Pat Falvey and Clare O'Leary, Sean Menzies and Jonathan Bradshaw, journeyed for 58 days to reach their destination. Dr O'Leary is the first Irish woman to make the trip. She is also the first Irish woman to climb Mount Everest.
January 9
1642 - 30 Catholics are killed by the Scottish garrison and English settlers at Island Magee, Co. Antrim
1873 - John J. Flanagan, hammer-thrower and shot-putter, is born in Kilbreedy, Co. Limerick
1900 - Birth of Harry Kernoff in London, artist; resident of Dublin from the time he was 14 years old
1904 - George Buchanan, poet, novelist and journalist, is born in Kilwaughter, Co. Down
1922 - Arthur Griffith is elected Taoiseach of Dáil Éireann after Eamon de Valera steps down
1929 - Brian Friel, playwright and author of Dancing at Lughnasa, is born near Omagh, Co. Tyrone
1951 - The Northern and Southern governments agree on the running of the Great Northern Railway
1952 - Birth of Danny Morrison, former publicity officer for Sinn Féin, and now a novelist
1962 - Birth of Ray Houghton, footballer
1998 - Mo Mowlam, risks her political future in talks with loyalist paramilitaries inside the Maze prison in a desperate bid to save the troubled Northern Ireland peace process
2000 - Boy band Westlife retains their place at the top of the charts to become the first act in more than a year to hang on at number one for longer than three weeks
2001 - For the first time ever, electric power comes to the tiny islands of Inishgort and Inishlyre in Clew Bay
2002 - Former soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, accepts the honour of being named the 71st Freeman of Dublin, following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela and members of U2
2002 - Police are attacked with bricks and bombs by rioters from both sides of the sectarian divide, as bigotry and violence flare again at the Holy Cross Primary School in Ardoyne, north Belfast.
2012 - Singer Bridie Gallagher passes away at age 87.
Known professionally as the 'Girl from Donegal', over a 50-year career she played everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall in London to Carnegie Hall in New York and Sydney Opera House. Born in Creeslough, Co. Donegal, Bridie Gallagher made her home in Belfast almost 60 years ago and it was there she was discovered by a Decca talent scout in 1956. Her first single for them - A Mother's Love's a Blessing - was an instant hit and within a few short years she was performing on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. The late 50s and 60s saw tens of thousands of Irish people emigrating. In Britain, America and Australia, Bridie had ready-made audiences who packed out the venues she played. In one particularly memorable show at the Albert Hall mounted police had to be used to hold back fans who blocked the surrounding streets.
January 10
1751 - Cornelius Bolton, politician, Volunteer and improving landlord is born
1814 - Aubrey Thomas De Vere, a poet who adapted early Gaelic tales, is born
1922 - Arthur Griffith is elected second president of the Irish Free State by Dáil Éireann
1952 - An Aer Lingus aeroplane, the St Kevin, crashes in Wales with the loss of 23 lives. It is the airline's second fatal crash
1969 - Civil rights leaders in Northern Ireland defying police orders and refuse to abandon their planned march through Newry in Co. Down
2000 - The Lodge and Spa at Inchydoney Island, Clonakilty, County Cork, is the AA Hotel of the Year
2002 - A new chapter in Irish literary history is written with the publication of The Last Tango in Ibiza, which was penned by first-time authors who include a nun and several grannies
2003 - Farmers drive 300 tractors into the city and hold a two-hour rally in front of Government Buildings at Merrion Square
2003 - Feared loyalist paramilitary chief Johnny Mad Dog Adair is arrested and sent back to jail. Adair will not now be released from prison until January 2005
2012 - Journalist Mary Raftery passes away after a short illness. She was 54. Well known for her work on the 'States of Fear' documentary series that revealed the extent of physical and sexual abuse suffered by children in the Irish childcare system, she also produced and directed the 'Prime Time Investigates: Cardinal Secrets' programme which led to the establishment of the Murphy Commission of Investigation into child sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese. Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty International Ireland said Ms Raftery's work transformed Ireland. Without the work that Mary did as a journalist (on the abuse of children), I don't think much of this would have surfaced."
Photo Credit & related Details: RTE
January 11
1836 - George Sigerson, physician, professor and writer, is born near Strabane, Co. Tyrone
1921 - The British government announces that any unauthorised person found in possession of arms, ammunition or explosives is liable to be executed
1925 - Birth of David Wylie Bleakley, writer and Northern Ireland Labour Party politician
1970 - IRA splits into Officials and Provisionals (Provos)
1972 - Padraic Colum, Longford poet and playwright, dies
1998 - The Government plays down reports of a rift between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
1999 - The Democratic Unionist Party warns that it would mount a legal challenge if Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam moves to announce a power-sharing Executive without the Assembly approving the new government structures
2000 - Furious farmers block the entrances to all the main meat processing plants in protest against the imposition of increased veterinary inspection charges
2002 - The country's population is set for another dramatic increase after Ireland records the highest birth rate and lowest death rate of all 15 EU member states in 2001.
