1974 in Ireland - Definition and Overview

See also: 1973 in Ireland, other events of 1974, 1975 in Ireland and the list of 'years in Ireland'.

Events

• January 2 - The Northern Ireland Executive enjoys its first day in office.
• February 15 - A 600lb bomb explodes in Dungannon.
• April 24 - The ESB announces that Carnsore Point on the Wexford coast will be the site of its nuclear power station.
• May 8 - The great hall of University College Dublin is to become a 900-seat concert hall and home of the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra.
• May 14 - Northern Ireland grinds to a halt as the Ulster Workers' Council calls a strike following the defeat of an anti-Sunningdale Agreement motion.
• May 17 - 31 people die and 150 are injured in four car bomb explosions in Dublin and Monaghan.
• May 21 - In Northern Ireland the Ulster Workers' Council strike comes to an end.
• May 28 - The five-month old Northern Ireland Executive collapses.
• June 14 - Anatoli Kaplin, the first Soviet Ambassador to Ireland, visits President Childers at Áras an Uachtaráin.
• July 17 - The National Coalition's Contraceptive Bill is defeated in a vote in Dáil Éireann. The Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, is one of seven Fine Gael TDs who vote against their own bill.
• September 21 - Jack Lynch says that Fianna Fáil would not support any proposal to repael articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution.
• October 8 - Seán MacBride, former Minister for External Affairs, is to share in the Nobel Prize for Peace.
• November 4 - Powerscourt House in Enniskerry is destroyed by fire.
• November 17 - President Erskine Hamilton Childers, fourth President of Ireland, dies suddenly aged 69. He had served less than 17 months of his 7 year term.
• December 10 - Seán MacBride is presented with the Nobel Prize for Peace.
• December 19 - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh is sworn in as the fifth President of Ireland.

Arts and literature

• Jennifer Johnston's novel How Many Miles to Babylon? is published .

Sports

Births

• March 13 - Cillian Murphy, actor.
• May 17 - Andrea Corr, lead vocalist with The Corrs.
• October 1 - Keith Duffy, former singer and actor.

Deaths

• March 19 - Austin Clarke, poet.
• August 13 - Kate O'Brien, novelist.
• November 23 - Cornelius Ryan, author and journalist.
• December 25 - Harry Kernoff, artist.