December in Irish history, day by day
50 entries across 31 days of December, picked by hand: the turning points, the culture, the sport and the people Ireland remembers, each linked to the full story.
1st December
2nd December
- 1999Power was devolved to the new Northern Ireland Executive, bringing the power-sharing government agreed on Good Friday 1998 into being. Wikipedia
- 1999Ireland's revised Articles 2 and 3, approved by voters in the 1998 referendum, took effect, replacing the territorial claim on Northern Ireland. Wikipedia
3rd December
4th December
- 1893Died: John Tyndall, Carlow-born physicist who explained why the sky is blue and studied how gases trap heat in the atmosphere. Wikipedia
5th December
- 1922The Irish Free State Constitution Act received royal assent, giving legal effect to the constitution of the new state. Wikipedia
6th December
7th December
8th December
9th December
- 1973The British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland parties signed the Sunningdale Agreement, an early attempt at power-sharing that collapsed within months. Wikipedia
10th December
- 1998John Hume and David Trimble received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for their work on the Good Friday Agreement. Wikipedia
- 1995Seamus Heaney received the Nobel Prize in Literature in Stockholm, the fourth Irish writer to win it. Wikipedia
- 1923W. B. Yeats received the Nobel Prize in Literature in Stockholm, the first Irish winner of the prize. Wikipedia
11th December
- 1920British forces set fire to Cork city centre, destroying City Hall and much of Patrick Street, in reprisal for an IRA ambush nearby. Wikipedia
- 1931The Statute of Westminster gave the Irish Free State and other dominions full legislative independence from the British parliament. Wikipedia
- 1989Born: Kellie Harrington, Dublin boxer who won Olympic gold in Tokyo and again in Paris. Wikipedia
12th December
- 1901Guglielmo Marconi, whose mother came from the Jameson whiskey family, received the first wireless signal sent across the Atlantic. Wikipedia
13th December
- 2007EU leaders signed the Treaty of Lisbon; Irish voters rejected it in 2008 before approving it in a second referendum in 2009. Wikipedia
14th December
- 1918Sinn Féin won 73 of Ireland's 105 seats in the general election, leading to the First Dáil; Constance Markievicz became the first woman elected. Wikipedia
- 1955Ireland joined the United Nations, beginning a long record of service in UN peacekeeping missions. Wikipedia
- 2013Died: Peter O'Toole, star of Lawrence of Arabia, who was proud of his Irish roots and held Irish citizenship. Wikipedia
15th December
- 1993Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and British Prime Minister John Major issued the Downing Street Declaration, opening the way to the peace process. Wikipedia
- 2013Ireland left its EU and IMF bailout programme, the first eurozone country to do so after the financial crisis. Wikipedia
- 1930Born: Edna O'Brien, Clare-born writer whose novel The Country Girls was banned in Ireland and later celebrated. Wikipedia
16th December
- 1966Born: Paul McGinley, Dublin golfer who holed the winning putt at the 2002 Ryder Cup and captained Europe to victory in 2014. Wikipedia
17th December
18th December
- 1919Died: John Alcock, who with Arthur Brown made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic, landing at Clifden that June. Wikipedia
19th December
- 1974Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh was inaugurated as the fifth President of Ireland. Wikipedia
20th December
21st December
22nd December
- 1989Died: Samuel Beckett, Dublin-born writer of Waiting for Godot and winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature. Wikipedia
23rd December
- 1920The Government of Ireland Act became law, dividing the island into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, each with its own parliament. Wikipedia
24th December
- 1601Hugh O'Neill and Hugh Roe O'Donnell, with Spanish allies, were defeated at the Battle of Kinsale, a blow that ended the old Gaelic order. Wikipedia
25th December
- 1957Born: Shane MacGowan, singer and songwriter with The Pogues, who co-wrote the Christmas favourite Fairytale of New York. Wikipedia
26th December
- 1998Hurricane Stephen, the Boxing Day storm, hit the northwest of Ireland with gale force winds and caused widespread disruption. Wikipedia
27th December
- 1904The Abbey Theatre opened in Dublin, founded by W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory as Ireland's national theatre. Wikipedia
28th December
- 1946A TWA airliner crashed near Shannon Airport on the island of Inismacnaughton, killing nine of the 23 people on board. Wikipedia
29th December
- 1937Bunreacht na hÉireann came into force, replacing the Irish Free State with a state named Éire, or Ireland in English. Wikipedia
30th December
- 999Brian Boru and the men of Munster and Meath defeated the forces of Leinster and Viking Dublin at the Battle of Glenmama. Wikipedia
31st December
- 1759Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on the St James's Gate brewery in Dublin at £45 a year. Wikipedia
- 1961Teilifís Éireann began broadcasting, Ireland's first national television service, with a New Year's Eve opening night. Wikipedia
- 1691Died: Robert Boyle, Lismore-born scientist whose law on gas pressure is still taught in every science class. Wikipedia