1981 in Ireland - Definition

See also: 1980 in Ireland, other events of 1981, 1982 in Ireland and the list of 'years in Ireland'.

Events

• February 14 - Forty young people die in a fire at the Stardust Ballroom in Artane, Dublin.
• March 1 - Bobby Sands begins a hunger strike at the Maze prison in Belfast.
• March 5 - The petrol strike ends as 800 tanker drivers resume work.
• April 10 - Bobby Sands is elected MP for Fermanagh-South Tyrone.
• May 2 - An Aer Lingus Boeing 737 en route from Dublin to London is hijacked and ordered to fly to Tehran. The flight is diverted to Paris and the hijacker, Laurence Downey, is arrested.
• May 5 - Bobby Sands dies on the 66th day of his hunger strike in the Maze Prison in Belfast.
• May 12 - Francis Hughes, once the most wanted man in the North, dies on the 59th day of his hunger strike in Belfast.
• May 21 - Raymond McCreesh amd Patsy O'Hara both die on the 61st day of their hunger strike in the Maze Prison.
• June 30 - Fine Gael leader Dr. Garret FitzGerald is elected Taoiseach.
• July 8 - IRA hunger striker Joseph McDonnell dies. He is the fifth person to die.
• August 1 - Hunger striker Kevin Lynch dies.
• August 2 - Kieran Doherty, TD for Cavan-Monaghan, dies on the 73rd day of his hunger strike.
• September 11 - The Irish Sugar Company announces that it is to close its factory in Tuam, County Galway.
• September 14 - Artist and writer Christy Brown is buried in Dublin.
• December 27 - Supporters of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children march in Dublin to demand a referendum for a pro-life amendment to the Constitution.

Arts and literature

• Molly Keane's novel Good Behaviour is published.

Sports

Births

Deaths

• March 23 - Sir Claude Auchinleck, soldier.
• April 8 - Gretta Bowen, artist.
• July 7 - Dónal Foley, journalist.