January 12
1709 - Birth of Benjamin Burton, politician and Revenue Commissioner
1729 - Edmund Burke, orator, statesman and philosopher, is born in Arran Quay, Dublin
1765 - The Kinsale by-election caused by the death of John Folliott on this date is contested by Agmondisham Vesey and Richard Meade. Vesey wins by 64 votes to 48, but pays a price for being elected: William Dennis, vintner, receives £80 for Mr Vesey's entertainment. Three other innkeepers receive a total of £76 3s 6d for providing 'drink for Mr Vesey's health' and a further £14 9s for beer to the populace. His election agent, James Dennis, spends £46 12s 2d to send a coach and post-chaise to Dublin to collect voters. Vesey spends a further £12 7s 10d on 'a notice to disqualify John O'Grady as a Papist from voting'. Ben Hayes, fiddler, is paid £5 13s 9d. Vesey's election breakages bill amounts to £7 8s, exclusive of fines for 'a crowd of broke heads and crakt limbs'. James Kearney (a future MP for Kinsale) spends £16 4s 3d to bring voters to Kinsale on Vesey's behalf: this includes a post-chaise and hospitality on the four-day journey
1885 - Thomas Ashe, patriot and nationalist revolutionary, is born in Lispole, Co. Kerry
1887 - Molly Allgood, actress (stage name Máire O'Neill) and fiancée of Synge, is born in Dublin
1930 - Birth of Jennifer Johnston, author of How Many Miles to Babylon and The Railway Station Man
1947 - Matt Molloy of the Chieftains is born
1947 - Micheal O'Siadhail, poet and linguist, is born in Dublin
1951 - Birth of Steve Travers, surviving member of the Miami Showband massacre, and managing director of CAT Entertainments
1993 - A Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition government is formed, with Reynolds as Taoiseach
1998 - Political master strokes by Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair breath new life into the Northern peace process with a blueprint for peace which could replace the Anglo-Irish Agreement with a three-stranded government for the North
2000 - Despite the controversy over the book, Limerick people turnout in huge numbers to attend the sell out film premiere of Angela’s Ashes.
January 13
1695 - Jonathan Swift becomes Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
1800 - Daniel O'Connell makes his first public speech, opposing Union with England
1880 - Alexander Brenon, film director, is born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
1931 - Mary Clarke, Maryknoll nun and martyr is born of Irish parents in NYC
1935 - Eibhin Nic Choill (Eleanor Hill) Irish Celtic scholar dies
1941 - James Joyce, considered by many to be one of the most important modern authors in English because of his revolutionary approach to the novel, dies in Zurich
1964 - Ulster golfer Ronan Rafferty is born
1998 - Northern Ireland takes another giant step towards peace after the political parties at Stormont accept the British and Irish governments blueprint as the basis for negotiation
2000 - A record-breaking 55 people are presented with the President’s Gold Awards at a special ceremony in A´ras an Uachtaráin
2000 - It is announced that a 1,000 year old treasure trove has been discovered by a tour guide cleaning up litter from a Co Kilkenny cave. The priceless Viking age silver and bronze jewellery is unique - nothing like them have been found in Ireland or elsewhere
2001 - One and a half copies of the most important piece of documentation of the 20th century in Ireland, the Declaration of Independence, is sold to a New York collector for £56,000
2003 - It is announced that the Government is to undertake a major review of Gaeltacht areas amid concerns of a dramatic fall-off in Irish language use in many areas.
2008 - After almost 60 years, Aer Lingus Service between Shannon and Heathrow comes to an end following a company decision in August 2007 to transfer its valuable Heathrow slots to Belfast.
January 14
1753 - Death of George Berkeley, Irish philosopher and Anglican
1775 - John Hely-Hutchinson, Provost of Trinity College, fights a duel with William Doyle over abusive newspaper articles. Doyle is ill and has to lean on a crutch at the duel; on being challenged he had initially complained of sore eyes, and 'objected to stand merely to be shot at, without the power of retaliation'. Neither party is injured. One of the Provost's sons wishes to fight a further duel with Doyle, but the authorities prevent this; they then go abroad and hold the duel, neither being injured
1871 - Alexander Sullivan, barrister and last King's Serjeant of Ireland, is born in Dublin
1937 - De Valera's new constitution, with its assertions of Ireland as a sovereign 32-county state, and its definition of Catholic morality and "women's place" is approved
1965 - Talks between Seán Lemass, Taoiseach, and Terence O'Neill, Northern Ireland Prime Minister, take place in Belfast
2000 - Unemployment drops to its lowest level in 19 years
2000 - Unionist politicians are furious after Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams claims that there could be a united Ireland by the year 2016, the centenary of the Easter Rising
2000 - Eco Warriors and the Green Party meet with members of Wicklow County Council in a last ditch attempt to get the local authority to abandon its controversial road widening scheme in the Glen of the Downs.
