1953 in Ireland

Events

*January 18 - Sinn Féin decides to contest all 12 constituencies in the next Westminster elections in Northern Ireland.
*March 15 - Up to 10,000 civil servants march down O'Connell Street, Dublin demanding a just wage.
*March 16 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. asks the American Congress to support a United Ireland.
*April 27 - Maud Gonne MacBride dies at her home in Dublin aged 88.
*June 3 - 500 unemployed men march at Kildare Street demanding employment not dole.
*July 6 - 1,000 unemployed people sit on O'Connell Bridge for 15 minutes in protest.
*August 2 - Murlough Bay in the Antrim Glens is chosen as the future grave of Roger Casement. An Taoiseach Éamon de Valera calls for the return of his remains.
*August 29 - Kilmainham Gaol is to be preserved as a national monument.
*September 21 - The Irish Ploughing Team leaves Dublin for the World Ploughing Championships in Canada.
*October 28 - Three of Dáil Éireann's Independent TDs become members of Fianna Fáil.
*December 18 - The Censorship Board bans almost 100 publications on the grounds that they are indecent or obscene.

Arts and literature

port

Football

*League of Ireland::Winners: Shelbourne

*FAI Cup::Winners: Cork Athletic 2 - 2, 2 - 1 Evergreen United.

Golf

*Irish Open is won by Eric Brown (Scotland).

Births

January to June

*6 January - Noel Dempsey, Fianna Fáil TD for Meath West and Minister for Transport & the Marine.
*12 February - Des Smyth, golfer.
*24 February - Eoin Ryan, Fianna Fáil MEP for Dublin and former TD.
*5 March - Brian Kerr, soccer manager, former Republic of Ireland national side manager.
*6 March - James Bannon, former Senator, Fine Gael TD for Longford-Westmeath.
*11 March - Derek Daly, motor racing driver.
*11 March - Mary Harney, former Tánaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats.
*15 March - Richard Bruton, Deputy-Leader of Fine Gael, TD for Dublin North Central.
*31 March - Breeda Moynihan-Cronin, former Labour Party (Ireland) TD.
*28 April - Paul Darragh, showjumper (d.2005).
*16 May - Pierce Brosnan, actor.
*30 May - Colm Meaney, actor.
*7 June - Kathleen Lynch, Irish Labour Party TD for Cork North Central.
*12 June - John Moloney, Fianna Fáil TD for Laois-Offaly.
*18 June - Neil O'Donoghue, American football placekicker.

July to December

*7 July - Jim Glennon, former Fianna Fáil politician and TD.
*29 July - Frank McGuinness, playwright, translator and poet.
*19 August - Tom Parlon, President of the IFA (1997 - 2001), Progressive Democrat TD representing Laois Offaly.
*1 September - Catherine Murphy, former Independent TD.
*18 September - Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, bank official, Sinn Féin TD representing Cavan Monaghan.
*20 September - Joe Waters, former soccer player.
*23 September - Paudge Connolly, former independent TD.
*26 September - Dolores Keane, singer and musician.
*11 November - Jimmy Holmes, soccer player.
*26 November - Marian Harkin, Member of the European Parliament representing North-West, Independent Teachta Dála representing Sligo Leitrim.
*3 December - Nickey Brennan, former Kilkenny hurler, President of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Full date unknown

*Dessie Ellis, Sinn Féin councillor in Dublin City Council, former IRA prisoner, first person extradited to the United Kingdom under the 1987 Extradition Act.
*Mary Flaherty, former Fine Gael TD and junior minister.
*Hugo Hamilton, writer.
*Ger Loughnane, former Clare hurler, manager of Galway hurling team.
*Tom McCormack, former Kilkenny hurler.

Deaths

*11 February - Valentine McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee, Labour MP in the United Kingdom (b.1871).
*22 February - John Caffrey, recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry in 1915 near La Brique, France (d.1891).
*17 April - Tom Sharkey, boxer (b.1873).
*3 June - Philip Graves, journalist and writer (b.1876).
*14 July - Frank Fahy, Sinn Féin MP and later TD, member of 1st Dáil, Ceann Comhairle, Fianna Fáil TD (b.1880).
*12 September - James Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Abercorn, Unionist politician and first Governor of Northern Ireland (b.1869).
*17 October - Jack Rochford, Kilkenny hurler (b.1882).
*30 October - John Counihan, farmer and salesmaster, Independent member of 1922 Seanad.
*1 November - Thomas F. O'Higgins, Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister.
*25 December - Patsy Donovan, Major League Baseball player and manager (b.1865).

Full date unknown

*T. F. O'Rahilly, linguist and Irish language scholar (b.1883).