1969 in Ireland - Definition

See also: 1968 in Ireland, other events of 1969, 1970 in Ireland and the list of 'years in Ireland'.

Events

• January 1 - The People's Democracy civil rights march leaves Belfast for Derry.
• January 4 - Militant Protestants attack the civil rights marchers in County Derry.
• March 4 - The Lichfield Report is issued - it proposes the creation of a "University of Limerick" which will be "orientated towards technological subjects".
• March 19 - Ireland receives its first loan from the World Bank.
• March 22 - Civil Rights demonstrations take place all over Northern Ireland.
• April 17 - Bernadette Devlin, the 21-year-old student and civil rights campaigner, wins the Mid-Ulster by-election. She is the youngest female MP ever.
• April 28 - Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Terence O'Neill, resigns.
• May 1 - Major James Chichester-Clark succeeds Terence O'Neill as the North's Prime Minister.
• May 7 - Minister for Finance Charles Haughey announces tax exemptions for painters, sculptors, writers and composers on earnings gained from works of cultural merit.
• June 18 - Former French President General Charles de Gaulle and his wife are greeted by President de Valera at Áras an Uachtaráin.
• July 21 - Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to set foot on the moon. president de Valera8 sends President Nixon a telegram of congradulations and admiration.
• July 31 - The halfpenny is withdrawn from circulation as the country moves toward decimalisation.
• August 1 - A huge protest rally over Northern Ireland is held outside the GPO. The crowd demands that the Irish Army cross the border.
• August 3 - An Taoiseach Jack Lynch makes a state visit to the Lebanon.
• August 5 - Belfast experiences the worst sectarian rioting in years.
• August 13 - As the siege of the Bogside in Derry continues An Taoiseach Jack Lynch makes one of the most important speeches ever made on Irish television. He says that the Irish government can no longer stand by and he demands a United Nations peace-keeping force for Northern Ireland.
• August 15 - A night of shooting and burning takes place in Belfast. in Dublin a Sinn Féin protest meeting calls for the boycott of British goods, government protection of the people of Northern Ireland and United Nations intervention.
• August 16 - British soldiers are deployed into particularly bad areas of Belfast.
• August 17 - Members of an Garda Síochána clash with protesters on O'Connell Street, Dublin, as a march against the Northern Ireland situation heads for the British Embassy.
• August 18 - The funerals take place of the first victims of violence in Northern Ireland. Both a Protestant and a Catholic were shot dead.
• August 27 - The B-Specials begin to hand in their guns following the decision by Lieutenant-General Freeland. British Secretary of State for Home Affairs, James Callaghan, visits Belfast.
• October 10 - The Hunt Committee Report recommends an unarmed civil police force in Northern Ireland.
• December 1 - Fianna Fáil pays tribute to Sean Lemass as his 45 years of public life comes to an end.

Arts and literature

Sports

Births

• May 1 - Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Féin MP.
• November 30 - Catherina McKiernan, athlete.
• December 16 - Michelle Smith, swimmer and triple Olympic gold medallist.

Deaths