1979 in Ireland

1979
in
Ireland
Centuries:
Decades:
See also:1979 in Northern Ireland
Other events of 1979
List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 1979 in Ireland.

Incumbents

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Events

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January

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  • 2 January – Today, the lowest temperature recorded in Ireland in the 20th century was −18.8 °C (−1.8 °F) at Lullymore, County Kildare. (The lowest on record, in 1881, was −19.1 °C.)[1]
  • 8 January – Whiddy Island Disaster: Fifty people were killed when an explosion destroyed the French oil tanker Betelgeuse at the Gulf Oil terminal on Whiddy Island in Bantry Bay.

March

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  • 4 March – Legendary hurler Christy Ring was buried in Cork.
  • 9 March – Taxpayers across the country took to the streets to protest against the tax system.
  • 20 March – A huge anti-taxation demonstration was held in Dublin.
  • 30 March – Ireland ended Irish pound parity with sterling on joining the European Monetary System.

April

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  • 12 April – Patrick McGilligan, the last surviving member of the first government of the Irish Free State, celebrated his 90th birthday in Dublin. He died seven months later, on 15 November.
  • 15 April – Three teenagers were killed and others were seriously injured while orienteering in the Glen of Imaal military training area in Country Wicklow when they accidentally triggered an unexploded shell left by the military after a training exercise.[2]

May

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  • 10 May – Petrol shortages due to a crisis in the Middle East caused long delays at petrol stations in Ireland.
  • 31 May – The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Pádraig Faulkner, launched a second national radio station, RTÉ Radio 2. The music station was intended to appeal to "women at home, motorists, workers of industry as well as many young people" and to broadcast for 19½ hours per day. Listeners heard the voice of Brendan Balfe introducing the first programme presenter, Larry Gogan, who began by playing Like Clockwork by the Boomtown Rats. The arrival of Radio 2 caused the original RTÉ Radio station to be renamed RTÉ Radio 1. In 1988, RTÉ Radio 2 was renamed 2FM, and was renamed again in 2000 as RTÉ 2FM.[3][4]

June

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July

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August

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September

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  • 29 September – Pope John Paul II arrived at Dublin Airport for a three-day visit to Ireland. A quarter of the population, 1.25 million people, welcomed him at a mass in the Phoenix Park. Later, he spoke to 200,000 people at Drogheda, County Louth. He returned to Dublin in the evening where 750,000 people watched his motorcade passing through the city.
  • 30 September – The Pope addressed 285,000 people at a youth rally in Galway before travelling to Knock where a further 300,000 people heard him speak. He also visited Clonmacnoise.

October

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November

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December

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  • 5 December – Jack Lynch announced his resignation as Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil. He had led the party for thirteen years, spending nine as Taoiseach.
  • 7 December
  • 11 December
  • 31 December – 1979 was the worst year ever for industrial disputes in Ireland, costing the economy over 1,460,000 working days.
  • Undated – The Central Bank of Ireland postponed the issue of a new £20 note, blue in colour, bearing an image of the poet W. B. Yeats until January 1980, due to financial problems.

Arts and literature

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Sport

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Athletics

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  • John Treacy won the world cross-country championship for the second time.

Golf

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Births

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Full date unknown

Deaths

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References

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  1. ^ "Temperature in Ireland". met.ie. Met Éireann. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  2. ^ "1979 The Year That Was". IrishTimes.com. The Irish Times. 30 December 2009. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  3. ^ O'Rourke, Evelyn (26 May 2024). "'Comin'atcha' for 45 years - where next for RTÉ 2fm?". RTÉ.
  4. ^ "RTÉ Radio 2 Launched 1979". RTÉ Archives. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  5. ^ A Chronology of Main Developments in the Central Bank of Ireland, 1943–2013 Central Bank of Ireland, 2013.
  6. ^ "Writer and editor Kate Cruise O'Brien dies in Dublin aged 49". The Irish Times. 27 March 1997.