January 15
1775 - Thomas Dermody, classical scholar and poet is born
1798 - Thomas Crofton Croker, antiquarian and folklorist, is born in Cork
1800 - The last session of the Irish parliament begins on this date
1821 - Thomas Clarke Luby, Fenian, is born in Dublin
1825 - Thomas, 2nd Viscount Newcomen, commits suicide after the failure of Newcomen's Bank
1835 - Birth of Patrick Guiney, soldier and politician, in Parkstown, Co. Tipperary
1860 - Eleanor Hull, Irish Celtic Scholar is born
1861 - Young Irelander Terence MacManus dies in San Francisco, CA
1939 - IRA Army Council and Republican survivors of 2nd Dáil Éireann declare war on England
1920 - Sinn Féin takes control of most borough and urban councils in local elections
1961 - Dave MacAuley, world flyweight boxing champion, IBF,1989-92, is born in Larne, Co. Antrim
1973 - Ireland joins the European Investment bank
1988 - Sean McBride, Irish patriot and human rights activist, dies.
2007 - Dublin-boorn actress Pauline Delaney, who is best known for her role in Circle of Friends and Into The West, passes away from complications caused by Parkinson's disease.
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast of St. Ita.
January 16
1700 - Richard Levinge, an Irish MP and later a prominent Tory, is committed by the English House of Commons to the Tower of London until 11 April for speaking ill of his fellow Commissioners of Forfeited Estates
1707 - Robert Allen, a future MP, elopes with the daughter of Robert Johnson MP: Johnson writes to Ormonde on 16 January that Allen 'has stolen a marriage with my daughter; no consent or acquainting of him with me. I fancy they will find they have two very difficult fathers to persuade to part with anything to either of them.' In 1730 Allen will be satirized viciously by Jonathan Swift
1816 - Frances Browne, writer, is born in Stranorlar, Co. Donegal
1822 - Thomas Clark Luby, co-founder of the Fenian Brotherhood, is born
1900 - Frank Devlin, badminton player, is born in Dublin
1904 - In reaction to attacks on Jews in Limerick, Michael Davitt, a leader of the Irish Land League, protests "as an Irishman and a Catholic against this spirit of barbarous malignity"
1913 - Home Rule bill passes in the House of Commons
1920 - Percy French gives his last concert in Glasgow. He dies in Liverpool eight days later
1922 - Michael Collins takes over control of Dublin Castle from the British authorities on behalf of the new Irish state
1935 - Gobnaitt NiBhruadair (Albinia Broderick), Irish republican activist, dies
1981 - Northern Ireland civil rights campaigner and former Westminster MP, Bernadette McAliskey, is shot by gunmen who burst into her home at Coalisland in County Tyrone
2000 - For his adaptations of the work of William Shakespeare, Belfast born actor and director Kenneth Branagh becomes the youngest winner of the Gielgud award
2001 - Hough’s Pub in Lorrha, Co Tipperary retains the title of "The Cheapest Pint" in Ireland. Earning the respect of drinkers everywhere, Pat Hough won’t be raising the price of a pint of plain above £1.50
Photo Credit: Fergal Shanahan
2002 - Richard Haass, US President George Bush's special adviser on Northern Ireland, urges Sinn Féin to drop its objections to the new Police Board
2002 - Joe White of Rathmire, Co. Kerry becomes one of the oldest people in the country to pass the driving test. He began driving in Ireland more than 60 years ago, went to the USA and returned last year to find his Irish license had long lapsed. It took two attempts, but the sprightly 84-year-old proved age, bad roads or fast drivers need not be a barrier to passing the test.
January 17
1649 - Marquis of Ormond James Butler and the confederates sign a peace treaty which grants toleration for Catholics in exchange for troops
1815 - Marie-Louise O'Morphi, famous courtesan, dies in Paris
1856 - Joseph Hayden, Irish journalist, dictionary compiler and author of Dictionary of Dates, dies
1860 - Birth in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, of Douglas Hyde, playwright, folklorist, founder of The Gaelic League and the first president of Éire
1861 - Lola Montez (Marie Gilbert), dancer and courtesan dies in New York
1866 - Death of George Petrie, folk music collector who is credited with preserving many of Ireland’s irreplaceable harp tunes
1873 - T.C. Murray, playwright, is born in Macroom, Co. Cork
1964 - The Campaign for Social Justice (CSJ) is formed. It is the forerunner of the civil rights movement and begins a programme of publicising what it sees as widespread discrimination, in a number of areas of life, against Catholics in Northern Ireland
1992 - Seven Protestant constructions workers at a security base in Co. Tyrone are killed by an IRA bomb. The driver of their bus also dies
2000 - Galway city centre is brought to a standstill as hundreds of student nurses take to the streets to protest at plans to charge them to finish their nursing courses
Photo Credit: Andrew Downes/GreenGraph
2000 - A pair of King Billy’s gloves, worn during the battle of the Boyne, and the dress worn by Sinéad de Valera at the second inauguration ceremony of her husband, President Éamon de Valera, are unlikely companions in The Way We Wore, a permanent exhibition of the clothing and jewellery worn by Irish people from the1760s to the 1960s which opens at the National Museum, Collins Barracks.
2012 - The editor of the Sunday Independent, Aengus Fanning, died this morning. He was 69 year old.The Tralee man began editing the Sunday Independent in 1984. He is survived by his wife Anne and three sons.
