1975 in Ireland

Events in the year 1975 in Ireland.

Incumbents

• President: Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh
• Taoiseach: Liam Cosgrave (FG)
• Tánaiste: Brendan Corish (Lab)
• Minister for Finance: Richie Ryan (FG)
• Chief Justice: Tom O'Higgins
• Dáil: 20th
• Seanad: 13th

Events

• January–June – Ireland held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first time.

January

• 7 January – Sinéad de Valera, wife of the former president, Éamon de Valera, died in Dublin aged 96.
• 30 January – Charles Haughey was brought back onto the Fianna Fáil party front bench.

March

• 14 March – Pierre Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, paid a brief visit to Ireland and held bilateral talks at Dublin Castle.^[1][2]

April

• 17 April – Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, and Our Lady of Mercy College, Carysfort, became recognised colleges of the National University of Ireland.

June

• 18 June – Danny O'Hare became acting director of the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin; a day later, the governing body first met.

July

• 31 July – Miami Showband killings: Three members of The Miami Showband and two terrorists were killed in an Ulster Volunteer Force ambush in County Down as the band returned home to Dublin from playing at a dance in Banbridge, Northern Ireland.

August

• 29 August – Former revolutionary, taoiseach, and president of Ireland, Éamon de Valera died in Dublin aged 92. The government announced a day of mourning.

October

• 3 October – Dutch industrialist and Limerick factory owner Tiede Herrema was kidnapped.
• 12 October – Oliver Plunkett, the 17th-century Archbishop of Armagh, was canonised by Pope Paul VI in Rome.
• 21 October – Tiede Herrema was located with his kidnappers in Monasterevin, County Kildare and a police siege began.

November

• 18 November – The Tiede Herrema kidnap siege ended.
• 29 November – Dublin Airport bombing: The arrivals terminal at Dublin Airport was bombed by the terrorist Ulster Defence Association, killing one person and injuring nine others.^[3] After the airport was evacuated, a second bomb exploded but no-one was hurt.^[4] Later, a suitcase was found that was destroyed in a controlled explosion by a bomb disposal team.^[5]

December

• 28 December – George Best played a League of Ireland match for Cork Celtic against Drogheda.

Arts and literature

• 14 May – Cork-born writer Patrick Galvin's We Do It For Love, a satire on The Troubles, opened at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
• 7 October – Tom Murphy's play The Sanctuary Lamp opened at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin^[6] to religious controversy.
• Leland Bardwell, Pearse Hutchinson, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Macdara Woods founded the literary publication Cyphers.^[7]
• Garry Hynes, Mick Lally, and Marie Mullen founded the Druid Theatre Company in Galway.
• Lillias Mitchell founded the Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers.
• Publications:
  • Eavan Boland's collection of poems The War Horse was published.
  • Paul Durcan's collection of poems O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor was published.
  • John McGahern's novel The Leavetaking was published.
  • John Ryan's memoir Remembering How We Stood was published.

Sport

Golf

• The Carroll's Irish Open golf tournament was won by Irish player Christy O'Connor Jnr.

Births

• 1 January – Lorraine Pilkington, actress.
• 24 January – Marie McMahon, long-distance runner
• 12 February – Andrew Myler, association football player.
• 1 March – Tara Blaise, singer.
• 17 April – Mark Foley, Limerick hurler.
• 19 April – Hugh O'Conor, actor.
• 25 April – Dara Ó Cinnéide, Kerry Gaelic footballer.
• 10 May – Clodagh McKenna, cookery writer and presenter.

• 10 June – Seánie McGrath, Cork hurler.
• 6 August – Willie Boland, association football player.
• 25 August – Pat Mulcahy, Cork hurler.
• 28 August – Gareth Farrelly, association football player.
• 15 September – Owen Butler, cricketer.
• 2 October – Girvan Dempsey, rugby player.
• 7 November – Ollie Moran, Limerick hurler.
• 16 December – Graham Lee, jockey.
• 18 December – David O'Doherty, comedian.
• 20 December – Graham Hopkins, drummer.

Full date unknown

• David Kitt, musician.
• Paul Murray, novelist.

Deaths

• 7 January – Sinéad de Valera, writer and wife of former president, Éamon de Valera (born 1878).
• 23 February – Ernest Blythe, writer, journalist, and theatre manager, member of 1st Dáil, and Cabinet minister (born 1889).
• 27 February – John Vincent Holland, soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1916 at Guillemont, France (born 1889).
• 21 April – James Kempster, cricketer (born 1892).
• 23 April – Michael Carty, Fianna Fáil party Teachta Dála (TD) (born 1916).
• 28 April – Tom Dreaper, horse trainer.
• 29 April – Arthur Blair-White, cricketer (born 1891).
• 10 May – Michael Tierney, Cumann na nGaedheal party TD, Fine Gael party member of Seanad Éireann (Senate) and President of University College Dublin (born 1894).
• 27 May – Robert Collis, physician and writer (born 1900).
• 24 June – Frank MacDermot, barrister, soldier, banker, and politician (born 1886).
• 31 July – Dan "Sandow" O'Donovan, Irish Republican Army member during the Irish War of Independence (b. c1895).
• 9 August – Maurice Gorham, journalist and broadcasting executive (born 1902).
• 10 August – Robert Barton, Sinn Féin party Member of Parliament, Cabinet minister, and signatory of Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921 (born 1881).
• 29 August – Éamon de Valera, former Taoiseach and President of Ireland (born 1882).
• 2 October – Séamus Murphy, sculptor (born 1907).
• 25 October – Padraig Marrinan, artist (born 1906).
• 26 October – William Teeling, author, traveller and UK politician (born 1903).
• 25 November – Moyna Macgill, stage and film actress, mother of Angela Lansbury (born 1895).
• 14 December – George Harman, cricketer and rugby player (born 1874).

See also

• 1975 in Irish television

References

1. ^ Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau arrives in Dublin Irish Photo Archive, 1975-03-14.
2. ^ 1975 – Pierre Trudeau visits Dublin Irish Photo Archive, 1975-03-14.
3. ^ Multiple sources: * "Airport Bombers 'Flew to Britain'". Irish Independent. 1975-12-01. * "Dublin Airport Bombing Aftermath". RTÉ Archives. 1975-11-30. * McKittrick, David (2001). Lost Lives. p. 600.
4. ^ "Two Bomb Blasts at Dublin Airport". The Evening Herald. 1975-11-29. p. 1.
5. ^ * "Airport worker was killed by 1975 bombing". The Irish Independent. 2005-04-22. * McMorrow, Conor (2025-10-14). "Family calls for new garda probe into 'forgotten' airport bombing". RTÉ News
6. ^ "Playography Ireland". Dublin: Irish Theatre Institute. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
7. ^ Doyle, Martin & Dillon, Cathy (28 June 2016). "Leland Bardwell, a leading light of Irish literary scene, dies aged 94". The Irish Times. Archived 17 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine. An influential figure on the Irish literary scene, she was a founder editor of the literary journal Cyphers in 1975 along with Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Pearse Hutchinson and Macdara Woods...