1949 in Northern Ireland

Events

*17 April - At midnight 26 counties officially leave the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the Republic of Ireland.
*3 May - The British Government passes an act guaranteeing the position of Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom as long as a majority of its citizens want it to be. The government also recognises the existence of the Republic of Ireland.
*10 May - The Oireachtas motion calls a "Protest Against Partition" because of the Ireland Act provisions.
*13 May - John A. Costello, Eamon de Valera, William Norton and Seán MacBride share a platform to protest the British government's attitude to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland.
*25 May - Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh receive the freedom of Belfast during a visit to the city.
*8 November - Street names in any language other than English are prohibited by an Amendment to a Bill passed in the Senate of Northern Ireland.

Arts and literature

port

Football

*Irish League::Winners: Linfield

*Irish Cup::Winners: Derry City 1 - 0 Glentoran

*Belfast Celtic withdrew from the Irish League at the end of a season which had seen crowd trouble at a match against Linfield five months earlier.

Golf

*Fred Daly plays in the Ryder Cup.

Births

*14 January - Donovan McClelland, Social Democratic and Labour Party politician.
*25 January - Tom Paulin, poet and critic.
*23 February - Christopher Harte, cricketer.
*17 March - Pat Rice, footballer and football coach.
*18 March - Alex Higgins, snooker player.
*1 April - Sammy Nelson, footballer.
*8 April - Graham Crothers, cricketer.
*6 August - Alan Campbell, Pentecostal pastor.
*1 September - Alasdair McDonnell, Social Democratic and Labour Party MP and MLA.
*6 September - Iris Robinson, Democratic Unionist Party MP for Strangford and member of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
*18 September - Mo Mowlam, 11th Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Full date unknown

*Pat Finucane, solicitor murdered by loyalist paramilitaries (d.1989).
*David McKittrick, journalist and writer.

Deaths

*2 March - Cecil Lowry-Corry, 6th Earl Belmore, High Sheriff and councillor (b.1873).
*19 September - George Shiels, dramatist (b.1886).

Full date unknown

*Robert Wilson Lynd, writer (b.1879).