In a statement, the chief executive of Independent News and Media, Gavin O'Reilly, described him as "possibly the greatest and most instinctively brilliant editor that Irish journalism has ever produced".
He said that Mr Fanning will be a huge loss to Irish journalism, but an even bigger loss to his family.
January 18
1667 - Cattle exports to England are prohibited
1671 - Catholic gentry present petition to Charles II
1779 - Cement Patent No. 1207 is issued to Sligo-man Bryan Higgins
1811 - Charles Kean, actor, is born in Waterford
1821 - Built by Henry Harris at a cost of £50,000, the Albany New Theatre opens in Hawkins Street, Dublin. It can accommodate up to 2,000 patrons. In August, George IV attends a performance and, as a consequence, a patent is granted. The name of the theatre is changed to the "Theatre Royal" to reflect its status as a patent theatre
1831 - Daniel O’Connell is convicted of conspiracy
1882 - On a successful speaking tour of America, the young Irish playwright, Oscar Wilde, newly famous at home and abroad, visits 62-year-old Walt Whitman
1913 - The Irish Transport and General Workers' Union strike ends
1928 - Birth of Daniel Bradley, physicist
1930 - Breandán Ó hEithir, writer and broadcaster, is born in Cill Rónáin, Aran Islands
1934 - Joseph Devlin, Irish nationalist dies
1937 - Birth of John Hume, nationalist politician, in Derry/Londonderry
1997 - Death of Gerard Slevin, the Corkman who designed the EU flag
1998 - The fourth revenge killing of a Catholic by LVF murder squads since ruthless warlord Billy Wright was gunned down, is committed in Maghera, Co. Derry
2000 - The improvement in the hospitality scene in Ireland is proven by the addition of 54 hotels and 27 restaurants to the prestigious Michelin Guide
2001 - The right of Travellers to pursue their traditional lifestyle on their own land was yesterday rejected by the European Court of Human Rights
2002 - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern pays tribute to the former Fianna Fáil TD, Jim Tunney, who died yesterday. Mr Tunney, was a former minister of state and deputy in Dublin North-West for two decades. He also served a term as Lord Mayor of Dublin and was co-chairman of the British-Irish inter-parliamentary body. A stylish dresser, he always wore a flower in his lapel and was called the Yellow Rose of Finglas by friends and colleagues. He was 78
2002 - Political history is made today as the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition becomes the longest-serving government in the State. After taking office on June 26, 1997, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's minority government is serving its 1,666th day in office.
2008 - After well over half a century, the Rev Dr Ian Paisley steps down as Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church He is succeeded by the Rev Ron Johnston.
January 19
1739 - Birth of Arthur Wolfe, 1st Viscount Kilwarden and Lord Chief Justice in Forenaghts, Co. Kildare
1787 - Birth in Cork of Mary Aikenhead, founder of the Irish Sisters of Charity and St. Vincent’s Hospital Dublin
1793 - Hugh Cane, MP for Tallow, dies from a fall down stairs
1920 - IRA attacks Drombrane barracks, Co. Tipperary
1949 - Dennis Taylor, snooker player and world champion in 1985, is born in Coalisland, Co. Tyrone
1963 - Playwright Teresa Deevy dies
1964 - Birth of Richard Dunwoody, jockey, in Comber, Co. Down
1983 - The Minister for Justice, Michael Noonan, reveals that the previous Fianna Fáil administration was involved in tapping the phones of Journalists Geraldine Kennedy and Bruce Arnold
1985 - Death of Dublin-born actor Wilfrid Brambell, aka Old man Steptoe
1988 - Dublin writer Christopher Nolan, who cannot move or speak because of an accident at birth, wins the Whitbread Book of the Year
1998 - The Northern peace process are close to collapse after a 52-year-old Catholic taxi driver is killed in an attack which bears all the hallmarks of the UDA/UFF
2003 - Disgraced celebrity chef Tim Allen moves to protect his multi-million euro family business, announcing he is ceasing all connection with the Ballymaloe Cookery School and hotel.
January 20
1621 - Patents are granted for plantations in parts of Leitrim, King's County, Queen's County and Westmeath
1841 - James Armour, Presbyterian minister and political activist is born in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim
1902 - Kevin Barry, medical student and nationalist revolutionary, is born in Dublin
1902 - In the House of Commons, John Redmond criticizes the use of concentration camps by the British in South Africa
1908 - The Municipal Gallery of Modern Art opens in temporary premises in Harcourt Street, Dublin. It is the first known public gallery of modern art in the world and is later to become the Hugh Lane Gallery named after its founder
1916 - Secret negotiations result in alliance of the Irish Citizen Army with the Irish Republican Brotherhood
1961 - John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as president of the United States of America, becoming the first Irish Catholic to be elected to that office
1968 - Birth of Charlie Swan, jockey
1973 - Whiskey In The Jar by Thin Lizzy enters the British charts
1998 - Hope remain high that the IRA ceasefire will hold despite escalating violence in the North and Sinn Féin's implacable opposition to the Anglo-Irish blueprint
1999 - The Loyalist Volunteer Force announces plans for a second round of arms decommissioning which could include the handover of explosives
1999 - One of the world's biggest software piracy investigations identifies over 6,000 Internet sites in Ireland copying and promoting illegal software
2000 - According to a major international survey, Ireland is one of the least corrupt countries in the industrial world
2002 - Rioting erupts on the streets of north Belfast as angry mobs throw petrol bombs and blast bombs at police.
