1971 in Ireland

← 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1971 in Ireland → 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	1971 in Northern Ireland Other events of 1971 List of years in Ireland

Events from the year 1971 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Éamon de Valera (Fianna Fáil)
• Taoiseach: Jack Lynch (Fianna Fáil)

Events

• 4 January – John McQuaid retired after thirty years as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. Dermot Ryan was appointed to succeed him on 29 December.
• 15 February – Decimalisation: Ireland and the United Kingdom both switched to decimal currency.
• 6 March – Crowds assembled at Dublin Airport to witness the first flight of a Boeing 747 aircraft in Ireland when Aer Lingus took delivery of its first Jumbo Jet, the Saint Columcille (registration number EI-ASI), which arrived from New York.
• 17 March – The giant Jumbo Jet recently arrived in Ireland flew over the Saint Patrick's Day parade along O'Connell Street, Dublin, escorted by four smaller aircraft.
• 20 March – Major James Chichester-Clark resigned as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. He was succeeded on 23 March by Brian Faulkner.
• April – The Eurovision Song Contest was held in Dublin. Presented by Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir, it was the first colour television broadcast by RTÉ.
• 11 April
  • Ten British Army soldiers were injured in rioting in Derry.
  • The Gaelic Athletic Association voted to lift its ban on members participating in "foreign games" such as soccer, rugby and cricket.
• 20 April – Two British Royal Navy survey launches moored off Baltimore, County Cork, were towed out to sea and bombed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army unit, one, the Stork, being wrecked.
• 11 May – Seán Lemass, Taoiseach from 1959 to 1966, died in Dublin aged 71. He was active during the 1916 Easter Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War.
• 22 May – Members of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement returned from Belfast to Dublin on the "Contraceptive Train" bringing contraceptives as a protest against the law banning their importation.
• 8 July – Two rioters were shot dead by British troops in Derry.
• 16 July – The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) announced that it was withdrawing from Stormont.
• 9 August – Internment without trial was introduced in Northern Ireland. Over 300 republicans were arrested in pre-dawn raids by British security forces and interned in Long Kesh prison. Some Loyalists were later arrested. Twenty people died in riots that followed, including eleven in the Ballymurphy Massacre.
• 12 August – British troops began clearing operations in Belfast following the worst rioting in years. Taoiseach Jack Lynch called for an end to the Stormont administration.
• 7 September – The death toll in The Troubles reached 100 after three years of violence, with the death of 14-year-old Annette McGavigan, who was fatally wounded by a gunshot in crossfire between British soldiers and the IRA.
• 25 September – A rally took place in Dublin in support of a campaign of civil disobedience in Northern Ireland.
• 27 September – Prime ministers Edward Heath, Jack Lynch, and Brian Faulkner met at Chequers to discuss the Northern Ireland situation.
• 13 October – The British Army began to destroy roads between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland as a security measure.
• 23 October – Two women were shot dead by soldiers in Belfast as their car failed to stop at a checkpoint.
• 31 October
  • A IRA bomb exploded at the top of the Post Office Tower in London.
  • The Standard Time (Amendment) Act, 1971 reversed the main provision of the Standard Time Act 1968, returning Irish winter time to UTC+0 (Western European Time).
• 10 November – The government defeated a motion of no confidence in Jim Gibbons.
• 17 November – Neil Blaney and Paudge Brennan were expelled from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
• 4 December – The McGurk's Bar bombing, carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force in Belfast, killed 15 people, the highest death toll from a single incident in the city during "the Troubles".
• Undated – Units 1 and 2 of Poolbeg Generating Station in Dublin were completed.

Arts and literature

• Playwrights John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy settle in County Galway.
• John Banville's novel Nightspawn is published.
• Thomas Kilroy's novel The Big Chapel is published.
• Seán Ó Ríordáin's poetry collection Línte Liombó is published.
• Francis Stuart's autobiographical novel Black List, Section H is published.

Sports

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship: Offaly 1-14 Galway 2-8

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship: Tipperary 5-17 Kilkenny 5-14

Births

January to June

• 20 January - Ger McDonnell, Irish mountaineer and engineer (d. 2008)
• 31 January - Mark Geary, singer songwriter.
• 3 March - Stephen J. Martin, writer.
• 4 March - Fergal Lawler, drummer with The Cranberries.
• 12 March - Conrad Gallagher, chef.
• 6 April - Derek Tracey, soccer player.
• 29 April - Adrian Maguire, jockey.
• 18 June - Jason McAteer, Irish international soccer player.
• 28 June - Kenny Cunningham, soccer player.

July to December

• 16 July - Joe McHugh, Fine Gael TD for Donegal North–East, former Senator.
• 2 August - Davy FitzGerald, Clare hurler.
• 4 August - Paul McCarthy, soccer player.
• 6 August - Conor McPherson, playwright and director.
• 10 August - Roy Keane, former Manchester United and Glasgow Celtic footballer and current Sunderland manager.
• 17 August - Anthony Kearns, tenor
• 18 August - Aphex Twin, electronic music artist.
• 31 August - Pádraig Harrington, golfer, won the 2007 Open Championship.
• August - Brian Whelahan, Offaly hurler.
• 6 September - Dolores O'Riordan, singer and songwriter.
• 7 October - Johnny Dooley, Offaly hurler, manager.
• 24 October - Dervla Kirwan, actress.
• 3 November - Dylan Moran, comedian, actor and writer.
• 26 November - James McGarry, Kilkenny hurling goalkeeper.
• November - Brian Lohan, Clare hurler.
• 25 December - Noel Hogan, guitarist and songwriter.

Full date unknown

• Amanda Coogan, performance artist.
• John Doyle, musician and songwriter.
• Róisín McAliskey, political activist.
• Jamesie O'Connor, Clare hurler.
• Fiona Pender, missing person.
• Hubert Rigney, Offaly hurler.
• John Troy, Offaly hurler.

Deaths

January to June

• 2 January - J. T. O'Farrell, trade union official, served in the Seanad from 1922–36 and 1948–50.
• 24 January - St John Ervine, playwright and novelist (born 1883).
• 28 January - Edward O'Connell, Cork hurler.
• 31 March - Michael Browne, Master General of the Dominicans, Cardinal (born 1887).
• 1 April - Kathleen Lonsdale, X-ray crystallographer (born 1903).
• 4 May - Seamus Elliott, road bicycle racer (born 1934).
• 10 May - Archie Heron, trade union organiser.
• 11 May
  • Seán Lemass, Fianna Fáil TD and founder member, Cabinet Minister and Taoiseach (born 1899).
  • Eamon Martin, one of founders of Fianna Éireann, and an Irish Volunteer who fought in the Easter Rising (born 1893).
• 15 May - Tyrone Guthrie, theatrical director (born 1900).
• 13 June - Máiréad Ní Ghráda, poet and playwright.
• 14 June - Gerard Dillon, artist and painter (born 1916).

July to December

• 14 August - Shane Leslie, diplomat and writer (born 1885).
• 15 September - John Desmond Bernal, scientist (born 1901).
• 26 September - Conor Maguire, lawyer and judge.
• 2 October - Paddy Ahern, Cork hurler (born 1900).
• 3 October - Seán Ó Riada, composer and musician (born 1931).
• 16 December - Richard Mulcahy, Chief of Staff, TD, Cabinet Minister and former leader of Fine Gael (born 1886).