2010 - Ireland's oldest woman has died at the age of 107. Bride O'Neill from Kilbarry in Co Cork trained as a nurse in England but returned home during the second world war to work in Dublin. She kept active even after her 100th birthday, and never married, smoke or drank.
January 21
1600 - Charles Blount, 8th Lord Mountjoy, becomes Lord Deputy of Ireland
1684 - Chidley Coote, future MP for Kilmallock, is granted £500 for the upkeep of six lighthouses
1793 - Louis XVI is executed in Paris; he is attended by an Irish priest, Fr. Edgeworth. Lord Edward FitzGerald is the only member of the Irish parliament not to appear in mourning following the execution
1861 - Katherine Tynan, poet, novelist and journalist, is born
1876 - James Larkin, organizer of Irish Transport and General Workers' Union and socialist politician, is born in Liverpool
1919- Daíl Éireann, chaired by Sean T. O’Kelly meets for the very first time at Mansion House in Dublin. As part of this meeting, the adoption and the ritual of 'the Turning of the Seal' establishing the Sovereignty of the Irish Republic is begun.
1919 - Two members of Royal Irish Constabulary are shot dead by Irish Volunteers including Seán Treacy and Dan Breen in an ambush at Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary: this is regarded as the first incident in the 'War of Independence' (Anglo-Irish War). Attacks on policemen continue for the rest of the year
1998 - A controversialL deal is agreed by the British and Irish governments to transfer the IRA gang which carried out the Guildford and Woolwich bombings to Portlaoise prison
1998 - The North is plunged into a new crisis after Benedict Hughes, a Catholic, is shot dead in south Belfast in the latest murder aimed at wrecking the peace process
1998 - The IRA dramatically rejects the Anglo-Irish Stormont settlement plan
2002 - Sinn Féin MPs will never sit in the British parliament, Gerry Adams vows as they move into Commons offices for the first time. Party policy is also changed to allow MPs to sit in the Dáil.
January 22
1761 - Birth of Henry Welbore Agar (Ellis), 2nd Viscount Clifden, perhaps the only person to sit consecutively in four different Houses of Parliament - the two in Ireland and the two in England
1856 - Alfred Godley, classical scholar and writer, is born in Ashfield, Co. Cavan
1901 - Queen Victoria dies; Edward VII accedes to the throne
1913 - Cardinal William Conway, Primate of All Ireland from 1963-1977, is born
1925 - Raymond Crotty, radical economist, is born in Co. Kilkenny
1967 - Eleanor McEvoy, musician, singer and songwriter, is born in Dublin
1972 - Éamon Broy, agent for Michael Collins, and later Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, passes away
1972 - The Republic of Ireland signs a treaty of accession to the European Economic Community
1997 - Death of Lilly Kempson, aged 99, the last surviving participant in the Easter Rising
1998 - It is announced that up to 1 million ounces of high grade gold have been discovered in a mine in Co. Monaghan that will result in the country's biggest ever gold mine going into production in two years time
1999 - Pop concerts can be held at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, without the need for planning permission, the Supreme Court decides in a unanimous decision
2002 - It is announced that one of the British Army's main bases in Northern Ireland is to close and its 500 soldiers moved back to Britain. Ebrington barracks in the Waterside area of Londonderry is expected to be cleared by the end of next year
2003 - Amid much fanfare and brouhaha, quads Kelly, Katie, Shannon and Amy Murphy return to Cork’s Erinville Maternity Hospital for their first birthday celebration
2011 - Cowen resigns but remains Taoiseach
Brian Cowen resigns as party leader of Fianna Fail He is expected to remain as Taoiseach until the election. Mr Cowen told reporters at his 2pm press conference in Dublin the decision would allow Fianna Fail to “elect a new leader and fight [the election] in a united and determined manner, free from internal distraction.”
January 23
1774 - Dudley Cosby (Baron Sydney), former MP for Carrick, commits suicide: 'Our domestic news is first the death of Lord Sydney occasioned by a dose of Danish poison. His lordship to render himself agreeable to his lady upon their marriage stopped two issues he had in his thighs but found no ill effects until the 13th inst. when, after a night of great exercise by dancing, his temper and reason as appears since, was in some sort affected; however, not so much as to make those about him immediately suspect it or the consequence. He complained of indisposition and sent for a physician. He republished his will leaving his estate to Capt. Cosby of the Navy and added a codicil leaving the jewels he bought for his wife (whom in his delirium he was jealous of) and the family china to his sister Lady Farnham, after which being disappointed in an attempt to shoot himself and one to poison himself, he took on (this date) the dose which was sufficiently strong to carry him off in a few hours'
1803 - Arthur Guinness, founder of the Dublin brewery, dies
1881 - William O'Brien, trade unionist and Labour politician, is born near Clonakilty, Co. Cork
1898 - The United Irish League, a nationalist electoral organization, is founded by William O'Brien
1999 - Two blast bomb attacks target Catholic homes in the seaport town of Larne, Co Antrim
2000 - A historic show of Christian unity takes place as the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley, appeals to parishioners at Cork Masses to make contributions to a multi million pound restoration programme of a Protestant cathedral in Cork city centre
2000 - Five grey Seals are released into the sea at Cullenstown Strand, Co. Wexford. The seals had been kept in the seal sanctuary in Co. Dublin while recovering from injuries. This the largest amount of seals to be released at one time
Photo Credit: P.J. Brown
2000 - More than 20,000 people gather on the streets of West Belfast in memory of IRA teenager, Tom Williams, who was hanged in 1942 for his part in the murder of an RUC man
2001 - Irish airport charges are among the cheapest in the world, the latest independent study of the sector has found
2001 - It is announced that the State is in negotiation with a private landowner to purchase the internationally renowned Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren, Co. Clare
2003 - The Irish and British governments agree to plans for an all-out push to restore the North’s power-sharing Executive.
January 24
1851 - Charles Plummer, Irish language scholar and editor of Lives of the Irish Saints, is born
1920 - Death of Percy French, writer of many popular Irish songs, including the Mountains of Mourne
1921 - Patrick Scott, artist, is born in Kilbrittain, Co. Cork
1933 - Fianna Fáil wins a general election
1969 - Brian Faulkner resigns from his position as Prime Minister Terence O'Neill's minister of commerce, furthering the split in the Unionist party
1973 - Death of piper and folklorist, Willie Clancy
1974 - The official Unionist Party is founded
1978 - Eddie Gallagher and Dr. Rose Dugdale, both jailed for their part in the kidnap of Tiede Herrema, are married in Limerick prison
1998 - In west Belfast, Loyalists kill taxi driver, John McColgan by shooting him in the back of the head. It is the sixth sectarian murder in a week
1999 - After months of negotiations and two special delegate conferences, Democratic Left merges with the Labour Party
2000 - Tánaiste Mary Harney warns the IRA to begin decommissioning or run the risk of derailing the Northern peace process
2001 - Government sources say the resignation of Northern Secretary Peter Mandelson is not a major setback to the peace process
2002 - Irish doctors are among the worst-paid in Europe and charge less than they need to run a viable business, according to the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO).
January 25
1356 - The 1st Earl of Desmond dies; Kildare is his replacement as justiciar
1627 - Robert Boyle, physicist, chemist and alchemist, is born in Lismore, Co. Waterford
1777 - The Earl of Buckinghamshire, who eventually conceded free trade and some relief from the Penal Laws to Catholics and Dissenters, is sworn in as lord lieutenant
1831 - Edmund Hogan, Jesuit and scholar, is born in Cork
1924 - Charles McCarthy, trade unionist, is born in Cork
1924 - Tomás Mac Giolla, republican and socialist, and later, Workers' Party leader, is born near Nenagh, Co. Tipperary
1998 - The Irish Seaspray plant in Lettermore, Co. Galway is extensively damaged after two explosions rip through the facility and start a major fire
1999 - The Government descends into chaos over allegations that European Commissioner Pádraig Flynn received a donation of £50,000 ten years ago and that the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, knew about it
1999 - Ireland's first day centre for refugees is opened in Dublin by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
2001 - The new Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr. John Reid, pledges to carry forward the Good Friday Agreement
Photo Credit: Paul Faith
2001 - Thousands gather in Ballinamallard, Co. Fermanagh for the funerals of rally champion Bertie Fisher and two of his children, Emma, and Mark - also a renowned driver.
January 26
1316 - At the battle of Ardscull, Co. Kildare, Edward the Bruce defeats the army of Justiciar Edmund Butler. The Scottish dead are buried in the graveyard attached to the Dominican Priory in Athy which occupies the area on the east bank of the River Barrow. Among those buried are two Scottish chiefs, Lord Fergus Andressan and Lord Walter de Morrey
1699 - The second session of William III's second Irish parliament ends on this date
1716 - Birth of Lord George Sackville (-Germain), soldier, politician and MP for Portarlington
1799 - Thomas Charles Wright, officer in Bolivar's army and founder of the Ecuadorian naval school, is born in Drogheda, Co. Louth
1871 - Sir Arthur du Cros, pioneer of pneumatic tyre industry, is born in Dublin
1904 - Birth of Seán MacBride, IRA leader, politician, head of Amnesty International, and recipient of Nobel and Lenin peace prizes
1907 - Synge's Playboy of the Western World is performed for the first time at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; the audience riots because of the bad language and negative perspective on Irish peasant life
1998 - Fears of a backlash heighten in the North due to the removal from the peace talks of the Ulster Democratic Party because of the recent spate of sectarian murders
1998 - The trial of a Dublin man accused of the murder of journalist, Veronica Guerin, is adjourned until June by the Special Criminal Court
1999 - Irish swimming takes its first step towards a fresh beginning following a series of child sex abuse scandals with the creation of a new identity, Swim Ireland
2000 - Tánaiste Mary Harney announces that the new minimum pay rate of £4.40 per hour will apply from April 1
2000 - Amid reports that Britain is drawing up emergency legislation to re-impose direct rule on Northern Ireland, the IRA faces renewed pressure to start decommissioning its arsenal
2000 - Supporters of ancient herbal remedies stage a wake in Dublin mourning the death of the free availability of the herb St John’s Wort, which can now only be obtained on prescription
2001 - Motorists crossing Dublin’s East and West Links will have to pay an extra 20p following a VAT hike
2001 - AN Bord Pleanála gives the go ahead for a £35 million leisure, residential and shopping development in Limerick.
2011 - Micheál Martin is elected leader of Fianna Fáil. Martin beat the competition of finance minister Brian Lenihan, tourism minister Mary Hanafin, and social protection minister Éamon Ó Cuív.He rplaces Brian Cowan who stepped down on January 22. During his accepytance speech, the new leader apologises for mistakes he and the Government made in managing the economy but said the most important thing was to learn from these mistakes.
January 27
1885 - Charles Stewart Parnell turns the first sod for the West Clare Railway
1944 - Birth of Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, founder of NI Peace Movement
1975 - Mother Mary Martin, founder of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, dies in Drogheda
1999 - The peace process and the IRA ceasefire are thrown into chaos following the mysterious death of ex-Provo killer turned supergrass Eamon Collins
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams indicates that the IRA will not deliver arms ahead of the Ulster Unionists’ February deadline.
January 28
1610 - The crown and the Irish Society of London, a consortium of city companies, agree to carry out the plantation of Derry (hence Londonderry), Coleraine and part of Tyrone
1635 - The City of London and the Irish Society of London are found guilty of mismanagement and neglect of Derry/Londonderry plantation; they are sentenced to a fine of £70,000 and forfeiture of Derry/Londonderry property
1742 - Clotworthy Skeffington, 2nd Earl of Massereene, is born in Co. Antrim
1786 - By charter, the Irish Academy becomes the Royal Irish Academy
1807 - Birth in Co. Wexford of Sir Robert McClure, polar explorer
and discoverer of the North-West Passage
1818 - The Iberno-Celtic Society is founded to preserve and publish the best ancient Irish literature
1852 - Louis Brennan, inventor, is born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
1892 - Birth in Limerick of David Mary Tidmarsh , WWI Ace
1873 - Patrick Malley is killed by his son William Malley at Calla, a remote district of Errismore Co. Galway. J.M. Synge based his story The Playboy Of The Western World on the tragedy
1877 - George Fitzmaurice, Irish Renaissance playwright, is born
1935 - Laurence White Jr. is born in Brooklyn New York, USA.
1939 - Death of William Butler Yeats
1941 - The Emergency Powers Act provides for the censorship of press messages to places outside the Free State
1941 - Birth of Fublin artist, George Potter
1967 - Helena Moloney, republican and trade unionist, dies in Dublin.
1981 - Daniel O’Donnell makes his first professional appearance, at a club in Thurles as part of his sister Margo’s band
1993 - The IRA bombs Harrods for the third time in 20 years. Four people are injured
2000 - Death of well known Irish actor, Tony Doyle, star of popular programmes such as Ballykissangel and The Riordans
2000 - Nobel Peace laureate, John Hume, issues a plea to the IRA for a last minute gesture on decommissioning to ensure the Northern Ireland peace process does not founder
2001 - Mighty Munster moves a step closer to Heineken European Cup rugby glory when they defeat Biarritz 38 29 in the quarter final Photo credit: Des Barry
2002 - Winds of up to 90mph leave 3,000 homes in the west and north-west without power supply for several hours
2003 - It is announced that actor Peter O’Toole, nominated seven times for an Oscar for his work in films as diverse as the historical epic Lawrence of Arabia and the nostalgic comedy My Favourite Year, will receive an honorary Academy Award at this year’s Oscar ceremonies.
2007 - Sinn Féin ardfheis votes overwhelmingly in favour of a leadership motion expressing support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Speaking moments after the vote is taken, party President Gerry Adams describes the decision as "truly historic" and says the potential had been created to change the political landscape of the island "forever."
2011 - Taoiseach Brian Cowen announces he will seek to dissolve the Dáil next Tuesday at which time he will also announce the date of a General Election.
January 29
1768 - Oliver Goldsmith's The Good-Natured Boy is first performed at London's Covent Garden
1794 - Archibald Hamilton Rowan, United Irishman, tried on charge of distributing seditious paper
1967 - The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) is formed
1976 - Explosions rock London's West End. One person is injured. The IRA later takes responsibility
1998 - The British government bows to pressure and announces a new judicial inquiry into the killing of 14 unarmed civil rights marchers in Derry on January 30, 26 years ago
1998 - Former Taoiseach Jack Lynch is rushed to Accident and Emergency at the Meath Hospital, Dublin shortly before 10pm. His condition is described as not life-threatening
1999 - The future of the Apple computer plant in Cork is thrown into doubt with the news that up to 600 jobs are expected to be lost
1999 - One of the youngest members of the Church of Ireland, Rev. Canon William Paul Colton, is elected Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. He succeeds the Rt. Rev. Roy Warke
2001 - Ulster Unionist deputy leader John Taylor pulls out of the running for the next General Election
2002 - Rock superstars U2 battle to save their Dublin recording studios from being pulled to the ground. The millionaire musicians tell a hearing at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin that the musical heritage of their Hanover Quay site should be enough to save it from demolition.
2011 - Irish finance bill passes final hurdle - the senate. The finance bill is a condition of Ireland's 85bn euro (£72bn) bailout package. The approval leaves the way clear for a general election to be called.
January 30
1845 - Birth of Kitty O'Shea, mistress and later, the wife of Parnell
1859 - Edward Martyn, playwright, co-founder of Irish Literary Theatre, and Sinn Féin president, is born in Tulira, Co. Galway
1864 - The National Gallery of Ireland opens
1865 - Birth of John Hughes, sculptor, in Dublin
1900 - The Irish Party reunites ten years after it split
1920 - Tomás MacCurtain is elected Lord Mayor of Cork for Sinn Féin
1947 - Jim Larkin, Irish labor leader dies
1972 - In what is to become known as Bloody Sunday, the British Army kills 13 civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside district of Londonderry. A 14th marcher later dies of his injuries
1984 - Death of Luke Kelly, lead vocalist and 5-string banjo member of the Dubliners
1990 - Haughey resigns as Taoiseach
1998 - Relatives of those killed during the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry's Bogside, gather to remember their dead. It is a ritual observed every year, but this year it is given extra poignancy by the announcement of a new inquiry into the killing of 14 unarmed civilians by the Parachute Regiment
1998 - Thousands participate in a united peace rally to protest at recent sectarian killings
1998 - Buried in the sand at Lahinch for almost 100 years, the ship-wrecked Elizabeth McClean emerges to allow a salvage operation to take its valuable cargo. The 58-foot schooner, laden down with Liscannor stone, sank off the Clare coast in 1904, bound for Glasgow
2000 - Three RUC officers are injured and another man is in serious condition after mobs attack them in Derry and Belfast
2002 - Figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that Dubliners have more money to spend than everyone else in Ireland with people in Laois, Offaly and Kerry having the least
2002 - Publicans warn Health Minister Micheál Martin not to proceed with a proposed ban on smoking in pubs after he announces changes to tough anti-tobacco laws, which will allow him to ban smoking in all or part of licensed premises
2003 - Vintners claim that next year's ban on smoking in pubs will be unworkable and accuse Health Minister Micheál Martin of overreacting.
2011 - Thousands of people join what is intended to be the last Bloody Sunday march in memory of the fourteen people who lost their lives on 30 January 1972 when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march in Derry's Bogside area. A number of options are now being considered to mark future anniversaries, including an annual gathering of remembrance at the Bloody Sunday monument, a remembrance Mass, a human rights weekend and an annual Bloody Sunday lecture.
January 31
1800 - William Pitt, 'the younger', Prime Minister of Britain, advocates the union of Britain and Ireland
1864 - Birth of Matilda Knowles, botanist
1881 - Anna Parnell sets up the Committee of the Ladies' Land League in Dublin
1913 - The Ulster Volunteer Force is founded by the Unionist Council, posing a threat to the legitimate government
1953 - The Princess Victoria, a British Railways car ferry steamer, bound for Larne in Northern Ireland, sinks in the Irish Sea in one of the worst gales in living memory, claiming the lives of 128 passengers and crew. Among the passengers who perish are the Northern Ireland Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Major J. M. Sinclair, and Sir Walter Smiles, the Ulster Unionist MP for North Down
1998 - Two men are arrested as they transfer cannabis resin with an estimated valued of £5 million into a vehicle in a wooded area near Cahir, Co Tipperary
1999 - The end of an era in maritime history is reached as the high-tech world takes over from the old, manually-operated morse code radio services. For over 100 years, the dot-dash-dot system operated by radio officers served shipping well, but is now superseded by a state-of-the-art communications network. Marine Minister Michael Woods marks the historic occasion at at Valentia Coast Radio Station, Co. Kerry, as the use of Morse ends in this country, Belgium, Denmark and Iceland
1999 - Irish American business tycoon, Jay Michael Cashman splashes out a reported £250,000 to tie the knot with his film producer sweetheart, Christy Jean Scott, in a glittering ceremony in the 15th-century ruined Franciscan Abbey. It is the first wedding in the abbey in 500 years
2000 - Seventeen fishermen from a blazing Spanish trawler off the Clare coast are rescued by the Irish Coast Guard
2000 - President Bill Clinton and Northern Ireland peace envoy George Mitchell are among those nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize
2003 - The coast guard remains on standby off the north-west coast for a major pollution incident as damage to the Panamanian-registered Princess Eva tanker, carrying 55,000 tonnes of oil, is assessed.